Opinion: A call to action from North Sandwich to Gaza

By TED MORGAN

Published: 01-22-2025 6:00 AM

Ted Morgan

Ted Morgan is the co-clerk of the North Sandwich Friends Meeting

At our Meeting for Business on Oct. 20, and after long and careful deliberation, the North Sandwich Friends Meeting adopted the following resolution: Quakers, known as ‘Friends,’ are committed to working for peace. This commitment, or ‘testimony’ as we call it, grew out of our faith in the unity of humankind and our belief that each individual person is sacred and of equal value. Although not all individual Quakers are pacifists, Quakers have historically sought to end war and the occasion for war. As Martin Luther King Jr. declared, “without justice, there can be no peace.”

It has been just over a year since the brutal Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel and the Israeli invasion of Gaza, the most recent eruption in the decades-long conflict over Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Throughout this past year, members and attendees of the North Sandwich Friends Meeting have been sharing concerns about the ongoing conflict and violence.

As Quakers, we grieve for the loss of civilian lives and taking of hostages caused by Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7 and Israel’s massively disproportionate assault on the Palestinian civilians in Gaza that continues to this day. More than 42,000 people have been killed in Gaza, predominantly women and children. Homes, schools, hospitals, agricultural lands, businesses, aid distribution centers and places of worship have been widely destroyed. Furthermore, Israel has blocked humanitarian aid to people in Gaza. It is difficult to understand how human life is even possible amid such suffering and ruin.

Moreover, the conflict continues to spread. Increasingly, Palestinian civilians in the West Bank are the targets of Israeli settler and military violence. Last month, the low-level fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah suddenly intensified and then spread further as Israel initiated air strikes on the Lebanese capital of Beirut and invaded southern Lebanon. Over 2,000 people have now been killed in Lebanon since Oct. 2023. The risks of a far more devastating and widespread Middle East war grow each day, potentially involving direct, major military intervention by the United States and Iran. All of this constitutes shocking violations of the Quaker values we hold as true.

All the assaults mentioned above are war crimes, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention for the protection of civilian life during warfare, adopted by 196 nations including the United States in the aftermath of the Second World War.

As U.S. citizens we feel compelled to speak out against our government’s ongoing policy of providing the lethal weaponry and economic support that enables Israel’s continued assaults. We also call for an immediate and complete ceasefire, the release of all hostages and unlawfully detained Palestinians and full access to humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza and Lebanon.

Article continues after...

Yesterday's Most Read Articles

We urge others to raise their voices of concern.