Taboo often describes immoralities within culture, but it can also include picking a side on a political issue and voicing a strong opinion. This taboo that thrives on fear must be broken, and Partners for Peace, a United Nations registered humanitarian organization, intends to make it acceptable to facilitate discussion on hot political topics, such as the Israel-Palestine Conflict.

What was originally to be three women discussing three separate faiths rooted in Israel will now be two. Hekmat Bessio-Naji, a Palestinian Muslim, has recently been denied a visa for reasons unknown to Partners for Peace. The State Department denied Bessio-Naji’s visa even though she has traveled to the U.S. several times for philanthropic events. Bessio-Naji has been prohibited from returning to Gaza after leaving in 2005.

Despite the setback, Jala Basil Andoni, a Christian retired teacher, and Ruth El-Raz, a Jewish psychotherapist and political activist, are speaking today on a conflict that has personally affected them and their families in Jerusalem. Their goal is simple: to promote peace. They both speak in opposition to Israeli military occupation of the West Bank.

“We are resistant to the occupation. We want our identity back, our pride and our freedom,” Andoni said. While living in Jerusalem, Andoni and El-Raz have lost many liberties due to the rising conflict. Since the Gulf War, Israeli troops have imposed curfews on Palestinian towns and villages.

“We are trapped within our home,” Andoni said.

More than 220 Israeli settlements are located in the West Bank, distinctively separating themselves from the Palestinian people with checkpoints and elevated walls.

“It is not just separating Israelis and Palestinians. It’s also separating Palestinians from other relatives of Palestinians,” Andoni said.

Much like the Berlin Wall, written grievances and statements calling for peace clothe these barriers. On one wall, the words “our blood is the same color” incite onlookers who are forced to remain on one side or the other.

The Israel Defense Forces Checkpoints, built to provide security in Israeli settlements and scattered throughout the West Bank, have also been a strain on the Palestinian community. Children must pass though armed soldiers to get to schools as if they are entering a terminal at an airport.

Because a distant cousin was not permitted through a certain checkpoint, the Israeli military prohibited El-Raz from crossing, too. She considers herself lucky, though, because her house has not been demolished, as many of her friends and relatives have.

“[The Israeli government] has the law in their hands,” Andoni said. “The whole point of occupation is control.”

El-Raz’s father once told her that to be a Jew, a person must believe in justice for all people. She grew up believing in justice but said she has seen little justice in the politics that influence her life.

“Occupation, by definition, cannot be civilized,” she said. “This is not the law of justice. It’s Injustice.”

El-Raz believes justice will be attained through political reform and encourages civil disobedience to incite change.

“The use of force by the Palestinians is the result of frustration of not being free,” El-Raz said while explaining why some resort to violence.

Andoni and El-Raz, unable to shower daily, say they are forced to use a sparse amount of water while residents of the Israeli settlements utilize Palestinian water and agricultural resources. They talked about how olive orchards covered the land, but more than 2,000 olive trees were uprooted while the walls were built.

“You can talk to your congressmen and government,” Andoni said. “Just like apartheid in South Africa came to an end, we hope the opposition in our land will come to an end.”