Friends International Center in Ramallah

 April 2007 Newsletter

(Vol. I No. 4)

From the Program Coordinator:

This is the FICR newsletter reporting events that took place at the Friends Center in April.  It was delayed due to the program coordinator’s trip to the US and UK.  The May newsletter will follow shortly.

From the Friends International Center in Ramallah:

Shortly after I returned to Ramallah, the Friends Center hosted two concerts by Michael Barenboim at the Friends Meetinghouse.  The concerts were sponsored by the Said-Barenboim Foundation in Ramallah.  Michael is the gifted son of the world famous conductor, Daniel Barenboim.  He mesmerized a Meetinghouse full of people on April 20 and 22, by playing Bach Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin.  To know more about the violinist and the music he played click here. 

From April 18-20, the village of Bil’in hosted the second annual conference on non-violence.  The conference was attended by more than 350 Palestinians, Israelis, and Internationals.  FICR hosted some of the planning meetings for the conference and assisted with some of the administrative details. 

If you would like to hear the keynote address “Nonviolence: The Future of the Human Family”, delivered by Mairead Corrigan Maguire at the Bil’in conference (filmed by Kathy Kamphoefner, co-Quaker International Affairs Representative), please click on the following links: 

Mairead Maguire, Part One: “Nonviolence: The Future of the Human Family”

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7824565498744871670

Mairead Maguire, Part Two

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2810066568141140585

Maguire is a Northern Irish social worker who, with Betty Williams, founded the Community of Peace People, also known as the Peace People Organization, a grassroots movement of both Roman Catholic and Protestant citizens dedicated to ending the sectarian strife in Ulster. For their work the two women shared the 1976 Nobel Prize for Peace.  More recently, Maguire has been an active advocate for the freedom of Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli anti-nuclear whistleblower.  The same week, in a demonstration against the Wall in Bil’in, Maguire was badly tear-gassed and shot with a rubber bullet. 

Mairead Maguire giving the keynote address in Bil‘in - Photo by Paul Pierce

While in the US, I spoke in many Friends Meetings about the work of the Friends Center and the context for this work.  While in Washington DC and New York, I focused on the visa issue for Palestinians with dual citizenship and others who have been denied entry to the oPt.  There is a lot of interest in this issue in the US and an advocacy campaign on this issue will be launched in the US in the near future.  This new advocacy campaign will give people in the US an opportunity to become involved in advocating for the residency rights of Palestinians in concrete ways.  If you would like to know more about the speaking tour click here. 

If you would like to know more about the speaking tour click here)

Groups continue to visit in order to hear Jean Zaru speak to them about the situation.  For some groups hearing Jean speak is the only time they hear someone speak from a Quaker and therefore from a spiritual perspective. 

From the Ramallah Friends Meeting:

We have had many visitors from abroad worshipping with us. 

Floresca Karanasou, the Middle East Program Manager for Quaker Peace and Social Witness in London, came for meetings with the EAPPI (Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel) program.  While here, Floresca attended Meeting for Worship and met with staff of other Quaker programs in the area. 

Jean Zaru, Presiding Clerk of Ramallah Friends Meeting, has returned to Ramallah.  Her mother’s health has improved.  Her mother is living in Amman and is an amazing woman. She is positive in her thinking and always concerned about others.   

Nabeel Ajlouni will represent the Ramallah Friends Meeting at the Netherlands Yearly Meeting in May. 

The old organ that was damaged during the years that the Meetinghouse, Annex, and grounds fell into disrepair has been restored.  It is looking beautiful again.  To restore it to making music, would cost another $1,000 but it is lovely and is serving as a literature rack in the Meetinghouse.  The cost of the restoration was paid by one of the members of the Meeting. 

From the Occupation: Monthly Action Focus:

The visa situation for Palestinians living outside of Palestine whom Israel had refused entry/re-entry into Palestine via one of the ports Israel controls has not changed much.  Some of those refused in the past have been able to enter, but there are still many who have been refused entry/re-entry or renewal of an expired visa.  Those denied entry/re-entry have included Palestinians with dual citizenship wishing to live and work in Palestine, spouses separated from their families wanting to live together as a family in Palestine, and Palestinians with dual citizenship wishing simply to visit Palestine.  Many Internationals wishing to live and work in Palestine have also been affected by the Israeli policy of refusal of entry.  The MYRTOE (My Right to Enter/re-enter) Campaign continues to work to change Israeli policy on this issue and has made some gains.  However, work continues on the many unresolved issues. 

(Click here)

If you know of someone who has been refused entry/re-entry to Palestine via one of the bridges from Jordan or the Ben Gurion Airport, please contact anita_abdullah@hotmail.com and report this case.  Anita works with MYRTOE and is collecting names of persons who have been refused entry and re-entry.    

You can find more background information on the MYRTOE website:  

www.righttoenter.ps

Kathy Bergen

Program Coordinator

Check out the new FICR website

www.ramallahquakers.org