Quakers Advocating Justice for Palestine

The Israel-Palestine Working Group of New England Yearly Meeting  (IPWG) had been meeting since 2015, primarily to plan programs at Yearly Meeting Sessions about Palestine-Israel. During those gatherings, we have now organized and facilitated over 50 programs including workshops, speakers, informal lunch sessions,  a Gaza pinwheel display from the American Friends Service Committee, photographic displays, slideshows and movies about the region,. For the past serveral years we have helped write and distribute minutes (statements) from monthly and quarterly meetings.

In 2021 the Permanent Board of New England Yearly Meeting formed a new group, Israel Palestine Resource Group, using elements of our former name so we’ve renamed ourselves:

QUAKERS ADVOCATING JUSTICE FOR PALESTINE (QAJP)

We are a small, active, dedicated group from different regions within New England . Most of us have visited Palestine-Israel, some of us multiple times.

Our goals are to foster comprehension of the constantly shifting political landscape, encourage Quaker and individual action, ultimately to contribute to a just peace in Palestine-Israel. We believe strong and fair minutes from NEYM and our constituent monthly and quarterly meetings help foster this goal.

In 2017 we helped New England Yearly Meeting unite on its first ever minute advocating a just peace in Palestine-Israel; our yearly meeting is the first and perhaps yet the only yearly meeting in the United States to unite on such a minute. In addition to organizing Palestine-Israel programs at our yearly meeting sessions (see below) and fostering minutes supporting Palestinian human rights, our two most recent projects have been organizing a memorial travel fund to honor two of our group’s founders, Joyce Rawitscher and Sandy Isaacs, and his wife Nancy Issacs, and promoting the book  Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire with a review here. The fund supports New England Quakers traveling to Palestine-Israel to later report on their discoveries. Click here for application instructions. If you’d like to contribute to the fund, click here. (Click here for a list of delegations Memorial Fund recipients might use, also of value to others contemplating travel to the region.)

Sandy Isaacs was a key founding member active until his death in January 2019, and Joyce (McKelvey) Rawitscher was an earlier important founding member, active until her death in November 2016. We honor and commemorate Charles Simpson, an active member of our group, who died on May 3, 2021 of pancreatic cancer. Charles was instrumental to justice for Palestinians thru, among other ways, his service on the American Friends Service Committee Corporation.

We are a volunteer working group in New England. We work closely with the Israel-Palestine Resource Group under care of Permanent Board of New England Yearly Meeting. We are related to the Quaker Palestine Israel Network (QPIN), the Palestine Israel Action Group (Ann Arbor Monthly Meeting), and the currently dormant Quakers with a Concern for Palestine-Israel, (Ann Arbor Monthly Meeting).

Here is our 2024 annual report (thanks to Scott Rhodewalt).

We are Cliff Bennett (VT) who last visited Palestine-Israel in November 2022, Scott Rhodewalt (Northeast Kingdom Meeting, VT), Steve McKnight (Wellesley Meeting, MA), Martha Yager (Providence Meeting, RI), Bill Woodward (North Shore meeting, MA), Anne Remley (Boulder Meeting, Colorado), Ginny (Virginia) Kristi (Dover Meeting, NH) and Skip Schiel  (Friends Meeting at Cambridge, MA) photographing in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel since 2003 .

We programmed Palestine-Israel events for New England Yearly Meeting Sessions in August 2023 held in Castleton Vermont and online. Photographs below. 2024 photos coming later this summer.

Our 2024 program for New England Yearly Meeting sessions began August 2, concluding on August 7. Held on the campus of Vermont State University in Castleton Vermont, it included the Head of the Ramallah Friends School, Rania Ma’ayeh; Jennifer Bing, Palestine Activism Director of the American Friends Service Committee; Alex McDonald of the Quaker Palestine Israel Network (QPIN); among others, along with displays and books and a presentation based on an analysis of minutes from New England Monthly Meetings by Bob Watt. Plus a consignment shop with one section dedicated to financially supporting the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund.

Photographs of the Palestine-Israel program at NEYM sessions-2024 by Skip Schiel.