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100 Years of Quakers in Palestine
Abstract
Much of the scholarship on religious movements in Israel/Palestine has focused on Islamist movements like Hamas or Islamic Jihad or the Gush Emunim, the ideological Jewish settler movement, groups usually seen as problematic for peace and justice efforts, based on exclusivist principles or claiming divine right to the land. However some scholars, like Yehezkel Landau, Marc Gopin and Mohammed Abu-Nimer have documented the positive role that religion can play in peacemaking between Israelis and Palestinians (and particularly between Jews and Muslims). A growing literature examines the role of Christians in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict although much of this focuses on evangelical Christian Zionists and their support for Israeli policies as a result of millenialist beliefs rather than Christian efforts for peace and justice. In March 2010, the Ramallah Friends Meetinghouse will celebrate its 100th anniversary. Although the Quaker (Religious Society of Friends) presence in Palestine pre-dates the meeting, the meeting house has provided an institutional anchor to the local Quaker community and a focal point for Quaker visitors from around the world when they pass through the Holy Land. Quakers are known for their testimonies emphasizing peace, equality, and social justice, and their work in Palestine has reflected those beliefs even as their activities have changed over the decades. For many years the Quakers ran a preschool in the Amari refugee camp, and in 2005 they established the Friends International Center in Ramallah (FICR) to provide a space for hosting groups and conducting programming related to Quaker concerns. Although there have been a few efforts to document the history of the Ramallah Friends Schools, these are limited, and nothing has been written on the Ramallah meeting house, or the Quaker community in Palestine more generally. This paper will draw on oral interviews collected at the centennial celebration with current and past members of the Ramallah meeting as well as FICR reports and publications spanning the five years of its existence to investigate the impact of the Quaker community on peace and justice efforts over time. The interviews and reports will be placed in the context of socio-political changes that have occurred in Ramallah over the past century, especially since the signing of the Oslo Accords and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, as well as the literature on religious movements and peace.
Discipline
International Relations/Affairs
Geographic Area
Palestine
Sub Area
Peace Studies