Uploaded April 2024 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY!
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Filming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell
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Transcript:
Rania
So my name is Rania Maayeh.
Omar
My name is Omar Tesdell. I am the clerk the Ramallah Friends board of trustees.
Rania
And I am the head of Ramallah Friends School.
Omar
I attend Ramallah Friends meeting in Ramallah, Palestine.
Rania
I attend the Ramallah Friends meeting here in Ramallah.
To start with the Ramallah Friends School as part of the history of Ramallah in particular, and the history of Palestine. Ramallah Friends School was founded in 1869 by Eli and Sybil Jones, the two New England Quakers from Maine. At the time. When they arrived to Ramallah, there was no school for girls in Ramallah. Ramallah was the small Christian village of 3000 inhabitants.
Omar
Eli and Sybil Jones, after their pilgrimage, raised money and returned promptly to Palestine, to Ramallah, purchased the land and established a school for girls. Land was purchased in in the city of El-Bireh where the school for boys was established. In the last, I think, 30 years, the two schools were mixed. The campuses are beautiful stone structures from the 19th century. The city has grown up all around the campuses. And so they're really sanctuaries of trees and fresh air and greenery.
Rania
The school has endured two world wars and transitions of power from the Ottoman rule, to the British administration, to the Jordanian governance, to Israeli occupation.
Omar
It's been attacked, it's been hit.
Rania
Palestine continues to grapple with complex political realities, ongoing challenges, the war in Gaza, the escalation of violence in the West Bank. We're under occupation, and as we continue to endure all of this the legacy the history of are our schools serves as the reminder of the enduring strength and unwavering commitment of Palestinians to education and community that have sustained us through all of those years.
Omar
When it seems that hope is lost we try to provide a sanctuary where people can feel welcome, people can feel, to the extent possible, free when outside the walls they are very much not free.
Rania
It's a place for hope, where Palestinians find education as means of resilience and resistance. Within our Quaker faith and practice here at the French school, we have a very open an integrated understanding of our faith with regard to people of other Christian denominations and of our Muslim friends and neighbors.
Omar
Quakerism then becomes a kind of channel by which people can access and come to new understandings of their own faith without any expectation
Rania
These Quaker values, there are universal values that as Palestinians and non Quakers, they believe in those values because they exist in every religion. But when we highlight them and they are integrated within our curriculum, this is why it makes the Ramallah Friends School distinguished because it's a value based education.
Omar
I think friends are called to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. And Jesus, stood with people who were being marginalized in their society. It was happening right here in the land where I am now. He sought to bring about justice in a very, very, very powerful way. Which was not to turn to militarism or nationalism or empire, but rather to live his life in solidarity and live that solidarity to the very end. I think that that example inspires and has inspired friends for generations as they put their own lives on the line to stand with people around the world.
Rania
Quakerism fosters a strong sense of empathy and compassion towards others, Quakers believe in every person's inherent worth and goodness and dignity. And this is the drive for Quakers to advocate for the rights and well-being of all individuals, for justice and for equality. Especially those who are marginalized and oppressed.
Omar
I think friends are particularly well placed to call for the freedom of Palestinians,
and all people around the world who are yearning for things that all of us want for ourselves and for our families and for our loved ones. Dignified life, dignified work, freedom.
Rania
Spirituality provides Quaker activists with their resilience and perseverance in facing the challenges. Because we find the strength and guidance to sustain efforts for social change.
Omar
It's a funny mandate to try to think 20 years down the road when you don't know what's going to happen in the next 20 minutes.
...
___
The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY!
SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donate
SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-Subscribe
WATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos
___
Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28
http://fdsj.nl/FJ-Subscribe
Filming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell
___
Transcript:
Rania
So my name is Rania Maayeh.
Omar
My name is Omar Tesdell. I am the clerk the Ramallah Friends board of trustees.
Rania
And I am the head of Ramallah Friends School.
Omar
I attend Ramallah Friends meeting in Ramallah, Palestine.
Rania
I attend the Ramallah Friends meeting here in Ramallah.
To start with the Ramallah Friends School as part of the history of Ramallah in particular, and the history of Palestine. Ramallah Friends School was founded in 1869 by Eli and Sybil Jones, the two New England Quakers from Maine. At the time. When they arrived to Ramallah, there was no school for girls in Ramallah. Ramallah was the small Christian village of 3000 inhabitants.
Omar
Eli and Sybil Jones, after their pilgrimage, raised money and returned promptly to Palestine, to Ramallah, purchased the land and established a school for girls. Land was purchased in in the city of El-Bireh where the school for boys was established. In the last, I think, 30 years, the two schools were mixed. The campuses are beautiful stone structures from the 19th century. The city has grown up all around the campuses. And so they're really sanctuaries of trees and fresh air and greenery.
Rania
The school has endured two world wars and transitions of power from the Ottoman rule, to the British administration, to the Jordanian governance, to Israeli occupation.
Omar
It's been attacked, it's been hit.
Rania
Palestine continues to grapple with complex political realities, ongoing challenges, the war in Gaza, the escalation of violence in the West Bank. We're under occupation, and as we continue to endure all of this the legacy the history of are our schools serves as the reminder of the enduring strength and unwavering commitment of Palestinians to education and community that have sustained us through all of those years.
Omar
When it seems that hope is lost we try to provide a sanctuary where people can feel welcome, people can feel, to the extent possible, free when outside the walls they are very much not free.
Rania
It's a place for hope, where Palestinians find education as means of resilience and resistance. Within our Quaker faith and practice here at the French school, we have a very open an integrated understanding of our faith with regard to people of other Christian denominations and of our Muslim friends and neighbors.
Omar
Quakerism then becomes a kind of channel by which people can access and come to new understandings of their own faith without any expectation
Rania
These Quaker values, there are universal values that as Palestinians and non Quakers, they believe in those values because they exist in every religion. But when we highlight them and they are integrated within our curriculum, this is why it makes the Ramallah Friends School distinguished because it's a value based education.
Omar
I think friends are called to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. And Jesus, stood with people who were being marginalized in their society. It was happening right here in the land where I am now. He sought to bring about justice in a very, very, very powerful way. Which was not to turn to militarism or nationalism or empire, but rather to live his life in solidarity and live that solidarity to the very end. I think that that example inspires and has inspired friends for generations as they put their own lives on the line to stand with people around the world.
Rania
Quakerism fosters a strong sense of empathy and compassion towards others, Quakers believe in every person's inherent worth and goodness and dignity. And this is the drive for Quakers to advocate for the rights and well-being of all individuals, for justice and for equality. Especially those who are marginalized and oppressed.
Omar
I think friends are particularly well placed to call for the freedom of Palestinians,
and all people around the world who are yearning for things that all of us want for ourselves and for our families and for our loved ones. Dignified life, dignified work, freedom.
Rania
Spirituality provides Quaker activists with their resilience and perseverance in facing the challenges. Because we find the strength and guidance to sustain efforts for social change.
Omar
It's a funny mandate to try to think 20 years down the road when you don't know what's going to happen in the next 20 minutes.
...
___
The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
