Investment Activism
National ME Presbyterian Caucus Support and Endorses BDS
Nahida H. Gordon, Ph.D.
Moderator, National Middle Eastern Presbyterian Caucus
Nahida.gordon@case.edu
National Middle Eastern Presbyterian Caucus Supports and Endorses the Boycott, Divestment
and Sanctions Campaign Against the Israeli Occupation of Palestine
As Middle Eastern Americans who trace their faith origin to the apostolic age, the members of the National Middle Eastern Presbyterian Caucus (NMEPC) have a particular responsibility to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ; and to be a voice of justice, peace, and reconciliation in the USA and the Middle East.
To that end, NMEPC upon due consideration and deliberation at its biennial meeting August 23, 2011, endorsed the call by the Palestinian civil society for a boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.
As noted in their call, "the representatives of Palestinian civil society call upon international civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era."
Further they request that "these non-violent, punitive measures should be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law by:
1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall;
2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194."
Keeping in mind that a BDS campaign is an internationally accepted means for non-violent opposition to discrimination, racism, and bigotry and keeping in mind that a similar BDS campaign was instrumental in ending apartheid in South Africa, the NMEPC endorsement is in expectation that BDS will also be instrumental in ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and ending the Israeli government's crime of apartheid against the Palestinian.
The end of the occupation of Palestinian lands and the end of the system of apartheid against the Palestinian people will provide the basis for justice with reconciliation between the Israeli and Palestinian people.
Source: http://www.religionnews.com/index.php?/pressreleases/nmepc_support_boyco...
Presbyterians Call for Divestment
MRTI reports on engagement with companies doing business in Israel-Palestine
LOUISVILLE
At its meeting on September 9, the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) approved its report to the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on its engagement with corporations doing business in Israel-Palestine. As part of its regular process of corporate engagement, and based on directives given to it by each General Assembly since 2004, the committee recommended that three companies be added to the General Assembly divestment list: Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions.
“The General Assembly asked us to do everything we could to bring about change through dialogue, and we have done this, even asking the Assembly for more time over the years,” said committee chair the Rev. Brian Ellison, a pastor from Kansas City, Mo. “Today we are sadly reporting that these efforts have not produced any substantive change in company policies or practices, and that there is little reason for hope they will do so in the future. According to the Assembly’s prior directives and the church’s ordinary engagement process, we have little choice but to recommend divestment.” [Emphasis added].
Continue reading this report on the PCUSA website:
http://www.pcusa.org/news/2011/9/12/mrti-reports-engagement-companies-doing-business-i/
Archbishop Tutu: TIAA–CREF should hear us
A Message from Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 and the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009
TIAA-CREF should hear us
Sunday, July, 17, 2011
As shareholders with the retirement giant TIAA-CREF head to Charlotte this week for their national meeting, there is one issue they will find conspicuously absent from the agenda: divestment from the Israeli Occupation. Despite pleas from shareholders, including medical professionals, students and academics from universities across the United States, the pension fund refused to allow a vote on a resolution that would have compelled TIAA-CREF to consider divestment from companies such as Caterpillar or Elbit. These are companies that profit substantially from the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.
In an effort, presumably, to avoid the topic altogether, TIAA-CREF even went so far as to move its annual meeting to Charlotte from its usual location in New York City. But even in Charlotte, they will not be able to escape from "occupation." Throughout the United States and the world, people will continue to speak truth to power about the apartheid perpetrated in the Holy Land.
I, for one, never tire of speaking out against these injustices, because they remind me only too well of what we in South Africa experienced under the racist system of apartheid. I have witnessed firsthand the racially segregated roads and housing in the Occupied Palestinian territories. I have seen the humiliation of Palestinian men, women and children at the checkpoints and roadblocks. I have met Palestinians who were evicted and replaced by Jewish Israeli settlers; Palestinians whose homes were destroyed even as new, Jewish-only homes were illegally built on confiscated Palestinian land.
