Friday  26th October, 2012  at Friends’  Meeting House beside
Friends’ Prep.School, 4, Magheralave Road, Lisburn, BT28 3BD.

7.30- 9.30 p.m.

The conflict in Palestine and Israel is very serious, emotive and divisive and affects people and their thinking in many parts of the world.

Quaker Yearly Meeting Peace Committee warmly invites you to a meeting where Ian Bell, formerly of Lisburn, will speak to us about his experiences last year as an Ecumenical Accompanier in Palestine.  He has had wide experience of the Palestine/Israel situation and of other international problem areas. He has spoken on the subject to many people throughout the British Isles, Ireland, and beyond.

Following his introduction, your questions and your part in the open discussion are absolutely central to this event. So please put Friday, 26th October into your diary.

The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) brings internationals to the West Bank to experience life under occupation. Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) provide protective presence to vulnerable communities, monitor and report human rights abuses and support Palestinians and Israelis working together for peace.
The World Council of Churches set up the programme in 2002 in response to requests from Palestinian Christians to people of goodwill around the world who wish to see the realities of occupation for themselves.

The EAPPI programme is managed by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) from Friends House in London.

Ian Bell, a non resident in Ireland Friend of Lisburn Meeting, with wide experience of the Palestinine/Israeli situation and other international problem areas. 

Ian has spoken widely on the subject to many people in many places throughout the British Isles and beyond. He was an ecumenical accompanier in EAPPI [The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel].

As well as talking about his own experiences, he will put them in the context of what EAPPI seeks to achieve, why, the rationale of its methods and their effectiveness and its selection process. He has wide international experience in his career.

A hard task to follow

Saturday 20th October, 2012

At Churchtown Meeting House, 82 Lower Churchtown Road, Dublin 14.

10.30am- 1.00pm

Notice from Irish Yearly Meeting Peace Committee

Last May, Irish Yearly Meeting Peace Committee co-operated with Dublin Monthly Meeting Peace Committee and Churchtown Meeting to arrange a seminar at Churchtown Meeting House. We discussed the situation in Palestine and Israel.

The four speakers there gave quite differing views on the subject. It was important that this breadth of thinking was equally shared and respected. These talks were followed by a general discussion, followed by lively discussions in groups.

Friends there made it clear that they would like to see this followed up by other meetings. To help us to address an often contentious and emotive subject, we all felt that the input of qualified information and experience was vital.

With this in mind, we are arranging a further meeting, again in Churchtown Meeting House, for 20th October, 2012.

Ian Bell, a non resident in Ireland Friend of Lisburn Meeting, with wide experience of the Palestinine/Israeli situation and other international problem areas, has been asked to speak to us.

Ian has spoken widely on the subject to many people in many places throughout the British Isles and beyond and is coming to Ireland for a short visit later this month).

He was an ecumenical accompanier in EAPPI (The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel).

As well as talking about his own experiences, he will put them in the context of what EAPPI seeks to achieve, why, the rationale of its methods and their effectiveness and its selection process. He has wide international experience in his career. Why did EAPPI seem a good project for him to become involved in?

Your questions and your part in the open discussion are absolutely central to this event. So please put Saturday 20^th October into your diary.

The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) brings internationals to the West Bank to experience life under occupation. Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) provide protective presence to vulnerable communities, monitor and report human rights abuses and support Palestinians and Israelis working together for peace.

The World Council of Churches set up this programme in 2002 in response to requests from Palestinian Christians to people of goodwill around the world who wish to see the realities of occupation for themselves.

It is managed by the Religious Society of Friends from Friends House in London.

Saturday 20th October, 2012

At Churchtown Meeting House, 82 Lower Churchtown Road, Dublin 14.

10.30-11.00am – coffee

11.00 a.m. – Ian Bell

12.00 – open discussion and questions. Finishing at approximately 1.00 p.m.

Tea and Coffee will be provided. Please bring your own lunch.

