FMA Minute on Palestine-Israel

Friends Meeting of Austin Minute on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

As a community of faith, we believe in the intrinsic value of all people. We, the Friends Meeting of Austin (Quakers), seek to nurture peace, health, and justice for all Palestinians and Israelis living in the Middle East and in the diaspora.

We honor all Holy Land faith traditions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and all others that have contributed to the rich cultural diversity of the region.

We encourage discussion about Israel’s current military occupation of and human rights violations in Palestine.

We challenge ourselves and others to ask thoughtful questions of those who support the military occupation, being especially mindful of the need for all peoples to have:

• resources of food, water and sustainable farms,
• infrastructure of electricity,
• access to ancestral fishing grounds in the Mediterranean Sea along the entire coast, especially Gaza,
• safe housing, including new homes and those of ancient ancestry,
• freedom to worship safely in churches, mosques and synagogues,
• safe education of all children,
• revitalization of hospitals,
• free access for everyone to roads and towns to bring goods to market and businesses throughout Palestine/Israel.

As Friends, we are committed to helping to bring awareness of and an end to military occupation and human rights violations within Palestine/Israel. We seek to divest ourselves of any investments in companies supporting military occupation and human rights violations, including companies that:

1. Provide products or services that contribute to violent acts that target either Israeli or Palestinian civilians;
2. Provide products or services that contribute to the maintenance of the Israeli military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem;
3. Provide products or services that contribute to the maintenance and expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories;
4. Provide products or services that contribute to the maintenance and construction of the Separation Wall.

As members of the Religious Society of Friends who believe that all women and men are our sisters and brothers, we are led to take effective actions like the above responding to the suffering of the Palestinian people until the Occupation has ended and the basic human rights of those living under the intolerable conditions of this Occupation are secured.

Guidance for divestment is available at the AFSC’s website

Adopted October 3, 2021

2021.10.01 FMA adopts the following minute regarding on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and our intention to follow through on the points below.