Peace won’t last without Palestinean equality

We welcome the ceasefire and the release of hostages and prisoners in Gaza. However, a ceasefire is only the beginning of the process of building a lasting peace in the Middle East.

We, the members of West Branch Friends Meeting, call on the Israeli government to end their practice of apartheid. Some 15 million people live between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, about half Jews and half Palestinians. Yet all Palestinians — whether defined citizens, residents or subjects — are excluded, fully or in part, from the coming elections. The Israeli government is organized around a single principle: establishing the dominance of one group over another. Israeli Jews have the monopoly on political power. Only they have a true seat at the table where the fate of all who live there is determined. This is apartheid.

There will be no lasting peace until all parties are given an equal voice.

Jane Cadwallader Howe

Clerk, West Branch Friends Meeting