Meeting for Sufferings: Israel/Palestine letter
A minute from Devon Area Meeting was heard by Meeting for Sufferings
A minute from Devon Area Meeting regarding Israel/Palestine was heard by Meeting for Sufferings (MfS) on 7 July. Sufferings was asked to consider sending a letter to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) urging a follow-up visit to the one made in 2012.
This was when a group of senior UK lawyers, with FCO backing, visited Israel-Palestine to investigate the treatment of Palestinian children detained by the Israeli military. The lawyers subsequently made forty recommendations to improve the situation.
Staff from Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) indicated that, while at present there is no public campaign on the issue, a letter to the FCO would be in line with Yearly Meeting discernment and they would be happy to draft one if Sufferings felt this would be helpful.
A Friend who has worked in Gaza said: ‘I have seen the effects on children. I do think it is very, very important that we let our voices be heard.’
Another Friend, who was moved by the minute, said: ‘Be careful that when we write this letter we do not appear to be anti-Israeli. We need to keep very carefully to the issues at hand.’
Anne Ullathorne, the clerk of MfS, said QPSW staff were ‘acutely aware of this’. Sufferings agreed to forward the minute to QPSW Central Committee for information.
