BYM aligns with International Court of Justice on Palestine
‘A necessary step… to true peace.’
Following a decision made by Meeting for Sufferings (MfS) last month (see 25 October), Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has aligned itself with International Court of Justice (ICJ) rulings on Israel and Palestine.
MfS agreed that ‘apartheid’ is an accurate description of the situation in occupied Palestine, and acknowledged that there is a ‘plausible risk of genocide’ in Gaza.
Paul Parker, recording clerk for BYM, said: ‘We are not naive to the difficulties of building true peace, one where love and respect for those on the other side of metaphorical and literal walls abounds. The work required for this is long and hard.
‘Our decades – centuries – of peacebuilding and reconciliation experience also tells us that speaking uncomfortable truths with love, including to friends who find it distressing and painful to hear, is a necessary step on that journey to true peace.’
‘We don’t have to wonder what horrors might happen if this situation continues unchanged,’ he added. ‘The violence of the last seven decades, the attacks on October 7, continued rocket attacks into Israel, the Israeli military campaign over the last year in Gaza – at risk of being deemed genocide by the ICJ – and the West Bank, and now the widening of that violence into Lebanon and the surrounding region, show us all too clearly.
‘It is beyond time for this unbearable situation to end. We pray that steady heads and loving hearts prevail, fast.’
The ICJ determined in July that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory is ‘illegal’ and must end ‘as rapidly as possible’. It also found that Israel is in breach of article 3 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
