As in many parts of the world, AFSC began working in the Middle East in the wake of war and has stayed to help build justice and peace.
Throughout our history, AFSC has coordinated humanitarian relief and other assistance to communities impacted by war in Jordan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and, more recently, Syria.
Since 1948, AFSC has worked with Palestinians, Israelis, and the international community to realize a just and lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis. Today, AFSC advocates for an end to the Israeli occupation, equality for all, and justice for past wrongs.
1948
UN appoints AFSC to mediate
Distributing blankets at a refugee camp at Khan Younis, southern Palestine, near the Egyptian border.
Work at an inoculation clinic in Khan Younis.
Further to a United Nations request, AFSC began administering relief for refugees in Gaza, setting up clinics, local hospitals, a midwifery program to train dozens of women, and a school program.
1950
Training in Akka
Sewing classes for girls was one of the projects started by AFSC in its Neighborhood Center in Akka.
Woodworking training in Akka.
Exterior of the Neighborhood Center in Akka.
AFSC established a relief unit in Akka with vocational training for youth. This eventually grew into agricultural development work over the coming decades.
1967
Special mission to the Middle East
AFSC sent a special mission to the Middle East after the six-day war. The result was the publication of “Search for Peace in the Middle East” in 1970, which supported the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state and laid the groundwork for two-state calls.
1970
Pre-School Activity Centers Established
Thousands of refugee and disadvantaged children benefited from pre-school activities.
These activity centers, managed by AFSC, ran from 1970 to 1994, throughout the Gaza Strip.
Under agreement with UNRWA, AFSC established its first pre-school activities center programs in Gaza. These play centers were running until they devolved into the Palestinian Early Childhood Education Programs in 1994.
1973
Quaker Service Legal Aid and Information Center
Staff members Haifa El-Issa, Maha Abu Dayyeh, Wafa Halabi, and Abdullah Hammad at work in the Center.
Maha Abu Dayeh, the Center's former director.
Group shot of the Center's staff, including Haifa Al issa, Wafa Hadlabi, Rabad Issawi, Abdallah Hamad, Maha Abu Dayyeh, Usama Halabi and Hani Naser-eddin.
The Quaker Service Legal Aid and Information Center in Jerusalem aided hundreds of families whose members were detained by the Israeli occupation forces. As the first human rights organization established in Israel and Palestine, the Center operated until its devolvement into the Jerusalem Legal Aid Center in 1997.
1987
Offering Therapy Services
Paula Rainey shows a child's mother (left) and Majida, the physical therapy assistant/interpreter (right), how to work with the child to strengthen his lower body. Catherine Essoyan
Catherine Essoyan
Paula Rainey notes the progress of a child who suffered the effects of untreated spinal meningitis. Six months prior to this photo she couldn't lift her head or focus her eyes. Catherine Essoyan
AFSC offered physical and occupational therapy services in Hebron, working closely with the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Society during the first Intifada years (1987-90).
1996
Youth Program
Youth meeting in Palestine for the first youth program in 1996. Bill Pierre / AFSC Annual Report, 1996
Students attending AFSC’s Palestinian Youth Program in 2011.
A national meeting held in Nablus in 2015. Participants met to evaluate the course of their work through the Palestine Youth Together for Change Project. For the first time ever, 15 participants were able to exit Gaza, many for the first time. Ilona Kassissieh / AFSC
AFSC's youth program was started in the West Bank. It operated in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Akka, and developed the capacity of youth and staff working in youth organizations. This work evolved into a youth civic engagement program that ran for over 15 years in the West Bank and Gaza.
2016
Gaza Unlocked
Children in Gaza line up for the bus to school in 2016.
AFSC staff raise awareness of the Gaza blockade at Cot Market in Indianapolis, IN. Erin Polley / AFSC
A Palestinian refugee receives goods distributed at the UNRWA distribution center, Al Tuffah neighborhood, Gaza Strip. Anne Paq / Active Stills
A photo from the Great March of Return in 2018, a protest against the blockade which took place at the fence between Gaza and Israel. Mohammed Zaanoun
The first event of the Great March of Return Speaking Tour, organized by AFSC and featuring Ahmed Abu Artema, who inspired the protest.
Photo from the first of two Light in Gaza book tours, featuring authors and contributors of the AFSC-published anthology. The DC leg of the first book tour featured Jehad Abusalim, Dorgham Abusalim, Asmaa Abu Mezied, and Yousef Aljamal.
The Gaza Unlocked campaign to end the blockade begins, offering analysis, stories, and background information about Gaza. The project seeks to raise awareness and provide resources for those wishing to organize in solidarity, take part in events and protests, engage elected officials, and work for an end to Israel’s blockade on Gaza.
2022
Apartheid-Free
In May of 2023, the American Friends Service Committee led an ecumenical delegation to bear witness to Israeli apartheid. This video shares what they witnessed, and how they are working with Palestinians and Israelis through the creation of Apartheid-Free Communities.
A delegation of faith leaders and AFSC staff taking part in the May 2023 trip to witness apartheid in Palestine.
AFSC launches Apartheid-Free, an interdenominational coalition of faith groups in North America following the emerging consensus among the international human rights community that Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people amounts to the Crime of Apartheid.
