April 23, 1998 Contact Pauline Austin (541) 346-3129 EUGENE--A top official in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) will share his views on the Middle East peace process in a lecture at the University of Oregon on Tuesday, May 5. Hasan Abdel Rahman, who is the PLO's chief representative in the United States and of the Palestinian National Authority, will speak on "The Peace Process From a Palestinian Perspective" at 7:30 p.m. in Room 150 in Columbia Hall, 1215 E. 13th Ave. The talk is free and open to the public. The Carlton Raymond and Wilberta Ripley Savage Endowment in International Relations and Peace is sponsoring the free pubic lecture. The lecture is part of a year-long series of campus events dealing with peace between Muslims and Jews in the Middle East. Through seminars and classes on the role of cross-cultural communication in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and public lectures by other visiting scholars, the UO program has explored ways to support communication and peace-building efforts among Palestinians and Israelis. Following the PLO-Israeli Accord of September 1993, Rahman participated in extra-official discussions with Israeli counterparts in Vienna and Casablanca on the final satus of the package of key issues to be negotiated in order to secure a permanent agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. From October 1991 through September 1993, he served as senior political adviser to the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid Peace Talks and again during negotiations in Washington, D.C. Rahman has been a guest on "Nightline," "This Week with David Brinkley," "Crossfire," "The Newshour with Jim Lehrer" and numerous other network news programs. He has spoken on topics relating to the Israeli-Arab conflict to audiences at more than 300 universities. For more information, contact the UO Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, (541) 346-5087. -30- #P-6076/Local,A&E,PDX