On April 14, 2024, Trenton Meeting of Friends approved the following statement concerning the conflict between Hamas and Israel.
We stand that persecution of any group of people for being who they are is wrong. Certainly, the killing of a population is wrong, but also taking away from people their safe space to set up homes, to build businesses providing food and other essential needs, to access their own independent government, to access medical care and hospitals, and to access a way to educate their young people is immoral. In addition, it is wrong to attack civilians only because they are a part of a designated group.
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This is true of the abuses which have been perpetrated on Jews in the time of their diaspora, during the many centuries that they lived in Europe, and today. It is equally true of the mistreatment afforded to Palestinians when their land was overtaken seventy-seven years ago, in the restrictions and abuse inflicted on Palestinians in the intervening years, and it is especially true in the mass bombing, blockading of resources and movement, and forced migration of today. What we see is a Jewish and Palestinian cycle of conflict that has been feeding on itself for over seventy years, consuming all in its path and leaving nothing behind but bitterness and sorrow, while pushing any hope for peaceful resolutions further away.
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We call for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel/Hamas war, adequate humanitarian aid into Gaza, and an end to the war. We call for a two-state solution, with both sides having self-determination.
