 (Roooters, of course) BEIRUT - International and local activists are planning on Saturday to bring a civilian convoy to southern Lebanon, worst hit by Israel's 28-day-old war on Hizbollah, to deliver aid and show solidarity with suffering residents. "We hope this will be the first of what will become continuous convoys to show that there are civilians being killed and affected by this war," Adam Shapiro, an American documentary filmmaker and human rights activist, told Reuters.
| He's also big heat at the ISM and has his hand in any number of other hard-left, 'progressive' organizations. He's also really nuts. |
| Shapiro the Hero is back. If we're lucky, he'll manage to get himself trapped in a bunker with Hassan, like he did with Yasser. |
"If governments are failing to act, we as terrorist enablers citizens will."
| "Because we're important. We count for something. You betcha." |
Shapiro, 34, is among several activists from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a pro-terrorist pro-Palestinian group that usually works to bring attention to Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, who have traveled to Lebanon seeking non-violent ways to support local groups as they try to kill all the Joooz protesting the war. This time, however, the activists will not be facing Israeli soldiers, tanks or Rachel Corrie memorial D9 bulldozers but aerial bombardment.
One idea they are considering is to bring large numbers of people, rather than a few activists, to the Hizbollah strongholds of south Lebanon or south Beirut to try to protect them or draw attention to the plight of civilians there.
| I like the idea of wiping out large numbers of terrorist abettors at one time. Or at least having them all mess their drawers when an IAF F-15 shows up. |
So far, activists who have shown up in Lebanon from the United States and Europe are part of an exploratory group, but Shapiro believes they can attract hundreds more, including from Arab states, once they come up with a strategy.
| The ones from Arab states will even bring their own guns and ammo. |
"In the United States people were already contacting us, Lebanese and internationals interested in coming to Lebanon to see how we could help," Shapiro said.
| The Berkeley contingent should be good for a hundred. |
Lebanon will be the first time the ISM has worked outside the Palestinian territories, though individual activists have been to other war zones such as Iraq as human shields. Israeli authorities view them as terrorist enablers trouble makers and sometimes accuse them of inciting violence.
"I'm not sure we can be as ambitious as to end the war but certainly we can change the dynamic," Shapiro said. "In the media this has so far been portrayed as a war between Israel and Hizbollah. Maybe we can change the dynamic so it is seen as what it is, Israel versus all of Lebanon."
| You guys did a great job in Iraq. |
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