Comments for El-Bireh, Palestine Society's Blog http://elbireh.wordpress.com Just another WordPress.com weblog Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:31:00 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 Comment on About by Rafeedie Family in El Bireh http://elbireh.wordpress.com/about/#comment-3 Rafeedie Family in El Bireh Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:31:00 +0000 #comment-3 The Rafeedie Family dates all the way back to the mid 1700's coming from the town named Rafidia, which is in the northern part of Palestine near Naplas. The story goes that there were three brothers who apparently were feuding and had gotten into trouble and fled the town of Rafidia to seek protection. They had traveled to Ramallah, a Christian town, to seek the protection however Ramallah could not protect them. The brothers traveled a little further to the town of El Bireh, a Moslem town, who took the brothers in. The brothers were taken care of and sheltered. Two brothers had settled in El Bireh and one continued on to Egypt. The brothers started new lives for themselves in El Bireh. They were employed in the textile industry, where they were sewing and weaving traditional men's outer dress jackets, " the Abayeh". They then traded " the Abayehs" in order to purchase property. They were very skilled and hard workers in all that they did. As a ritual, every Sunday they traveled across town to Ramallah to attend church in the only Orthodox Church in Ramallah. They continued to buy property where at one time they were paying more property taxes than anyone for the small family they were in El Bireh. As well, some family members were in the transportation industry in where they provided carriage taxi service from Jerusalem to Naplas. They also maintained the stables that stored the horses. As time went on, many family members moved into the milling business. It wasn't until the turn of this century that anyone had migrated to the United States. The first to settle here was Khalil Rafeedie in around 1906-1907, who was a teacher at the well-known Friends School in Ramallah. He was later followed by his wife who was also a teacher at the Friends School. They got married in the United States and has lived here ever since. The next to follow was Ishaq Rafeedie. It wasn't until after World War II that many other family members came to the United States to settle. To this date our family spreads throughout all of the United States as well as around the world. The Rafeedie Family dates all the way back to the mid 1700’s coming from the town named Rafidia, which is in the northern part of Palestine near Naplas. The story goes that there were three brothers who apparently were feuding and had gotten into trouble and fled the town of Rafidia to seek protection. They had traveled to Ramallah, a Christian town, to seek the protection however Ramallah could not protect them. The brothers traveled a little further to the town of El Bireh, a Moslem town, who took the brothers in. The brothers were taken care of and sheltered. Two brothers had settled in El Bireh and one continued on to Egypt. The brothers started new lives for themselves in El Bireh. They were employed in the textile industry, where they were sewing and weaving traditional men’s outer dress jackets, ” the Abayeh”. They then traded ” the Abayehs” in order to purchase property. They were very skilled and hard workers in all that they did. As a ritual, every Sunday they traveled across town to Ramallah to attend church in the only Orthodox Church in Ramallah. They continued to buy property where at one time they were paying more property taxes than anyone for the small family they were in El Bireh. As well, some family members were in the transportation industry in where they provided carriage taxi service from Jerusalem to Naplas. They also maintained the stables that stored the horses. As time went on, many family members moved into the milling business.
It wasn’t until the turn of this century that anyone had migrated to the United States. The first to settle here was Khalil Rafeedie in around 1906-1907, who was a teacher at the well-known Friends School in Ramallah. He was later followed by his wife who was also a teacher at the Friends School. They got married in the United States and has lived here ever since. The next to follow was Ishaq Rafeedie. It wasn’t until after World War II that many other family members came to the United States to settle. To this date our family spreads throughout all of the United States as well as around the world.

]]> Comment on El-Bireh on YouTube! by F. Hasan http://elbireh.wordpress.com/2008/01/31/el-bireh-palestine/#comment-2 F. Hasan Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:27:52 +0000 http://elbireh.wordpress.com/2008/01/31/el-bireh-palestine/#comment-2 Sam Bahour, who is from Youngstown, OH, and was involved in the early life of the El-Bireh Society in the US, is interviewed at www.arabamericantvonline.com. Sam is from El-Bireh and has been focused on building the Palestinian economy in the West Bank. Sam is also an activist for Palestinian rights and has written numerous articles that have been published across the world. He's interviewed here by Ray Hannina, an Arab-American journalist based in Chicago on the current issues facing Palestinians and the peace process. Sam Bahour, who is from Youngstown, OH, and was involved in the early life of the El-Bireh Society in the US, is interviewed at http://www.arabamericantvonline.com.

Sam is from El-Bireh and has been focused on building the Palestinian economy in the West Bank. Sam is also an activist for Palestinian rights and has written numerous articles that have been published across the world.

He’s interviewed here by Ray Hannina, an Arab-American journalist based in Chicago on the current issues facing Palestinians and the peace process.

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