Watch for a new date for an event with Steve Chase from Friends Meeting of Washington (FMW), who will share his personal and several Meetings’ discernment journeys toward joining the Apartheid-Free Communities coalition and working for a truly just peace in Israel/Palestine. The original program has been postponed due to weather and driving conditions.

A brief excerpt from Steve Chase’s overview on the topic follows, with the idea that whatever the outcome of the cease-fire…

“We … know that there will not be a sustainable or just peace without ending Israeli apartheid. We are therefore prepared to take up the long-term ministry of working to build a strong international, nonviolent, anti-apartheid movement in solidarity with Palestinian and Israeli activists. This will require us to engage in peace and justice advocacy, humanitarian assistance, peacebuilding efforts, and strategic nonviolent resistance—the four cornerstones of Quaker faith-based activism. …

“… I often hear from people in the wider Quaker world who believe their congregations are just too divided, too ill-informed, or too apathetic to come to unity on Israel/Palestine. My response is that the experience of Friends Meeting of Washington proves that Quaker meetings can engage in deep discernment and move from fractured disunity and inaction to unity and powerful faith-based activism for peace, justice, and equality for all in Israel/Palestine.”