Palestinian Society in all its diversity comes together at the Friends Schools. In an atmosphere informed by Quaker insights and testimonies, an important social dialogue can take place, fostering the freedom, understanding, tolerance, and unity which are so essential to the task of nation building. Although the almost daily clashes of the intifada years are gone, other conditions have worsened. Unemployment levels and poverty are at unprecedented levels. Jerusalem is inaccessible to most residents.
Palestinian land continues to be seized for Israeli settlements.
Arrests and detentions persist. And political violence is still a frequent occurence. Yet many Palestinians, supported by people of conscience, continue to struggle for a fair peace with Israel and a just society at home. Many associated with the Friends Schools share in this struggle and the Schools' presence is a source of both support and comfort to them. We would wish to contribute, where appropriate, the experience that we have of lives wrestling with the values of peace, justice and reconciliation which have been fed from our Christian and Quaker traditions.