Churches at the Crossroads Conference – Belfast Nov 13/14

Just over a week ago I returned to Dublin from southern Africa, via Heathrow. In the airport a free copy of the Financial Times carried an article (paywalled) concerning the Israeli reaction to a ban on trade between Britain and the illegal settlements in occupied Palestine. The British Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband, has underlined that Britain accepts the United Nations International Court of Justice opinion that the occupation is illegal and must end. He uses the words ‘ethnic cleansing’ to describe Israeli government and settler actions against Palestinians. He announced sanctions against anyone who participates in the current settlement expansion programme in the E1 district to the east of Jerusalem. For anyone who desires to see an end to the occupation of Palestine by Israel and an end to the oppression of the Palestinian people the announcement by Miliband is good news. Of course, we want to see a speedy implementation of the new British measures and a ban on all exports of weapons to Israel from the UK.

From an Irish perspective we may well ask, if the UK can ban trade with the settlements in both goods and services why can’t Ireland. The watered-down Occupied Territories Bill passed by the Oireachtas this summer should be amended to include services, which constitute two thirds of Irish trade with the settlements.

I include a link to the Quaker statement on the recent British Government decisions. The British Quakers administer the British and Irish participation in the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel.

Churches at the Crossroads Conference – 13/14 November in Church House Belfas

An important conference is to be held in Belfast in November for people across the UK and Ireland. It is one of several international conferences being organised by Palestinian Christians.

Church at the Crossroads is a conference hosted by the Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice (BIPJ), the evangelical Bethlehem Bible College’s institute for global church engagement. This conference aims to faithfully amplify the witness of Palestinian Christians, inviting the global Church into biblically grounded dialogue and discipleship in pursuit of peace and justice in the Holy Land and beyond. The conference is being held at the Assembly Buildings Conference Centre in the centre of Belfast.

For further information and to register for the conference please go to the following link https://www.churchatthecrossroads.com/belfast

It is anticipated that there will be significant input from prominent Palestinian Christians at the conference, which will help Irish and British Christians to reflect on what the Bible says and doesn’t say about Israel, the Land, and following the way of Jesus. I encourage you to consider registering for this conference.

John Parkin
Chairperson – Kairos Ireland
September 2026