Quakers in Britain have added their voice to a growing ecumenical call for the UK government to take concrete action on Israeli settlements, backing a new campaign launched by EAPPI UK & Ireland — the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel — that urges both the UK and Ireland to end all trade with settlements that are illegal under international law.

The campaign draws on a World Council of Churches initiative titled 'From Condemnation to Consequences', and the global #StopSettlementTrade movement. Its timing is pointed: at the end of March, both the British and Irish governments described what they called increasing 'settler terror' as 'appalling', yet both continue to permit trade that, the campaign argues, enables the settlement enterprise to persist and expand.

Quakers co-published a report last year alongside 80 civil society organisations documenting how foreign states enable Israel's illegal settlement enterprise. The UK was identified as one of Israel's largest trading partners, with bilateral trade worth over £6 billion a year, including commerce with settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The campaign is calling on elected representatives to adopt legislation explicitly banning UK trade with illegal settlements, to require Israeli exporters to prove their goods do not originate in occupied territory, to bar financial institutions from investing in settlement-based companies, and to suspend the UK–Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement until Israel complies with its human rights provisions and the ICJ Advisory Opinion of July 2024.

For Quakers, whose tradition of bearing witness to injustice stretches back centuries, this is a natural expression of their commitment to peace and the integrity of international law. The campaign provides a simple action for individuals: emailing their elected representative directly from the EAPPI website.