Dominic Scott, a professor of Millersville University, Pennsylvania  is coming to N.Ireland in June this year with a group of students and a few graduates to learn a bit about life here now and our troubled past. He has been doing this for many years, having originally come from here.  Some Friends had an opportunity to meet with him and his group last year and the year before at specially arranged gatherings in Lisburn Meeting House.

Most of the students come from the Pennsylvania region, the home of many Amish, Mennonite, and of course Quakers.

The students will be looking at the following topics for their papers:

• Civil Rights
• Irish Culture
• Irish Mythology
• Irish Music
• Integrated schools
• Education and the problems it faces in NI
• Youth at Risk

We can address some of these topics, and with that in mind the under-noted meetings have been arranged.

19th June, 2012 at Friends Meeting House, Magheraleave Road, Lisburn at 7.00 p.m.

Speakers:-

ARTHUR CHAPMAN (Lisburn)  -  Education

ROY BLAIR   (Frederick Street)     -  Quaker Service

SCOTT BOLDT  (Methodist Reconciliation Programme) -  Work in Young Offenders prison

JACK HANVEY -  Reconciliation and social work done during the Troubles, with particular reference to an organisation called Madcap.

The meeting will be chaired by FELICITY McCARTNEY  (South Belfast)

As music is important to the visitors, a musical evening has been arranged for them, again  in

Lisburn Meeting House at 7.00 p.m on Wednesday evening 20th June, 2011.

Our Friend/friend Peter MacAllister, himself a musician,and with an extensive knowledge on the subject will talk to the visitors about Irish Music along with  Dara Vallely,well known Irish musician, who is bringing the Armagh Rhymers along . There will also be a few local musicians.

IEPC Message

Glory to God and Peace on Earth

The Message of the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation

I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith,as you are being rooted and grounded in love. (Ephesians 3: 16-17)

We understand peace and peacemaking as an indispensable part of our common faith. Peace is inextricably related to the love, justice and freedom that God has granted to all human beings through Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit as a gift and vocation. It constitutes a pattern of life that reflects human participation in God’s love for the world. The dynamic nature of peace as gift and vocation does not deny the existence of tensions, which form an intrinsic element of human relationships, but can alleviate their destructive force by bringing justice and reconciliation.

God blesses the peacemakers. Member churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and otherChristians are united, as never before, in seeking the means to address violence and to reject war infavor of “Just Peace” – the establishment of peace with justice through a common response to God’scalling. Just Peace invites us to join in a common journey and to commit ourselves to building aculture of peace.

We, nearly 1,000 participants from more than 100 nations, called together by the WCC, have shared the experience of the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC), a gathering of Christian churches and inter-religious partners dedicated to the pursuit of Peace in the community, Peace with the Earth, Peace in the marketplace and Peace among the peoples. We met on the campus of theUniversity of the West Indies (Mona) near Kingston, Jamaica from 17 through 25 May 2011. We are profoundly grateful to our hosts in Jamaica and throughout the Caribbean region who generously have provided a rich and spacious setting for fellowship and growth in God’s grace. By the very fact that we met on the site of a former sugar plantation, we were reminded of the injustice and violence of slavery and colonialism and of the forms of slavery that still plague the world today. We have been informed by the severe challenges of violence in this context as well as the brave involvement of churches in order to meet those challenges.

We brought the concerns of our churches and regions to Jamaica; we spoke with one another here;now, we have a word to share with the churches and the world. We have encountered one anotherthrough Bible study, spiritually enriching common prayer, inspiring expressions of the arts, visits tolocal ministries and other service agencies, plenaries, seminars, workshops, cultural events, lecturesessions, wide-ranging deliberations and deeply moving conversations with persons who haveexperienced violence, injustice and warfare. We have celebrated the achievements of the ecumenicalDecade to Overcome Violence (2001-2010). Our engagements have inspired us in showing thatovercoming violence is possible. The Decade to Overcome Violence has generated many beautifulexamples of Christians who have made a difference.

