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AFSC - Israel

Established in 1985, AFSC's New Israel Program worked in mixed Jewish-Arab areas in northern Israel, providing financial support for new and innovative NGOs that are working to create a more equitable society between Israel's Jewish majority and its 18% minority of Arab citizens.

The program promoted civil rights of Israeli-Arabs in the Galilee by improving access to education, employment, and housing. AFSC also promotes interagency networking and cooperation to strengthen links between Palestinian organizations in Israel and those elsewhere in the Middle East, especially Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan.

The AFSC provided special attention to those organizations that worked in Arab-Jewish coalitions on issues such as housing preservation, building cooperatives, school improvements, youth activities, and economic development that may help them to achieve their own goals.

Currently, AFSC Quaker International Affairs representatives in Jerusalem are working with Israeli groups to educate and support young Israelis about conscientious objection and refusal, a natural area of work for an organization with roots in civilian public service programs for American conscientious objectors during World War I.

Rotem Mor (left)and Eayal Barami during their speaking tour in the US.

An Israeli conscientious objector (CO), Rotem Mor, program coordinator for Quaker Service, has been very helpful in connecting the program to Israeli peace groups.  He has facilitated youth seminars on conscientious objection, and sponsored the first Parents of Refusers meeting, in which parents and refusers discussed their differing views of military service and strengthened their relationships. Ongoing support for young CO’s and their parents helps them through the difficult process of appealing for CO status and facing and undergoing prison time. Most of these young people and their parents have become active in the peace movement and participated in actions against the Wall.

In February 2005, Rotem and another CO Eyal Barami went on a speaking tour in a number of cities in the US. The speaking tour marked the launch of Faces of Hope an AFSC campaign supporting nonviolent resistance and refusal in Israel and Palestine. 

Support for local partners:

The Right to a Home and a Homeland, Global Campaign to Rebuild Palestinian Homes, Jerusalem
The AFSC supports the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions in its campaign to rebuild damaged Palestinian homes in the Jerusalem area.

Youth Leadership and Community Development Project
AFSC has collaborated with Baladna, Association for Arab Youth in implementing the Youth Leadership and Community Development Project in Israel. This project aimed to set up a nation-wide Arab youth movement, operating in all the Arab localities, as well as in mixed cities. By strengthening the leadership skills and enhancing the political and social awareness of Palestinian youth in Israel, Baladna and AFSC hope to increase involvement of youth in local community development projects.

Fighting Trafficking of Women in Northern Israel
AFSC has supported Isha L’Isha, a Haifa feminist organization, in fighting the trafficking of women in Northern Israel. Since the 1990s, approximately 3,000 women each year have been brought to Israel from the Former Soviet Union to work in the sex slave market. AFSC supports Isha L’Isha in assisting and supporting the victims of the crime, in bringing about the victims’ human rights as guaranteed by the State of Israel, and in lobbying for the reinforcement of an effective public policy that will punish the perpetrators of such crime.

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