(Photo courtesy of New York Times)

Eyewitness to Occupied Palestine Adam Shapiro and Huwaida Arraf Wednesday January 8, 2003 8:00 pm, Baxter Hall, Caltech This event is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are required.

Keynote Address

It is often difficult to find first-hand accounts of events that have transpired in the inflammatory and complicated Israeli-Palestine conflict. Jewish-American, Adam Shapiro, and Palestinian-American, Huwaida Arraf, however, have no shortage of first-hand experience in this matter. Through their organization, the International Solidarity Movement, a network which brings together Palestinian and international activists and grassroots community groups in the struggle for freedom and an end to occupation in Palestine, Shapiro and Arraf have lead direct non-violent protests in the region for over a year.

Their actions have stirred controversy both in the Middle East and at home. They have been beaten and arrested by Israeli forces, and Shapiro made headlines in April for becoming caught in an Israeli siege of Yasser Arafat's Ramallah headquarters as he tried to secure ambulance access to the compound. In the United States, they have received editorial praise and condemnation as well as numerous death threats, which have forced some of their family to temporarily relocate.

With her goal of negotiating peace in the Middle East, Arraf graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Judaic and Arabic studies and went on to study Hebrew at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Shapiro is currently a Ph.D. candidate in International Relations at American University in Washington, DC. He holds an MA in Arab Studies from Georgetown University and an MA in Politics from New York University.

Through their organization, the International Solidarity Movement, a network which brings together Palestinian and international activists and grassroots community groups in the struggle for freedom and an end to occupation in Palestine, Jewish American, Adam Shapiro and Palestinian-American, Huwaida Arraf, have lead direct non-violent protests in the region for over a year.

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