As we gathered in Jamaica, we were keenly aware of events in the world around us. Stories fromour churches remind us of local, pastoral and social responsibilities for people who must deal dailywith each of the issues we discussed. The aftermath of earthquake and tsunami in Japan raises urgentquestions concerning nuclear energy and threats to nature and humanity. Governmental and financialinstitutions face the necessity of taking responsibility for their failed policies and the devastatingimpact on vulnerable people. We witness with concern and compassion the struggle for freedom,justice and human rights of the people in many Arab countries and other contexts where brave peoplestruggle without global attention. Our love for the peoples of Israel and Palestine convinces us thatthe continued occupation damages both peoples. We renew our solidarity with the people of dividedcountries such as the Korean peninsula and Cyprus, and people yearning for peace and an end tosuffering in nations like Colombia, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Great Lakes region of Africa.

We realize that Christians have often been complicit in systems of violence, injustice, militarism,racism, casteism, intolerance and discrimination. We ask God to forgive us our sins, and to transform us as agents of righteousness and advocates of Just Peace. We appeal to governments and other groups to stop using religion as a pretext for the justification of violence.

With partners of other faiths, we have recognized that peace is a core value in all religions, and the promise of peace extends to all people regardless of their traditions and commitments. Through intensified inter-religious dialogue we seek common ground with all world religions.

We are unified in our aspiration that war should become illegal. Struggling for peace on earth we are confronted with our different contexts and histories. We realize that different churches and religionsbring diverse perspectives to the path towards peace. Some among us begin from the standpoint of personal conversion and morality, the acceptance of God’s peace in one’s heart as the basis for peacemaking in family, community, economy, as well as in all the Earth and the world of nations.Some stress the need to focus first on mutual support and correction within the body of Christ if peace is to be realized. Some encourage the churches’ commitment to broad social movements and the public witness of the church. Each approach has merit; they are not mutually exclusive. In fact they belong inseparably together. Even in our diversity we can speak with one voice.

Peace in the community

Churches learn the complexities of Just Peace as we hear of the intersection of multiple injustices and oppressions that are simultaneously at work in the lives of many. Members of one family or community may be oppressed and also the oppressors of others. Churches must help in identifying the everyday choices that can end abuse and promote human rights, gender justice, climate justice,economic justice, unity and peace. The churches need to continue to confront racism and casteism as dehumanizing realities in today’s world. Likewise, violence against women and children must be named as sin. Conscious efforts are required for the full integration of differently abled people.Issues of sexuality divide the churches, and therefore we ask the WCC to create safe spaces to address dividing issues of human sexuality. At every level churches play a role in supporting and protecting the right of conscientious objection, and in assuring asylum for those who oppose and resist militarism and armed conflicts. The churches must raise their common voice to protect our Christian brothers and sisters as well as all humans who are subjected to discrimination and persecution on the grounds of religious intolerance. Peace education must move to the centre of every curriculum in schools,seminaries and universities. We acknowledge the peacemaking capacity of youth and call on the churches to develop and strengthen networks of Just Peace ministries. The church is called to go public with its concerns, speaking the truth beyond the walls of its own sanctuary.

Peace with the Earth

The environmental crisis is profoundly an ethical and spiritual crisis of humanity. Recognizing the damage human activity has done to the Earth, we reaffirm our commitment to the integrity of creation and the daily lifestyle it demands. Our concern for the Earth and our concern for humanity go hand in hand. Natural resources and common goods such as water must be shared in a just and sustainable manner. We join global civil society in urging governments to reconstruct radically all our economic activities towards the goal of an ecologically sustainable economy. The extensive use off ossil fuels and CO2 emissions must be reduced urgently to a level that keeps climate change limited.The ecological debt of the industrialized countries responsible for climate change must be considered when CO2 emission shares and plans for adaptation costs are negotiated. The nuclear catastrophe of Fukushima has proved once again that we must no longer rely on nuclear power as a source of energy.We reject strategies such as an increased production of agro fuel which hurt the poor by competing with food production.

