Synod votes on EAPPI
A Quaker-run programme has been backed by the Church of England
A Quaker-run programme has been backed by the Church of England following a heated debate at its General Synod. On the afternoon of Monday 9 July, the synod passed a motion expressing support for the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), a project initiated and run by the World Council of Churches. The UK and Ireland wing is administered by Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW). The decision followed several weeks of controversy.
EAPPI trains human rights monitors to spend around three months in the West Bank. The motion before the synod praised EAPPI’s ‘vital work’. It prompted, however, strong criticism from the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who accused EAPPI of anti-Israeli bias.
The Church of England passed the motion by 201 votes to 54, with 93 abstentions.
Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) come from many faiths and none. Their work includes monitoring checkpoints and accompanying Palestinian children to school. EAPPI say that this helps to protect them from violence by extremist settlers.
EAs observe demonstrations to monitor abuse, but make a point of not joining them. On returning home, they undertake speaking engagements about their experiences.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews accused EAPPI of helping to ‘generate a climate of hostility to Israel in the churches’. They said that after returning EAs form ‘a cohort’ of ‘anti-Israel advocates who have almost no grasp of the suffering of normal Israelis’.
EAPPI say they adopt a position of ‘principled neutrality’ but are ‘on the side of human rights’.
The Board of Deputies alleged that of their three months in the region, EAs spend only one day inside Israel. The claim has been challenged by EAPPI. Former EA Sharen Green explained: ‘I have served twice as an EA, for whom a week hearing a variety of Israeli perspectives was programmed. We spent a day at an illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank. We also visited a kibbutz and many of us travelled down to Sderot, a town where the Qassam rockets rain down from Gaza.’
Sarah Lawson, of ‘Quaker Friends of Israel’, was disappointed to see Synod pass the motion. ‘EAPPI is about advocating for one side while ignoring the serious concerns of the other,’ she said. ‘We [Quakers] have forfeited our reputation for fair play.’
In a letter to The Jewish Chronicle, she wrote: ‘Quakers imagine they are encouraging peace by supporting the side that refuses peace while being hostile to the side that has seriously tried to make peace.’
A key moment in the debate came when the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, insisted that EAPPI is not anti-Israel.
The Synod’s vote was welcomed by Jews for Justice for Palestinians (JfJfP), who said that the Board of Deputies do not represent the views of all British Jews. They said: ‘JfJfP applauds the monitoring and protective activities of EAPPI’.
Helen Drewery, general secretary of QPSW said: ‘Within hours of hearing the General Synod vote, we also heard of further attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians living in the village of Yanoun, while tending their crops and flocks. Quakers welcome any support that ecumenical partners can bring. We see this as further affirmation of EAPPI as strengthening its nonviolent efforts to bring peace to the region.’
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