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--> --> Associated Press Dr. Hanan Ashrawi of The Arab League makes a point during a news conference, Thursday. Palestinian speaker makes case to students PORTLAND (AP) - Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi took her case for Palestinian statehood to students Thursday with a speech at Benson High School in Portland. Her visit was the latest by Middle Eastern speakers who are in demand at companies and at university campuses after the terrorist attacks. Ashrawi was in Portland on a West Coast speaking tour that will include stops in San Francisco and Berkeley. She said the speech Thursday was her first lengthy address on how the Sept. 11 terror attacks have affected the Palestinian cause. She said it is in America's national interest to force Israel to accept Palestinian statehood. That would deprive radical Islamic groups throughout the Middle East of one of their grievances against the United States, she said. Ashrawi said the Sept. 11 East Coast terror attacks led more Americans to realize the need for an evenhanded approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and she praised President Bush's support of a Palestinian state. "The United States has been paying the price for support of Israel" by losing respect in the Arab world, she said. Said that Israel, "immediately and gleefully tried to make use of Sept. 11" by drawing analogies to U.S. operations against Osama bin Laden and Israeli crackdowns on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The World Affairs Council of Oregon sponsored Ashrawi's visit to Oregon. That group brought former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to the state on Oct. 16. Barak, a former anti-terrorist commando, had praised America's military response to the attacks and said the country had the assets to defeat terrorism. But he warned the conflict would not be quick or easy. Meanwhile, Ashrawi didn't directly criticize the American bombing operation in Afghanistan. But she said it appeared to be a short-term policy and that "wars do not solve problems." Sharice Green, 17, a senior at Benson High School said she was swayed by the talk. "I never really knew what was going on. Now I feel sympathetic," toward the Palestinians, she said. Ashrawi is scheduled to speak at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco and at the University of California at Berkeley. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing