October 9, 2006

The Hon. Condoleezza Rice

Secretary of State

Department of State

2201 C. Street NW

Washington D.C. 20520

Dear Secretary Rice,

As members of Bethesda Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Bethesda, Md., we write to ask your assistance in reversing onerous Israeli regulations imposed on Americans working in Palestine. The recent imposition of new and dramatically restrictive visa regulations gravely threatens the viability of a Quaker school in Ramallah that has provided quality education to Palestinian children for nearly 120 years.

Ramallah Friends School was founded by North American Quakers in the 1880s and currently enrolls some 900 Palestinian children in grades one through 12. Consistent with the teachings of Quakers, the school promotes an ethic of nonviolence and its graduates have engaged in civic life in Palestine for decades, providing a voice for moderation in this turbulent region. The school continues to be operated by American Quakers and receives support from Friends from throughout the United States. Bethesda Friends Meeting has provided scholarship funds to the school for some 30 years.

Among the school’s staff are six U.S. passport holders – some of Palestinian origin, others not – working under three-month visas issued by Israel. In the past, such visas were readily renewable, allowing staff to work throughout the academic year. A recent change in policy now restricts the number of the three-month visas granted to a foreign passport holder to only one visa every twelve months. Under this new policy, these teachers will not be able to renew or extend their three-month stay in Ramallah except after spending a year outside the country.

This new restrictions gravely threatens the viability of the school. No U.S. passport holders would be able to teach for the full academic year. Local teachers are not adequate substitutes for these Americans because the school depends on trained native speakers to deliver the curriculum which includes an international baccalaureate program. According to the Head of the school, “the school will literally collapse if suddenly these teachers were denied entry.”

The objectives that you and President Bush have articulated for this region cannot be achieved by policies that undermine the viability of institutions such as Ramallah Friends School. To help ensure that the school can educate the next generation of Palestinian leaders, we urge you to persuade the Israeli government to rescind its new visa policy. We look forward to hearing from you on this critical matter.

Sincerely yours,

Michael Morfit

Co-clerk