Panel shuns 'divestment' word in proposed Israeli-Palestinian policy By John H. Adams The Layman Online Sunday, June 18, 2006 217th General Assembly Birmingham, Ala. BIRMINGHAM -- After the 216th General Assembly approved a one-sided divestment resolution, former General Assembly moderator Susan Andrews said a Jewish friend asked her, "'What the hell is going on in the Presbyterian Church?' - pardon my French." Late Saturday night, the Peacemaking and International Issues Committee of the General Assembly approved a recommendation to the full assembly intended to convince Jewish and Islamic groups that the Presbytery Church (USA) will end its partisanship on the thorny issues dealing with Israeli and Palestinian relationships. The proposed policy statement was overwhelmingly approved 56-6 with three abstentions. However, some members of the Peacemaking group said they will also file a minority report. If approved by the full assembly later this week, the committee's recommendation could diffuse the harsh condemnation by Jewish groups over the 2004 assembly's call for "phased selective divestment" of PCUSA holdings in multinational corporations doing business in Israel. At least, that was the intent of the recommendation, but interpretation will determine whether the PCUSA gets off the Jewish blacklist. The committee waded through 41 overtures and recommendations on divestment before deciding to craft its own response and to be painstakingly evenhanded. The recommendation began with an acknowledgement that the 216th General Assembly "caused hurt and misunderstanding among many members of the Jewish community and within our Presbyterian communion. We are grieved by the pain that this has caused, accept responsibility for the flaws in our process, and ask for a new season of mutual understanding and dialogue." The next two paragraphs of the statement cited the 216th GA (2004) recommendation and proposed the 217th GA alternative. The 2004 resolution said the GA: "7. Refers to Mission Responsibility Through Investment Committee (MRTI) with instructions to initiate a process of phased selective divestment in multinational corporations operating in Israel, in accordance to General Assembly policy for social investing, and to make appropriate recommendations to the General Assembly Council for action." The 2004 recommendation would replace that policy with: "To have those financial investments of the Presbyterian Church (USA), as they pertain to Israel, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank, be invested in only peaceful pursuits, and affirm that the customary corporate engagement process of the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment of our denomination -- in conjunction with appropriate reinvestment of funds where necessary -- is the proper vehicle for achieving this goal." Furthermore, the proposed policy on investments contains a rider directing that MRTI apply "fundamental principles of justice and peace common to Christianity, Islam and Judaism that are appropriate to the practical realities of Israeli and Palestinian societies;" "should reflect commitment to positive outcomes;" and "should reflect awareness of potential impact upon the stability, future viability, and prosperity of both the Israeli and Palestinian economies." The statement does not stop MRTI from proceeding toward proposing divestment of PCUSA funds in any corporation. But it does require even-handedness and avoids the use of the word divestment except in its citation of the 2004 policy. The drafters of the statement -- a small work group that wrote the document during Friday's dinner break -- said they did not want to cause any further inflammation. But the committee did raise one red flag -- for Muslims -- by acknowledging Israel's right to build a tall wall separating Palestinian and Israeli areas to make it more difficult for Palestinian suicide bombers to blow up themselves and Israeli civilians in public areas. Even so, the recommendation calls for Israel to dismantle and relocate portions of the wall to its internationally recognized borders. The committee also calls on the General Assembly to instruct Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick to send copies of its recommendations to President George W. Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney, the secretary of state, members of Congress, leaders of Jewish, Christian and Muslim faith bodies and denominations in the U.S. and the Middle East with whom the denomination is in communication. That order could bring some disappointment. Both the World Council of Churches and the National Council Churches, in which the PCUSA is a major financial supporter, strongly supported the one-sided 2004 policy.

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