In times of war, pain pulls at us. Fear urges us to retreat into binaries, but history shows us that these divisions, however emotionally satisfying in the moment, do nothing to heal. They only deepen wounds and prolong suffering.

Over the past year, SNS has been working with the Local Government Association delivering training in how to create brave and safe spaces for discussions around Israel-Palestine. 

We are delighted to have featured recently in the Department for Education’s Educate Against Hate newsletter (see image below). The letter highlighted a recent successful case study in one of our Olive Branch schools. For more information about our Olive Branch Award for Schools, please click here.

Let us be clear: there is no justification for human suffering on the scale we are seeing in Gaza. And, true to our principle of non-violence, there is no military solution that will bring a just and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians.

As I write this, we are still witnessing the darkest days the Israel-Palestine region has ever known. And yet, rather than working to end the devastation and move towards a shared future, we are seeing from political leaders the same ultranationalist ideologies, with calls for continued destruction, expulsion, killing, and refusal to recognise that this is the homeland for all.