History of Friends Work in Palestine & Israel
1868 Friends began to explore work in Palestine (New England Friends, British Friends, and Five Years Meeting, which later became Friends United Meeting).
1889 Friends Girls School is built in Ramallah.
1901 Friends Boys School is built in Ramallah.
Both schools were turned over to Friends United Meeting (FUM) and partially devolved in 1986.
1948-1950 American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), at the request of the United Nations, provides humanitarian relief for Palestinian refugees.
1949-1962 AFSC Palestinian-Jewish youth work in Israel (Acre Neighborhood Center).
1950-1955 AFSC works in agricultural development in Turan, a northern Palestinian village in Israel.
1948-1950 AFSC begins self-help projects for internally displaced Palestinians in western Galilee.
1960 Friends Service Council (FSC-London) makes available annual grants for bursary assistance to the Friends Schools in Ramallah.
1951-1957 AFSC organizes youth exchanges (workcamps).
1967-1968 AFSC explores possible program options in Israel and Jordan.
1967-1995 AFSC establishes and continues to support Quaker kindergartens in Gaza.
1970 AFSC publishes Search for Peace in the Middle East, a study prepared by AFSC and the Canadian Friends Service Committee, acting in association with the Friends Service Council (London), the Friends World Committee for Consultation, and the Friends Peace and International Relations Committee (London).
1972-present Middle East Quaker International Affairs Representatives (ME-QIAR) maintain a presence in the region, including Israel and Palestine, working on behalf of all Quaker bodies and supervised by AFSC.
1973 AFSC begins the Quaker Legal Aid and Information Center in East Jerusalem (devolved to local board in 1997).
1977-1981 AFSC operates Children with Disabilities Program in Beersheva, Israel.
1982 AFSC publishes A Compassionate Peace: A Future for the Middle East (prepared by a Working Party appointed by the AFSC Board of Directors).
1984-1994 Quaker Peace and Service (QPS), former FSC, establishes a position in Jerusalem and sends volunteers to work with Palestinian and Israeli NGOs.
1984-present AFSC supports Israeli NGOs working on Palestinian-Israeli coexistence among youth and women.
1987 AFSC publishes Missed Opportunities for Peace.
1988-1992 AFSC seconds to the Union of Palestine Medical Relief Committees a physical therapist to work in the village of Idna in the West Bank.
1994-present AFSC Palestine Youth Program in West Bank and Gaza.
1998-2000 QPS sends staff to work at the Friends Schools in Ramallah.
2002 Quaker Peace and Social Witness (QPSW), former QPS, sends observers to Palestine to witness the situation of Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation.
2002-present AFSC supports the Refusenik and Conscientious Objector movements in Israel. AFSC responds to requests from Palestinian NGOs to support and assist in training for non-violent resistance and direct action.
2003-present AFSC appoints Quaker International Affairs Representatives (QIARs) for Jerusalem.
2003-present Observer Project of QPSW becomes the Ecumenical Accompaniers Project for Palestine and Israel (EAPPI).
Viewers have permission to reproduce, distribute, or use this information for non-commercial purposes provided attribution is given to When the Rain Returns: Towards Justice and Reconciliation in Palestine and Israel by an International Working Party. Published by the American Friends Service Committee, Philadelphia, 2004. For information on ordering the book >
^ Top of page |
Email this page