This oppression, these indignities and the resulting anger are only too familiar. It is no wonder that so many South African leaders in the anti-apartheid struggle, including Nelson Mandela and numerous Jewish leaders, have found ourselves compelled to speak out on this issue.
Though the situation deteriorates daily, I am not without hope. Before apartheid ended, most South Africans did not believe they would live to see a day of liberation. They did not believe that their children, or even their children's children, would see it. But we have seen it, and I know that if apartheid can end in South Africa, so too can this occupation.
We could not have won our freedom in South Africa without the solidarity of people around the world who adopted non-violent methods to pressure governments and corporations to end their support for the apartheid regime. Faith-based groups, unions, students and consumers organized on a grassroots level and catalyzed a global wave of divestment, ultimately contributing to the collapse of apartheid.
More than two decades later, another wave of divestment has emerged, this time with the goal of ending Israel's 44-year-old occupation and its unequal treatment of the Palestinians.
The TIAA-CREF campaign is important because it is one of the most broad-based divestment efforts in the U.S.: thousands of professors, doctors, students, and many other people of conscience are coming forward demanding that the suffering of the Palestinians not be ignored in the company's bottom line. The campaign originated with a call from the American group Jewish Voice for Peace, whose members understand that ending the occupation means a better future for both Israelis and Palestinians; a future in which both the violence of the occupier and the violent resistance of the occupied come to an end, where one people no longer rule over another, and where the cycles of suffering, humiliation and retaliation are broken.
In South Africa we understood that true peace could be built only on the basis of justice and an unwavering commitment to universal rights for all humans, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender, national origin or any other identity attribute. I encourage TIAA-CREF, whose slogan is "for the greater good," to heed the call for divestment, to refuse to profit from oppression of a people, and thus to stand on the side of what is right: a safe, secure and peaceful future for Palestinians and Israelis.
Source: The Charlotte Observer
Petition to put shareholder proposal on the agenda of TIAA-CREF Shareholder Meeting, Tuesday, July 19,2011.
Boycott: Put More Pressure on Israel to Change
The Oregonian
GUEST COLUMNIST
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2010/11/put_more_pressure_on...
By Steven Goldberg
As Israel increasingly ignores our government's objections to the expansion of settlements, its primary concern is with placating its own right-wing parliamentary coalition. And why should Israel be concerned with the protests of the Obama administration when U.S. military aid to Israel – now billions of dollars per year, paid by U.S. taxpayers at a time when they have no jobs and are losing their homes – continues unabated?
Israel is increasingly a rogue nation under international legal standards. Decisions from the International Court of Justice declaring the separation wall illegal, United Nations reports detailing Israel's illegal actions during its invasion of Gaza (the Goldstone Report), and the recent U.N. Human Rights Council report criticizing Israel's attacks on the Gaza flotilla are bolstered by ongoing reports by groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch detailing Israel's illegal actions. In past generations, American policy has often led us to support dictatorships and overlook gross violations of human rights. The Obama administration promised a different path, but not in its unquestioned support for Israel as legal, ethical and moral concerns are readily tossed aside.
Oregon has not done much better. Our progressive politics and concern about the environment don't seem to apply to the Israeli government's policy of destroying Palestinian homes and crops as Israel expands its borders. Ethics and morals be damned if Israel promises opportunities for Oregon businesses. Thus our governor leads a trade delegation to Israel, the city of Portland promotes seminars encouraging investment in Israel, and local stores such as New Seasons – which tout their commitment to promoting local communities and agriculture – stock products made in Israel.
There are ways of putting pressure on Israel to change its policies. Military aid provided to Israel can be reduced by our government. Of course this is little more than a fantasy as our senators and representatives receive millions of dollars a year in contributions from political organizations that support Israel. (There are exceptions: former Rep. Brian Baird of Washington spoke out strongly against the invasion of Gaza and Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon courageously speaks out against Israel's actions as violations of international humanitarian law).
