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Budaiya, Bahrain (dpa) - A two-day fund-raising and art exhibition to support the Lebanese and Palestinian people kicked off in Bahrain on Thursday.
Volunteers from several women's and youth societies started collecting donations in Jawad Complex in Budaiya, west of the capital Manama, for a 12-hour period that began at 10am.
The money collected was expected to be directed to help the Lebanese and Palestinian people following the recent Israeli attacks on Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
Artists from the al-Hussaini Society for Islamic Arts, also held an open air studio where they painted pieces that supported the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah militia and depicted the struggle of the Lebanese and Palestinian people.
The society also placed 42 paintings and 85 caricature drawings on display that had been painted last week in a similar exhibition.
The majority of the caricatures mocked US President George W Bush, and the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The drawings were also highly critical of what organizers described as the lack of action by the international community to stop the war.
The president of the Hamad Town Women's Society, Ebtihaj al- Orrayed, said that the event was one of many being organized in conjunction with other societies across the island to help raise funds to support the resistance and the people in Lebanon and Gaza.
"We wanted to help and at the same time we wanted to get the message out about the suffering of the Lebanese and Palestinian people," she said.
The paintings have attracted a lot of attention from locals and expatriates alike.
Copyright 2006 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
