The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) set up the first refugee camps in Gaza in 1949, and British Friends were engaged in relief and peace work throughout the 20th century. Quaker connections to the region go back even further with the establishment of Ramallah Friends School (offsite link) in the West Bank in 1869. Palestinian Quakers still gather for worship at the historic Friends Meeting House (offsite link) in Ramallah.
Since 2003, Quakers in Britain has managed the UK & Ireland branch of the World Council of Churches' Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) on behalf of 16 other churches and church-related organisations. The programme supports ordinary people to serve as human rights monitors – we call them 'Ecumenical Accompaniers' – in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. While there they accompany vulnerable communities and Palestinians and Israelis working nonviolently for peace. Once home they speak out about their witness and advocate for change.
Separate to the EAPPI programme, Quakers in Britain have our own discerned positions on Palestine and Israel. This includes discernment to boycott Israeli settlement goods, divest from all companies profiting from the occupation, and recognise that Israel is maintaining a system of apartheid over Palestinians in occupied Palestine. Quakers recognise there is a plausible risk that Israeli actions in Gaza have constituted genocide.
Guided by our witness Quakers in Britain is actively engaged with partners in advocating publicly for an end to violations of international law, an end to the unlawful occupation of Palestine, and for a just peace for all Palestinians and Israelis.
We encourage Friends to take meaningful action for peace in Palestine and Israel.