World

Reversing Course

Two years after Presbyterian vote, church steps back from divestment.

Rachel Pomerance

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Birmingham, Ala.

T

he Presbyterian Church
USA on June 21 over-
whelmingly passed a
resolution that replaces the 2004
call for divestment in companies
that do business with Israel with
a policy of peaceful investment
in Israel, the Gaza Strip and West
Bank. The resolution passed the
church's General Assembly by a
vote of 483-28, with one absten-
tion.
This arguably was American
Jewry's most difficult battle yet
on the divestment front.
The Jewish community was
facing the prestige of an influen-
tial American church, whose alle-
giance to Palestinian Christians
stems from 150 years of mis-
sionary work in the region. That
alliance enabled the Presbyterian
Church USA to pass a resolu-
tion two summers ago, at its last
General Assembly, calling for
"phased, selective divestment in
multinational corporations oper-
ating in Israel."
The Presbyterian move
inspired several other Protestant
churches to examine the divest-
ment option, though none went
as far as the Presbyterians.
But American Jewish groups
rolled out "an almost unprec-
edented mobilization" along the
lines of the free Soviet Jewry
movement decades ago, said
Ethan Felson, assistant executive
director for the Jewish Council
for Public Affairs.
The national JCPA joined the
major U.S. Jewish defense groups
and religious streams to work
in a broad coalition. Some five
dozen conference calls later, and
after focus groups and dialogue
between Jews and Presbyterians
in synagogues, churches and
community centers across the
country, the Presbyterians shifted
course.

18

June 29 • 2006

Corp. Engagement
At its General Assembly last week
in Birmingham, the church's
Peacemaking and International
Issues Committee held exhaus-
tive hearings before crafting and
passing, with overwhelming sup-
port, a resolution in response to
the controversial 2004 move.
The new resolution replaces
the divestment call with a policy
of "corporate engagement" that
restricts the church to peaceful
investments in the region. It also
backtracks from the previous call
to dismantle Israel's West Bank
security barrier, saying instead
that it should follow the route of
Israel's pre-1967 boundary.
Some said it would be
wrong to view last week's result
solely as a Jewish victory. Just
as much, it restored "the soul
of the Presbyterian church:'
said anti-divestment activist
William Harter, a pastor from
Pennsylvania who is secre-
tary-treasurer of the National
Christian Leadership Conference
for Israel.
"Everyone on the other side is
convinced we're a well-financed,
well-oiled Jewish front," said Jim
Roberts, chairman of the board
of End Divestment Now, which

nature of divestment is simply
sent letters pressing its cause
bad policy
to all 534 voting commission-
ers at the General Assembly. But
Jewish Campaign
"the reason this worked so well
Jewish activists worked closely
is that this is a Presbyterian-
with Presbyterians opposing
generated, Presbyterian-driven,
divestment and, at the same
Presbyterian-managed and
time, urged members to sign
Presbyterian-funded effort"
petitions to the church. The
Indeed, the issue has rocked
Committee for Responsible Peace
the Presbyterian Church. Many
in the Middle East, a coalition
church members felt not only
comprised of the
misled by the 2004
American Jewish
Presbyteria n USA
resolution — which
Congress, Stand
Peacemakin g and
they thought had
With Us and The
Internation al Issues
been vetted with the
David Project,
Jewish community — Committee members
promoted more
debate the resolution.
but misrepresented
aggressive grass-
by a leadership they
roots activism,
felt didn't call enough
providing anti-divestment lit-
attention to the issue before that
erature at church gatherings, for
vote, when it was tacked on to
example.
another resolution.
But for a wide swath of Jewish
That jeopardized the
groups, their primary role was
Presbyterian ethic of fairness
and deliberation. Making matters facilitative. According to JCPA's
Felson, "This was a conversa-
worse, other actions by church
tion the church had to have with
leadership — such as meetings
with the Lebanese terrorist group itself, and by having people talk
on the local level, we played a
Hezbollah — further alienated
role with helping that conversa-
rank-and-file members.
tion
along."
For many Presbyterians, the
The
final resolution does not
2004 resolution compromised
rescind
the previous call for
the impartiality required by the
divestment,
but those close to the
church's aspiration to be a peace-
process
say
that
the omission of
maker. Others say the punitive

the word "divestment" from the
resolution is tantamount to its
removal from consideration.
Jewish groups were thrilled
with the outcome, saying the
church had strengthened its rela-
tionship with the Jewish commu-
nity in the process.
The American Jewish
Committee said it "welcomes the
Presbyterian Church's acknowl-
edgement of Israel's right to
protect its citizens as well as the
Church's more constructive and
nuanced approach to Israel's
security fence, which has saved
the lives of untold numbers of
Israelis and Palestinians!'
Sharona Shapiro, AJC's
Michigan area director, thanked
local rabbis who joined
her, Brenda Rosenberg, the
chapter's Interreligious Affairs
Commission chair, and others in
visiting most of Metro Detroit's
major Presbyterian leadership,
asking them to lend their weight
to a more balanced resolution.
"For over two years," Shapiro
said, "small AJC delegations met
with the top leadership of the
Presbytery of Detroit, including
its Peace and Justice Committee
and individual congregational
clergy and lay leadership!'
She said many of the meetings
were hard to sit through because
some of these leaders wanted to
include Palestinian and other
Arab American voices in pro-
gramming and meetings. "These
guests' pleas and stories were
heart-wrenching," Shapiro said.
"The rabbis and AJC leadership
made every attempt to create
balance by bringing the discus-
sion hack to investing in the
future — reminding the listeners
that divestment would not help
anyone!'
Rosenberg said dialogue work
is not finished. "I look forward
to work further with our con-
tacts in the Presbytery and even
hope that we together can visit
Israel some day in the future,"
she said.

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