WASHINGTON, December 24, 2005, (WAFA)- The Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM) will hold its fifth annual conference to consider the use of divestment as a tactic to non-violently influence a just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In a press release issued Friday the PSM said the conference will be held at Georgetown University in Washington, DC on February 17, 2006.

"The annual conference comes to Georgetown's campus, which possesses a Catholic and Jesuit identity, on the heels of a series of bold initiatives taken by the decision-making bodies of various Christian denominations to consider the use of divestment as a tactic to non-violently influence a just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," said the press release.

The event will be hosted by Georgetown University's Students for Justice in Palestine (GU-SJP) on behalf of PSM, a coalition of North American organizations dedicated to implementing divestment and boycott strategies as a component of human rights activism in order to realize both equality and justice for all people residing within Israel/Palestine.

"Bringing the annual conference to our nation's capitol is a natural step for our movement, and one that expresses the fact that divestment from Israel has become an issue of national prominence," Nadeem Muaddi, a spokesperson for PSM said.

"Because Palestinians, like all people, are an equal component of international civil society, they deserve to live free of subjugation to a state sanctioned and institutionalized system of apartheid. Our aim is to realize this goal by calling attention to both Israel's discriminate policies and the non-violent channels through which they may be overcome," he added.

S.A.S. (13:43 P) (11:43 GMT)