News from Ramallah
Report on the Friends International Committee
Consultation in Ramallah
March 4 to 13, 2005
Members of the International Committee (IC) of Ramallah Friends Meeting (RFM) and other Friends met in Ramallah, West Bank, Palestine for a week long consultation to discern direction for the recently renovated Ramallah Meetinghouse and annex. The annex will be the home of the Friends International Center in Ramallah (FICIR).
The word "consultation" was used to refer to the activities, meetings, and conversations the International Committee had with members of the Ramallah Friends Meeting, Friends from abroad, Friends and fellow travelers living in the area, and like-minded Palestinian and Israeli groups working for an end to occupation and a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The consultation brought together both local and ex-patriot groups who are now active in the region in community development, peace-building work and other concerns central to Friends.
Through interaction with individuals and groups, we gained better understand of what is being done now across the wider community, and what unmet needs are most pressing. The consultation process also engendered a deeper and wider local sense of ownership and support for the FICIR and prepared the ground for future partnership with those whose values and vision we share.
The Vision For The Friends International Center In Ramallah:
The Friends International Center in Ramallah exists to unite in one place:
- a space for sacred worship after the manner of Friends to which all are welcome;
- a safe and supportive environment in which residents of Ramallah can come together to work towards a better future in an atmosphere of faith and hope;
- a vehicle through which friends and other people of goodwill from outside of Ramallah can connect with and provide support to those in the region who are striving to build a better future of peace and justice.
To these ends, the Friends International Center in Ramallah (FICIR) will offer a ministry of hospitality; create an atmosphere of care and respect in which positive, civic and civil discourse can be pursued; and be a witness to hope and reconciliation in a region where despair and violence have too often reigned. In all this we seek to express the deepest values and highest aspirations of the Quaker faith.
The week's activities started with the rededication service for the newly restored and renovated Ramallah Friends Meetinghouse, annex and grounds. The meetinghouse is located on the main street in the center of Ramallah near the Manara [Lion Square]). Nearly seventy people were in attendance for celebration. Friends from various Yearly Meetings presented letters of encouragement and recognition of the efforts of Ramallah Friends Meeting to sustain a Quaker community in Palestine. Local and regional officials were also in attendance along with Palestinian and international Quakers, Jews and Muslims. It was coincidental that the rededication took place on the exact date, ninety-seven years after the commodious meetinghouse was first dedicated.
The IC observed the effects of the 38-year old occupation up close as we were taken on a three-hour tour of Jerusalem and surrounding area. Our guide was Joseph Berman, American born Jew, on the staff of Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.
Jerusalem is a microcosm the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Within (East) Jerusalem are contained all the issues Palestinians face living under Israeli military occupation: land confiscation, building of settlements, destruction of Palestinian homes, effects of zoning on Palestinians, destruction of the infrastructure, destruction of the Palestinian economy. We saw the effects of the occupation on Palestinians remaining in East Jerusalem (known as sumuud, Arabic for 'steadfast'). Palestinians living in the rest of the West Bank and Gaza experience the effects of the occupation in similar ways.
The Wall, the latest and in many ways the deadliest incursion into the West Bank, is evidence of the intensification of the continuing Israeli occupation. We saw the Wall at various points in Jerusalem and at Abu Dis and witnessed its effects on the Palestinian population. In many ways, it seems that the Wall is the last attempt of the Israeli authorities to destroy not only the land, but to destroy the economy, culture, and the social structure of Palestinian society.
We met with Naim Ateek , director of Sabeel, an ecumenical peace group, at Sabeel Center. Jean Zaru, along with Father Chacour, is a founding member and one of the Vice-Presidents of the Board of Directors of Sabeel. Kathy Bergen is also a member of FOSNA (Friends of Sabeel/North America. We had an opportunity to hear about the work of Sabeel and to discuss ways that Sabeel and the FICIR can work together in the future.
We were able to witness practical peacemaking, accomplished through an accompaniment program. Kathy Kamphoefner and Paul Pierce organized our travel to travel to Hebron and the shepherd village of Tawne, to witness first-hand the work of CPT (Christian Peacemaker Teams), EAPPI (Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel - a program of the World Council of Churches), Operation Dove (an Italian Catholic group of accompaniers), and ISM (International Solidarity Movement). On the way to Hebron we saw numerous settlements - Gush Etzion, Ephrat, Kiryat Araba, to name a few.
The IC met with Naim Dabor at the Islamic University in Hebron where we heard the university's plan to open a peace studies and conflict resolution program. There were opportunities to discuss ways of cooperation with the FICIR.
The IC met with Randa Sinora (director of Al-Haq) at their office in Ramallah, Randa told us of the work of Al-Haq and the effects of the occupation, including the Wall on the people from a human rights and international law perspective. There were also meetings with Joyce Ajlouni at the Friends Schools, the AFSC staff at Swift House and staff of the Center for Victims of Torture.
In Jerusalem the IC met with Michel Warshawski and Gila Svirsky. Mikado is a long-time Israeli peace activist, founder of AIC, and currently president of its Board of Directors and Gila is the coordinator of the Israeli Women's Coalition for Peace.
While in Jerusalem, we had lunch with David Neuhaus, who came to Israel in the early 1980's to avoid the draft in South Africa. He is one of the first COs in Israel. He refused to take an Israeli passport and finished his BA, MA and PhD at Hebrew University. He was drafted into the Israeli army but refused to serve. He served a number of prison terms, during which time Kathy Bergen of the IC was part of his support group. David converted to Christianity and became a Jesuit. He teaches at the Latin Seminary (Catholic) in Beit Jala and in involved in Muslim/Christian/Jewish dialogue. David and Kathy co-authored a book published by the WCC called "Justice and the Intifada".
In the Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour area there are a number of Palestinian organizations doing nonviolence training, active nonviolence, and conflict resolution work. We heard seven groups talk about their work, their ideas for an FICIR, and ways in which we can cooperate. The groups and individuals we talked with in Bethlehem were: Wi'am, Zoughbi Zoughbi; Holy Land Trust, Hussain Joubran; Rapproachment Center, Ghassan Andoni; Lutheran Christmas Church Center, YMCA and others. A representative from each organization talked about the work of their organization, their vision for the role of nonviolence in ending the occupation, and ways of cooperating with the FICIR.
The members of the International Committee spent the last two days of their visit reflecting on what they had seen and heard during the consultation and made preliminary recommendations necessary for the future of the Friends International Center In Ramallah. Further consideration of the findings and recommendations will occur at subsequent meetings of the International Committee in Philadelphia.
We came away from Ramallah with a great sense of hope for peace in that troubled region. The many individuals and groups laboring for justice and a nonviolence resolution to the conflict and occupation are witness to the deep desire for a just and lasting peace. We look to the Light for opportunities that may allow the Friends International Center In Ramallah to be a center of hospitality and cooperation in Palestine.
Participants were: IC members Jim Fine, Thom Jeavons, Arlene Kelly (PYM); Tony Bing (SAYMA); John Salzberg, Lamar Matthew (BYM), Jane Carter, Max Carter (NCYMFUM), Jean Zaru (RFM), and Kathy Bergen (AFSC and Friend in Residence). Other Friends in attendance were Kathy Kamphoefner and Paul Pierce (AFSC); Bronwyn Harwood (UK, FWCC), Franco Perna (Italy); Nabil Ajlouni, Joyce Ajlouni, Violet Zaru (RFM); Helene Pollock (PYM); Maia Carter Hallward (RFM & Sojourners); Holly and Allyn Dynes (World Vision & Sojourners).
Lamar Matthew, member of the FICR Steering Committee
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