Several decades ago, when the white South African government instituted a policy of apartheid against its black citizens – justifying the policy as a response to alleged terrorist acts – U.S. citizens, students, labor unions and ultimately our government responded through a policy of boycott, divestment and sanctions against the South African regime. Inspired by the success of this model of political action, a campaign to boycott Israeli products has begun in Europe, and has now spread to the United States, as one method of putting pressure on Israel to end its policies of occupation and discrimination against Palestinians. (More information about this campaign is available at www.bdsmovement.net.) If our government is unwilling to meaningfully pressure Israel to change its policies, then, as our recent elections have shown, it is time for the people to act.
Steven Goldberg lives in Southwest Portland.
Tutu Calls on Opera Company to Boycott Israel
Desmond Tutu calls on South African opera company to boycott Israel
Archbishop emeritus tells Cape Town Opera that the treatment of Palestinians is like South Africa under apartheid
David Smith in Johannesburg
# guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 27 October 2010 14.34 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2010/oct/27/desmond-tutu-opera-boycott-israel/print
Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu has urged a South African opera company to boycott Israel, comparing its treatment of Palestinians to his own country's era of racial apartheid.
The Nobel peace prize laureate said it would be "unconscionable" for Cape Town Opera to perform in Israel while millions of people there are denied access to culture and education.
But the opera company today insisted that it would go ahead with next month's tour of the American classic Porgy and Bess, while Tutu's stand was condemned by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies.
The 79-year-old, who earlier this month announced his retirement from public life, issued a statement that said: "Just as we said during apartheid that it was inappropriate for international artists to perform in South Africa in a society founded on discriminatory laws and racial exclusivity, so it would be wrong for Cape Town Opera to perform in Israel.
"Cape Town Opera should postpone its proposed tour next month until both Israeli and Palestinian opera lovers of the region have equal opportunity and unfettered access to attend performances."
Tutu, a veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle and campaign to free Nelson Mandela, continued: "Only the thickest-skinned South Africans would be comfortable performing before an audience that excluded residents living, for example, in an occupied West Bank village 30 minutes from Tel Aviv, who would not be allowed to travel to Tel Aviv, while including his Jewish neighbours from an illegal settlement on occupied Palestinian territory.
"The Tel Aviv Opera House is state sponsored. By luring international artists to perform there, it advances Israel's fallacious claim to being a 'civilised democracy'. Yet, every day, millions of citizens are denied the right to educational and cultural opportunities in Israel and the Palestinian territories it occupies."
Tutu added: "Please, fine singers of the Cape Town Opera: much as it offers you opportunities to travel abroad and show the world what we can do, listen to your conscience. God loves Jews and Muslims equally. To perform Porgy and Bess, with its universal message of non-discrimination, in the present state of Israel, is unconscionable."
But the plea was rejected by Cape Town Opera. Michael Williams, its managing director, said today: "Cape Town Opera respects the views held by retired Archbishop Tutu. We are, however, first and foremost an arts company that believes in promoting universally held human values through the medium of opera and we are accordingly reluctant to adopt the essentially political position of disengagement from cultural ties with Israel or with Palestine."
He added: "I am proud that our artists, when travelling abroad, act as ambassadors and exemplars of the free society that has been achieved in democratic South Africa. Indeed, the production of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess in question has, in our view, much which should provide food for thought for audiences in Israel."
Williams said discussions for the visit to Israel began four years ago and that negotiations to perform "within the Arab world" are ongoing.
Tutu's stand was criticised by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (Cape Council). Its executive director, David Jacobson, said: "Peace and understanding are best served through constructive and positive engagements between Israel, South Africa and the Palestinian regions, not by boycotts."
He added: "The SAJBD Cape Council further completely rejects Archbishop Tutu's claim that Israel is founded on 'discriminatory laws and racial exclusivity'. There is, in fact, no other country in the Middle East that can claim to be as inclusive, non-discriminatory and multicultural than Israel."
Tutu caused controversy last month when he supported Johannesburg University's (UJ) decision to sever links with Israel's Ben-Gurion University, accused of actively supporting the Israeli military, unless it meets two conditions within six months.
