Jerusalem Women Speak: Three Women, Three Faiths, One Shared Vision

Release date: October 04, 2009 |

As part of an ongoing initiative to encourage discussion about Israel and Palestine, Goucher College, along with Partners for Peace, presents "Jerusalem Women Speak: Three Women, Three Faiths, One Shared Vision." The event will be held in the college’s Haebler Memorial Chapel on Sunday, October 4, at 7:30 p.m. 

Since 1998, Washington, DC-based Partners for Peace has chosen three Jerusalem women — one Muslim, one Jewish, and one Christian — to come to the United States to speak about their fears, hopes, and frustrations in the midst of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. The women highlight the nonviolent efforts of Palestinians and Israelis to secure a just peace and a brighter future for their children, their communities, and their societies.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Chaplain Cynthia Terry at cynthia.terry@goucher.edu.

The panelists are Jala Basil Andoni, 61, a Palestinian Christian; Hekmat Besisso-Naji, a Muslim Palestinian originally from Gaza; and Ruth El-Raz, 76, a Jewish resident of Jerusalem.

Andoni is a former English teacher who lives in Beit Sahour, a town east of Bethlehem. She works with the Wi’am Center for Reconciliation and the Arab Educational Institute in Bethlehem and is a leader of the women’s group at the Alternative Information Center in Beit Sahour. Her work includes supporting and empowering women.

Besisso-Naji is a Muslim Palestinian originally from Gaza who now lives in Ramallah. She has worked for several international and local organizations, including: American Friends Service Committee (Quakers), Save the Children USA, Defense for Children International, and the Jerusalem Media Communication Center. She currently works as a community trainer, where her main tasks are to organize, carry out, train, and evaluate nonviolence training and other projects. Unfortunately, Besisso-Naji will not be able to participate in person because she has been unable to acquire the necessary visa to enter the United States.

Born and raised in England, El-Raz works as a therapist at the Counseling Center for Women in Jerusalem, which she helped found. She is also a board member of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, and Bat Shalom, the Israeli side of Jerusalem Link, a joint Israeli/Palestinian women’s peace organization. She is a founding member of Women in Black and is an active member of Checkpoint Watch, which monitors the attitude of soldiers toward the Palestinians as they pass through various checkpoints between Israel and the occupied territories.

This event is being sponsored by Goucher College’s Peace Studies Program; the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life; and Partners for Peace, a nonprofit, UN-registered NGO that strives to educate the American public about key issues in the effort to secure peace and justice among Palestinians and Israelis.