Tallahassee Meeting Minute on War in Israel-Palestine

Tallahassee Friends Meeting approved a Statement on Conflict in Israel-Palestine, below, at their January 2024 meeting for business. In February, they approved taking out a quarter page ad with the statement in a good location in the Tallahassee Democrat.

Statement on Conflict in Israel-Palestine

We are heartbroken by the terror, violence, and devastation in Israel and Palestine.

Our Quaker faith reminds us that there is that of God within every person, without exception. And that every person has the capacity to experience and respond to the love and guidance of God.

As a result, we unite with the calls of people across the world for:

1. a permanent ceasefire now,
2. immediate release of the hostages,
3. the provision of urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza,
4. and the creation of an independent sovereign state of Palestine beside the State of Israel.

We unconditionally oppose bigotry against Jews, Palestinians and other Arabs and Muslims that has led to the rise in hateful rhetoric and actions targeting these communities in the United States and worldwide.

The government of the United States has a responsibility — and an opportunity – to think with greater vision rather than contributing to the further militarizing of a tragic situation. We urge the President and Congress to join with other nations to address the roots of war and to work for a lasting solution that provides for security, justice, and dignity for all Palestinians and Israelis.

Our faith challenges us to resist the escalating pressures throughout our human family that attempt to justify atrocities against other human beings, and to remember that we are each capable of evil, even in the name of good. We take up the commitment to turn from our own hostile impulses, from amplifying division within our local communities, and from the cycles of vengeful action in conflicts worldwide, so we can move toward the courageous work of peacebuilding.

Let us seek paths to work for peace with the tools available to us. We are called to act in faith and love, with persistence, patience, and courage, as partners and hands of the divine spirit as we pursue the sacred goal of peace, shalom, salaam.

A working group within the Tallahassee Friends Meeting (Quakers) in Florida, developed this statement based on the discernment that flowed from 3 listening sessions held in November-December 2023. Thirteen people from the Meeting participated in at least some of the sessions, some in-person and others via Zoom. We reviewed the statements of a number of other Friends Meetings and were particularly inspired by the November 2023 statements of the Friends Meeting of Washington and the New England Yearly Meeting. In some instances we adapted their words when they captured what emerged from our group discernment better than we could have. The Tallahassee Friends Meeting approved the statement on January 14, 2024.