UJ stipulated that its memorandum of understanding with Ben-Gurion should be amended to include Palestinian universities and that UJ "will not engage in any activities with [Ben-Gurion] that have direct or indirect military implications".
Presbyterian Mission Network Joins BDS, Calls for Boycotts, Supports Kairos
Contact:
The Rev. Dr. Jeff DeYoe
IPMN Advocacy Chair
deyoejeffrey@yahoo.com
Presbyterian Mission Network Joins BDS Movement, Calls for Boycotts on goods from Illegal Israeli Settlements
Supports Kairos Palestine
CHICAGO—In response to a call to action from the Christians of the Holy Land, The Israel/Palestine Mission Network (IPMN) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) [PC(USA)] voted at its annual meeting to join the international boycott of goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
The first targeted products for the boycott are Ahava Cosmetics, King Solomon Dates, and Jordan River Dates, imported into the United States from illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
The network also voted to identify companies profiting from the illegal military occupation, initiate dialogue with them and expand the boycott list if needed, at a later date. This action would include companies doing business in the OPT or contributing to the building of infrastructure of illegal settlements.
Carol Hylkema, Moderator of IPMN from Detroit Presbytery said, "Our grassroots network has reached a tipping point and we find we must respond to the call of Christians in the Middle East who through The Amman Call asked for 'No more words without deeds.'" In addition to calling for boycott, as a mission network of the PC(USA), the IPMN will sponsor an initiative that will seek to make its position that of the entire denomination when their General Assembly meets in 2012.
In June 2008, the General Assembly of the PC(USA) voted to endorse The Amman Call and its "commitment to imperatives of ecumenical solidarity in action for Just Peace."
Similarly, at its General Assembly in 2010, the denomination voted to receive for study, a confession from the Christians of the Holy Land known as Kairos Palestine: A Moment of Truth.
As this bold confession of faith, hope, and love approaches its first anniversary in December 2010, the IPMN joins in solidarity with the confession's call to action, which asks the Churches and Christians of the world "to engage in divestment and in an economic and commercial boycott of everything produced by the [Israeli military] occupation." The object of this form of peaceful resistance, Kairos declares, "is not revenge but rather to put an end to the existing evil...bringing both [Palestinians and Israelis] to justice and reconciliation."
Co-chair of the IPMN Education Committee, David Jones of Redwoods Presbytery stated, "Our network reads the Kairos confession as a Palestinian 'letter from a Birmingham Jail.' Recognizing the hour is late and the call is urgent; we are joining the international BDS movement (boycott, divestment, sanctions) because it is time for action."
The Israel/Palestine Mission Network (IPMN) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is a grassroots organization established in 2004 with a mandate from the denomination's General Assembly. This mandate is to advocate by "demonstrating solidarity and changing the conditions that erode the humanity of Palestinians." As part of its mandate, the IPMN speaks TO the church not FOR the church.
Pax Christi Intl. Statement on Jerusalem
Pax Christi International
On the situation in Jerusalem
Written statement submitted by Pax Christi International Human Rights Council
Fifteenth Session 13 September – 1 October 2010
Agenda item 7
Pax Christi, the International Catholic peace movement with more than 100 member organisations active worldwide, urges the Human Rights Council’s attention for the numerous and disastrous violations of human rights in Jerusalem. Recently, political tension in the city
has increased. Under increased international pressure on Israel to halt its policies to change the permanent status of the city and that violate international law, Israel has reacted in defiance and recently the city witnessed a new wave of violations of human rights and
international humanitarian law. Jerusalem, city of two peoples and three religions, is one of the keys to a just and lasting peace. Due to its special status, violations in the city do not only affect its residents but the global community at large.
Click here to continue reading. (This is a pdf file)
Desmond Tutu Backs Boycott
Haaretz
Published 21:53 28.07.10 -- Latest update 21:53 28.07.10
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/desmond-tutu-backs-u-s-food-co-op-boycott-of-israeli-products-1.304657
Desmond Tutu backs U.S. food co-op boycott of Israeli products
South African Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu issues statement of support for boycott announced by food co-op in Rachel Corrie's hometown of Olympia, Washington.
By Natasha Mozgovaya Tags: Israel news
South African Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Wednesday that he supports the Olympia Food Co-op's boycott of Israeli products.
The Olympia Food Co-op, located in Olympia, Washington, the hometown of the International Solidarity Movement activist Rachel Corrie who was killed seven years ago in Gaza, announced last week that no Israeli products would be sold at its two grocery stores in the city.
“I, Desmond Tutu, fully support and endorse the Olympia Food Co-op's boycott of Israeli products," Tutu said in a statement. "The Olympia Food Co-op has joined a growing worldwide movement on the part of citizens and the private sector to support by non-violent tangible acts the Palestinian struggle for justice and self-determination."
Tutu also encouraged other cooperatives, grocers and businesses to boycott Israeli goods.
More on this topic: Food co-op in Rachel Corrie's hometown boycotts Israeli goods
Global Actions to End the Israeli Occupation
Contact:
Susanne Hoder
Moderator, Interfaith Peace Initiative
(401) 595-9887
apassionforpeace@aol.com
World Actions to End Israel's Occupation Double After Flotilla Attack
A compelling new list of "Global Actions to End the Israeli Occupation" is available through the Interfaith Peace Initiative at http://www.interfaithpeaceinitiative.com/globalactions.pdf. It demonstrates clearly that the era of ignoring Israel's excesses and its abuse of human rights has ended. The world will no longer be silent. The tide has turned.
In 2009, the Interfaith Peace Initiative posted a 44-page list of actions by countries and organizations around the world designed to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. On May 31, 2010, Israel's military raid on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip generated widespread global anger and opposition. It was followed by marches, demonstrations, declarations and plans for new flotillas by many groups around the world. The list has been updated, and now fills 88 pages, including actions by businesses, governments, labor unions and religious and consumer organizations. Among these are many Jewish and Israeli groups. Readers may obtain more information about each action using links provided.
Throughout history, regimes built on oppression and apartheid have failed. If the determined and creative actions documented in the new list are sustained, Israel's oppression of Palestinians cannot last. The Interfaith Peace Initiative wishes to celebrate the courage and initiative shown by countless individuals and organizations who have finally said, "Enough!" Special thanks should go to the committee of Ann Arbor Quakers who first initiated the list (piag_@mac.com) in the hope it would inspire others to action. The massive global surge of resolve reflected in the new report will hasten an end to Israel's occupation so a just peace may finally prevail.
Methodist Church of Great Britain to Boycott Goods from Israeli Settlements
Methodist Church to boycott goods from illegal Israeli settlements
http://www.methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=opentogod.newsDetail&ne...
The Methodist Church has today voted to boycott all products from Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, and to encourage Methodists across Britain to do the same.
The decision is a response to a call from a group of Palestinian Christians, a growing number of Jewish organisations, both inside Israel and worldwide, and the World Council of Churches. A majority of governments recognise the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories as illegitimate under international law.
Christine Elliott, Secretary for External Relationships, said, “This decision has not been taken lightly, but after months of research, careful consideration and finally, today’s debate at the Conference. The goal of the boycott is to put an end to the existing injustice. It reflects the challenge that settlements present to a lasting peace in the region.
“We are passionate about dialogue across communities and with people of all faiths. We remain deeply committed to our relationships with our brothers and sisters of other faiths, and we look to engage in active listening so that we act as agents of hope together.”
In December, Defra introduced new advice on labelling, recommending that packaging of products imported from the West Bank should distinguish between Palestinian areas and Israeli settlements.
The Conference also adopted a statement calling for a full arms embargo against all sides in the conflict. “This conflict is further fuelled by partisan support by other countries. Violence from all parties in this conflict must be denounced, and a just peace sought for all peoples living in the region,” said Christine.
The move to boycott is just one among a number of measures agreed by the Conference, which also include a commitment to regular and informed prayer for the needs of those in region. Methodists across Great Britain are also encouraged to visit the region, write to their MPs and engage in respectful dialogue with Jews and Muslims on this issue.
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