Peace in the marketplace

The global economy often provides many examples of structural violence that victimizes not through the direct use of weapons or physical force but by passive acceptance of widespread poverty, trade disparities and inequality among classes and nations. In contrast to unfettered economic growth as envisioned by the neoliberal system, the Bible signals a vision of life in abundance for all. The churches must learn to advocate more effectively for full implementation of economic, social and cultural rights as the foundation for “economies of life”.

It is a scandal that enormous amounts of money are spent on military budgets and toward providing weapons for allies and the arms trade while this money is urgently needed to eradicate poverty around the globe, and to fund an ecologically and socially responsible reorientation of the world economy. We urge the governments of this world to take immediate action to redirect their financial resources to programmes that foster life rather than death. We encourage the churches to adoptc ommon strategies toward transforming economies. The churches must address more effectively irresponsible concentration of power and wealth as well as the disease of corruption. Steps toward just and sustainable economies include more effective rules for the financial market, the introduction of taxes on financial transactions and just trade relationships.

Peace among the peoples

History, especially in the witness of the historic peace churches, reminds us of the fact that violence is contrary to the will of God and can never resolve conflicts. It is for this reason that we are moving beyond the doctrine of just war towards a commitment to Just Peace. It requires moving from exclusive concepts of national security to safety for all. This includes a day-to-day responsibility to prevent, that is, to avoid violence at its root. Many practical aspects of the concept of Just Peace require discussion, discernment and elaboration. We continue to struggle with how innocent people can be protected from injustice, war and violence. In this light, we struggle with the concept of the “responsibility to protect” and its possible misuse. We urgently request that the WCC and related bodies further clarify their positions regarding this policy.

We advocate total nuclear disarmament and control of the proliferation of small arms.

We as churches are in a position to teach nonviolence to the powerful, if only we dare. For we are followers of one who came as a helpless infant, died on the Cross, told us to lay aside our swords,taught us to love our enemies and was resurrected from the dead.

In our journey towards Just Peace, a new international agenda is of the utmost urgency because of the scope of dangers surrounding us. We call on the ecumenical movement as a whole, and particularly those planning the WCC Assembly of 2013 in Busan, Korea, with the theme “God of life, lead ust o justice and peace”, to make Just Peace, in all its dimensions, a key priority. Resources such as An Ecumenical Call to Just Peace (ECJP) and the Just Peace Companion can support this journey to Busan.

All thanks and praise to you, O Triune God: Glory to you, and peace to your people on earth. God of life, lead us to justice and peace. Amen.

at

Churchtown Meeting House,

82 Lower Churchtown Road, Dublin 14

Originated by Yearly Meeting Peace Committee

with the assistance of

Dublin Monthly Meeting Peace Committee

11.00am-3.30pm

Contact: Seán McCrum smccrum.1949@gmail.com  087-947 4459 01 / 00-353-1/ 679 3279

Yearly Meeting Peace Committee discovered that they do not know what Friends’ views on this matter are.  Discussing a matter related to Israel-Palestine, we rapidly discovered that we had no idea of Friends’ views.
This is a matter of pressing moral, ethical, political and potentially destructive concern.
It is matter which affects not just this region, but the world at many levels.

We know what a small number of individual Friends think, because of their actions, but we do not know the views of the majority of Friends . Do they have a single viewpoint, or many or different perceptions? Is this a matter of concern or not to them?
Every Yearly Meeting Committee needs to be aware of Friends’ views. We as such a Committee, need to be aware of Friends’ views.

We decided to hold a seminar on this concern. We are aware of the contentious nature of this matter.
We consider that using the model of a business meeting would be appropriate.

We hope that this seminar will offer Friends a safe forum to express their concerns and perceptions on this matter, opening up a route to further discourse.

There will be two sessions, morning and afternoon.
In the morning, Ian Woods will act as Convenor.
It is important that we speak from knowledge.

11.00-12.00 – Dr. Vincent Durac, a UCD-based specialist in near-Eastern politics, will speak on the background to the present situation.

