FICR is a ministry of the Ramallah Friends Meeting. We decided to publish a monthly on-line newsletter to keep you informed about the Ramallah Friends Meeting and the work of FICR. We want this newsletter to be a link between us and all of you who have visited Ramallah and those who have not visited and are interested in our work and ministry. With the mailing of this newsletter, we invite you to become a member of our virtual electronic community.

Being the first on-line newsletter, we have included some background information about the Ramallah Friends Meeting and the Center.

Background and Creation of FICR

The Ramallah Friends Meetinghouse was first dedicated and on March 6, 1910. Ninety-five years later, in 2005, it was rededicated after undergoing extensive renovations. It was after the rededication that Ramallah Quakers could again hold Meeting for Worship in the Meetinghouse and use the Annex for community events and fellowship.

The year 2005 was also the year that the FICR Steering Committee met with members of Ramallah Friends Meeting and Sojourners in consultation to unite around a vision for the Center. It became clear that FICR, a ministry of the Ramallah Friends Meeting would develop in partnership with Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, and all F/friends who chose to be part of this ministry.

Given the Center’s location in the heart of the Occupied West Bank, we face many challenges. Basis human rights—taken for granted in the west—are violated here on a daily basis. Israel’s near 40-year occupation has taken a deep toll, especially in the suffering imposed through it’s restrictions on movement. Travel for Palestinians between towns and villages within the West Bank and Gaza is extremely difficult and time consuming due to the hundreds of Israeli checkpoints and roadblocks.

It is within this unpredictable environment that FICR exists and works.

The Friends International Center in Ramallah exists to unite in one place:

1. a space for sacred worship after the manner of Friends to which all are welcome;
2. a safe and supportive environment in which residents in Ramallah can come together to work towards a better future in an atmosphere of faith and hope;
3. a vehicle through which Friends and other people of goodwill can connect with and provide support to those in the region who are striving to build a future of peace and justice. To these ends, the International Friends Center in Ramallah offers a ministry of hospitality; creates an atmosphere of care and respect in which positive, civic, and civil discourse can be pursued; and is 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.

1. To lift up and nurture a Quaker presence in Ramallah;
2. To find ways to enrich and support the local community; and
3. To hold up and further peace and justice issues in the community.

After the Consultation

The FICR Steering Committee began to raise funds in order to hire a full-time person to live and work in Ramallah. In April 2006, Kathy Bergen was hired and came to live in the Annex and work as FICR’s program coordinator.

There are many NGOs and civil society organizations in Palestine. What sets FICR apart is that its mission is guided and informed by its direct relationship to the Ramallah Friends Meeting. All work and programs of FICR are carried out within the framework of Quaker theology, values, and principles.

The number of Quakers in Ramallah is currently small but the Quaker presence is felt and appreciated by the community. Many families have emigrated and are living in various countries around the world. Meeting for Worship has been attended by as few as two and as many as thirty-five persons in recent months and is always a rich experience. The Meeting has had visitors of many faiths attending, as well as Palestinians from the Ramallah and Jerusalem area.

Quakers living in Jerusalem have found it difficult to attend because of Israeli travel restrictions. Internationals working with the Christian Peacemaker Teams and the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Accompaniment Program for Palestine and Israel often attend. After meeting for worship participants always gather for tea and discussion in order to foster community and dialogue.

To complement the newly restored Meetinghouse and Annex, Ramallah Friends Meeting itself undertook to repair and refinish the benches that had been in the Meetinghouse for decades. The Meeting found an excellent craftsman who showed real care for the benches from the moment he was them to do the work.

On October 29 it was an honor for the Ramallah Friends Meetinghouse to host a memorial service for Deborah (Misty) Gerner, a Quaker who devoted much of her life to Palestine. She and her husband, Phil Schrodt, taught at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, where Phil still teaches. Misty and Phil spent much of their time during the summers volunteering in Palestine. They taught at Birzeit University. Misty died in June, 2006 after a long and courageous battle with cancer. She is missed by all in Palestine who knew her.

In December, the Meeting and FICR invited members from the community to join in a celebration of Advent by singing Christmas carols in English and Arabic and provided an opportunity for fun and fellowship.

Members of the Meeting travel frequently. Jean Zaru is often invited to speak in Europe, US, or elsewhere. Joyce Ajlouni, as the director of the Friends Schools, travels for work. Nabeel and Violet Ajlouni travel to visit family abroad.

To our great sorrow, Violet Zaru passed away in Amman in August while accompanying her sister, Leila, for medical treatment in Amman.

Kathy Bergen works closely with Jean Zaru and the members of Ramallah Friends Meeting to continue to develop the facilities, grounds and programs of FICR. The Center has hosted many international groups who come to hear Jean Zaru. Others are interested in coming to the Center to hear about the history of Quakers in Palestine.

In June FICR hosted an Earlham Alumni group lead by Tony Bing,a study/workcamp lead by Max and Jane Carter, and a Baltimore Yearly Meeting Young Friends group led by Lamar Mathew and Hope Braveheart. Tony, Max, Jane, and Lamar are members of the FICR Steering Committee.

FICR has hosted numerous groups and individuals from abroad who want to hear Jean speak, know more about Quakers in Ramallah, and hear about the current situation. In addition to hosting groups from abroad, local like-minded groups use the Center for meetings and workshops. In December we hosted a classical concert performed by six musicians from Al-Kamandjati, a non-profit organization founded to promote music education among Palestinian youth. From November 10 to December 10 FICR hosted Lorie and Wilbur Wood, a retired Quaker couple from Vancouver, Washington who helped in many ways. We have organized lectures on issues of interest to the community, including Rosemary Radford Ruether speaking about “American Empire and the War Against Evil� and Don Wagner speaking about “Christian Zionism and its Impact on US Policy in the Middle East�.

• Ramallah Friends Schools www.palfriends.org/
• Quaker Peace and Social Witness www.quaker.org.uk/qpsw
• American Friends Service Committee www.afsc.org/middleeast/

Since the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza (also referred to as the Occupied Palestinian Territories – OPT) in 1967, Palestinian presence here has been a threat to Israel. Israel has referred to it as “the demographic problem�. Over the years, Israel has made life so difficult for Palestinians and as a result many have left for other countries. This emigration has also affected the Quaker community in Palestine.

After the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, many Palestinians decided to return to Palestine and become part of building the infrastructure for what was hoped to become an independent and sovereign state of Palestine.

Many of these Palestinians with foreign passports continue to live in Palestine, however, they were never granted identity cards to live in the OPT. They were continued to live here on three-month tourist visas. Since March, Israel decided not to renew the tourist visas of many and not to allow many others to enter. As a result, Palestinian families are torn apart – spouses are not allowed to enter, leaving children with one parent. Some are not given permission by the Israeli authorities to leave Palestine. Many internationals living and working in Palestine have also been affected by this Israeli policy and practice.

A campaign has been launched called “My Right to Enter/Re-Enter� (MYRTOE). If you would like to become involved with this campaign, please go to the following website for more information and for ideas of how you can help to stop this brutal policy and practice. (www.RightToEnter.ps)

If you would like to support the work of FICR with a financial contribution, please send a check payable to “PYM� and earmarked for “FICR� to: