A continuing concern: the Israel-Palestine working group
This short article is meant as a reminder and reintroduction of our Israel-Palestine working group (IPWG) and its current areas of concern.
The roots of the IPWG go back to 2012, when a small group of concerned Friends began meeting informally to discern how to respond to the situation unfolding in Palestine and Israel. That group moved quickly from reflection to action. They were instrumental in drafting a Minute of support for the boycott of Israeli settlement goods. This was approved in 2014 as an Addendum to the 2009 Minute of Record on peace in Israel and Palestine (you can read both at https://QuakerService.ca/IsraelPalestine).
In 2015 that ad hoc group formalized its work and the IPWG was officially established as a volunteer working group under Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC). The IPWG brings together Friends from across the country who meet monthly by video call, deepening our understanding and discerning how to act on issues including Palestinian children held in Israeli military detention, Canadian-Israeli military trade, and boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS). Any concerned Friend is welcome to join.
“Over half of detained children are arrested at night. The majority report physical and psychological abuse during arrest and interrogation.”
IPWG’s work has included drafting a 2016 statement that was accepted at Canadian Yearly Meeting calling on Canada to refuse arms sales to countries that may use them in violation of international law or to suppress civilian populations. The Minute urged Canada to sign and ratify the UN Arms Trade Treaty and called on Canada to move from backing wars to supporting creative, non-military approaches to building peace.
In 2020, IPWG helped instigate Parliamentary e-petition 2667, calling on the Canadian government to send a special envoy to monitor the treatment of Palestinian children by the Israeli military—a recommendation from eighteen Canadian Members of Parliament (MPs) who visited the region in 2018. When the government responded, it claimed to already be monitoring the situation. But monitoring without action is not enough. Canada signed the UN Convention on the rights of the child, and Friends believe those obligations must be honoured in practice, not merely in words.
In 2025, the IPWG put forward the Apartheid free communities pledge to Monthly Meetings across Canada, succeeding in gathering supporting Minutes of Record from more than half.
The children we cannot forget
One aspect of IPWG’s ongoing concern is a reality that is difficult to sit with: between 500 and 1,000 Palestinian children are detained by Israeli military forces each year. Most are prosecuted in military courts, which don’t afford the same protections as civilian courts. Children as young as twelve can be tried in this system, most commonly for alleged stone-throwing. Over half of detained children are arrested at night. The majority report physical and psychological abuse during arrest and interrogation. In military courts, the conviction rate is 95%.
Friends may remember reading about Shadi Khoury—a student at the Ramallah Friends School—in a Spring 2023 Quaker Concern article. In 2022, when Shadi was sixteen, Israeli police entered his home in East Jerusalem, beat him, and dragged him away barefoot, blindfolded, and bleeding. After years of proceedings, Shadi—now an adult—was sentenced to 32 months in prison. He has consistently maintained his innocence, and other youths who testified against him later reported that their statements had been coerced under duress. Shadi’s case is not an exception. It is, heartbreakingly, part of a clear pattern.
As of September, 168 Palestinian children were being held in administrative detention—meaning they hadn’t been charged with any crime. Reports document torture, and at least one child died due to inadequate food and medical care. For years now the International Committee of the Red Cross has been unable to visit any Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention facilities, removing a critical layer of oversight and protection.
IPWG’s work continues—in Monthly Meetings, in advocacy, and in keeping this concern alive within the wider body of Friends. We invite you to join us in asking the Canadian government to go beyond monitoring and to act in accordance with its obligations under the Convention on the rights of the child. Write to your MP, raise the concern in your Meeting, and learn more through the organizations doing careful, documented work on the ground: Military Court Watch and Defence for Children International-Palestine.
Linda Taffs and Sara avMaat are both former members of CFSC who continue to volunteer on its Israel/Palestine working group.