12.00 -12.40 – Richard Kimble, Janet Gooberman and Noel Sinnamon will speak as Friends who have particular views on this concern.
12.40-1.15 – questions and general discussion.

1.15-2.00 – lunch – please bring your own. There is nowhere around Churchtown to buy food.

2.00-3.00 – workshops, based on concerns expressed by Friends during the morning
3.00-3.30 – workshops report to general meeting and concluding discussion.

PEACE COMMITTEE OF
IRELAND YEARLY MEETING

THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS
[QUAKERS] IN IRELAND.

WHO ARE WE?
We are Quakers.
We base our thinking and actions on our Peace Testimony.

Our view of peace is positive – we seek for peace because it is a real and better alternative to war and violence.

We believe that seeking peace builds peace.

We are the Peace Committee of Ireland Yearly Meeting.
Ireland Yearly Meeting is the gathering of the Religious Society of Friends
[Quakers] in Ireland.

OUR ROLE

The Yearly Meeting Peace Committee sees its role as

• providing and communicating peace-related information;
• aiding in breaking down many peace-related people’s sense of isolation;
• addressing the national and international peace concerns of Friends and others;
• acting as a catalyst to bring them together and to raise awareness of peace-related issues;
• advocating working peacefully to this end, in the spirit of our Friends’ Peace Testimony

Israeli authorities demolished Beit Arabiya (“Arabiya’s House”) last night (Monday, January 23^rd) for the fifth time, along with structures in the East Anata Bedouin compound.  Beit Arabiya, Located in the West Bank town of Anata (Area C) just to the northeast of Jerusalem, is a living symbol of resistance to Occupation and the desire for justice and peace.

You can read the full article at the link below:

http://qceablog.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/peace-house-in-the-west-bank-demolished-for-the-5th-time/

“War Crimes in Sri Lanka:International Implications”

Denis Halliday & Mary Lawlor

Thursday, October 77

PMJ. M. Synge Theatre

Arts Building

Trinity College Dublin

Denis Halliday is former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Mary Lawlor is Director of Front Line, The International Foundation for theProtection of Human Rights Defenders.

Denis Halliday and Mary Lawlor were both panel members of the People’s Tribunal on SriLanka, which met in Dublin in January of this year.

The Tribunal found the Sri Lankangovernment guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the final phase of the civilwar in 2009, and that the international community shared responsibility for the breakdownof the peace process in Sri Lanka.

Some video evidence from the war will be screened at this event.

For the Tribunal report please visit www.pptsrilanka.org

Organised by the International Peace Studies programme at the Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin www.tcd.ie/ise/peace/ and the Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka www.ifpsl.org

All Welcome

Haiti needs a sustained international effort as it seeks to recover from this earthquake. The current outpouring of support is encouraging, and now we need to cancel Haiti’s debt so the country can start its recovery without the burden of debts it won’t be able to pay. In addition we must be vigilant that new aid doesn’t come in the form of loans that would create new debt for Haiti.

But here and now, there is a very clear goal: let’s get rid of this crippling debt.

http://one.org/international/actnow/haiti/

J.M. Synge Theatre, Trinity College Dublin
Saturday 16th January @ 2.00pm

The Permanent People’s Tribunal (successor to the Bertrand Russell Tribunal) will be conducting a People’s Tribunal on the war in Sri Lanka and its aftermath in Dublin on the 14th, 15th & 16th of January 2010.

On behalf of the Tribunal organisers, the Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka, invite you to attend the public event on Saturday January 16th at 2pm in the J. M. Synge Theatre in Trinity College, Dublin during which the jury will announce an interim response to the evidence presented at the Tribunal. The session will include a discussion on the future course(s) of action that will need to be taken based on the findings of the Tribunal.

The People’s Tribunal will investigate the allegations that the Government of Sri Lanka and its armed forces committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during and after the final phase of its war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The Tribunal will also examine the local and international factors that led to the collapse of the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement.