Statement of Support from the Task Group Turning Point (The Netherlands)

In the week of  International Church Action for Peace and Israel, March 12-19 2006, an advocacy initiative convened by the World Council of Churches, the Rev. Canon Naim Ateek visited the Netherlands. He was one of the keynote-speakers of the “Conference on the Future of Jerusalem” together Dr. Mustafa Abu Sway and Rabbi Yehoyada Amir. The conference was an Expert Meeting with church leadership and policymakers of the mainstream Protestant church in the Netherlands, organized by Kerkinactie (Utrecht).

The Task group Turning point (Keerpunt) held a symposium on “Morally Responsible Divestment”, discussing the necessity and feasibility of selective boycott of companies in the Netherlands which profit from the occupation of Palestine. Many NGO’s, peace-groups and church-related organisations attended the symposium on which also a draft “Utrecht Principles for Morally Responsible Investment” was presented, exploring the fundamentals of international law for such a form of boycott. Keynote speakers were the Palestinian ambassador Mrs Somaia Barghouti and human rights lawyer Jonathan Kuttab, well known as member of Sabeel.

Rev. Naim Ateek also addressed the participants of the seminar on “Th.C. Vriezen, Israel and Palestine”. This former Dutch theologian is worldwide known for his ‘Theology of the Old Testament’, but it is less known that he lived several years in the Middle East (1924, 1954-55, 1960) and wrote some influential books on the Middle East and the Israeli-Palestine conflict. His valedictory oration was about “Are you not like the Ethiopians to me, O People of Israel?” (Amos 9:7). In the fifties, he was one of the few who amidst the Dutch euphoria on the new state of Israel, drew the attention the Palestinian suffering and especially the refugees.

Correspondence please to: Dr. M. Dijkstra, Catharinadaal 82a, 6715 KD,
Ede, Netherlands     E-mail: secretariaat@werkgroepkeerpunt.nl