ISM preaches end to occupation in Palestine

The International Solidarity Movement made itself felt in Beirut this month after the movement's founders David Shapiro, an American Jew, and his wife, Howeida, a Palestinian-American paid the Lebanese capital a three day visit.

The couple had a tight schedule as they met with several organizations, many of which held -- in their support -- fund-raising dinners.

The couple held a couple of lectures at the American University of Beirut and the Beirut Theatre.

At the Beirut Theatre, the audience was first shown a video documentary entitled James Haredy vs. the Israeli Army in which Haredy, a British comedian, documents his visit to the occupied territories and his participation as a human shield to protect Palestinians during Israelis attacks.

The Shapiros, who appeared in the movie, showed up after it was concluded and answered the audience's queries.

Howeida hopes that by attracting more foreigners to visit the occupied lands, the message for the liberation of Palestine was getting nearer to become true.

To a question about how activists can support the ISM without being able to visit the Palestinian territories, Howeida answered that there is a lot of awareness to be done everywhere in the world.

About their relations with israeli pro-peace activists, David answered that at first, such Israeli organizations said that their goal was peace.

"But peace meant nothing without the end of occupation and we started seeing a shift in these organizations' stances," he said.

The couple also talked about the road map to peace. "I have a friend that calls it road map to nowhere," according to David who described the recent peace plan as "a draft that solves nothing of the problem."

David said that through dialogue, even radicals can be summoned to a round table in order to put an end to more than of half a decade of a people's suffering.

Sources in Beirut said that the couple would visiting Lebanon again. But the date of the coming visit was not disclosed.