The debate between security and freedom in Israel was going strong Wednesday afternoon in the Tate Student Center’s free speech zone.

Students with Athens for Justice in Palestine displayed information on a three-paneled wooden structure about construction on the West Bank, bringing an international hot topic to campus.

Construction began three years ago on the wall called the Israeli Wall, the Israeli Apartheid Wall or a security fence – depending on which side you stand.

This is the third year Athens for Justice in Palestine held a demonstration at Tate.

“Today, we’re here to bring awareness to the apartheid wall that’s constructed in the occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank,” Shireen Judeh, a junior from Duluth and president of the organization, said.

She said the group’s main objective was to advocate and raise awareness.

“[The wall] restricts Palestinian people’s right to movement, right to education, right to work and basically right to move about freely,” Judeh said.

Another student group, not present at Tate, represents the other side of the fence – Dawgs for Israel.

“The security fence was initially put up to stop terrorism in Israel,” Hadas Peles, a 20 year old from Israel and president of the group, said.

Amy Berelowitz, a senior from Roswell and political contact for Dawgs for Israel, said the fences were placed strategically in areas with the most violence. Berelowitz, who has family in the area and a boyfriend living next to the wall, said she feels better with it there.

She said by having a wall, the problems and dialogue on the real problems are oversimplified.

“It kind of blurs the issues and you just see a wall,” Berelowitz said. “It’s something so complex … It takes away from the real issue.”

The wall, under construction, has been compared to the Berlin Wall, which stood 12 feet high and went on for 92 miles. The wall in the West Bank, when completed, will be 25 feet high and 454 miles long, according to the display at Tate.

The comparisons extend to South African apartheid as well.

“It’s basically a ghetto,” Judeh said.

The wall has checkpoints and is policed.

Of the presentation at Tate, Nina Mustafa, a senior from Orlando and vice president of Athens for Justice in Palestine, said it was a very shocking, loud statement and having a visual makes people stop and question.

Both groups seek to foster dialogue on the topic.

“If you don’t know about it, you can’t fix the problem,” Mustafa said.

Dialogue leads to understanding, Peles said.

Those interviewed expressed the wall is a temporary fix to an ongoing situation on the West Bank.