"OPEN LETTER TO OUR FELLOW PRESBYTERIANS  ON BOYCOTT AND DIVESTMENT" - June 4, 2014

Rev. J. Mark Davidson, Pastor, Church of Reconciliation, Chapel Hill, NC,
 Rev. Ronald Shive, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Burlington, NC  

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Recommended articles:

• 6-27-2014 Israel's West Bank Crackdown | IMEU

  Snippet:
  On June 12, 2014, three Israeli teenagers disappeared while hitchhiking from an Israeli settlement near Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank. In response, Israel immediately accused Hamas of kidnapping them and launched its largest military operation in the West Bank in a decade.
   

•  6-18-2014 Palestine-Israel: Is dialogue more important than justice? | The Hill | Grace Said
   
   
• 6-23-2014 The Presbyterian Divestment Vote: Toward a New Model of Community Relations | Tikkun Daily Blog | Rabbi Brant Rosen 
  
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  Indeed, when it comes to the issue of Israel/Palestine, the unwritten rule of the Jewish establishment has always been,
  “toe our line or feel our wrath.” By voting for divestment, the PC(USA) declared itself ready to stand down this ultimatum.
   

• 6-20-2014 Presbyterians Vote to Divest Holdings to Pressure Israel - LAURIE GOODSTEIN New York Times

  Snippet:
  After passionate debate over how best to help break the deadlock between Israel and the Palestinians, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted on Friday at its general convention to divest from three companies that it says supply Israel with equipment used in the occupation of Palestinian territory.

• 6-8-2014 Petition AGAINST divestment - 1,500 (?) Rabbis, Cantors, Rabbinical and Cantorial students send letter to commissioners.

  • This initiative appears to be out of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA). There is no mention of the occupation. The letter urges "... Presbyterian peacemakers work for reconciliation, investment, and understanding of conflicting narratives rather than inciting further conflict."
    In other words invest in the plantations and have the plantation owners share narratives with their slaves. Whatever you do, don't draw attention to the occupation and don't actually take an action.

• 6-8-2014 Petition FOR divestment - Rabbis send letter to commissioners.

  • This initiative is from Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). "To our Presbyterian friends: We support your efforts to align your investments with your values. We share the same values: a belief in justice and equality, and a strong conviction that as long as one nation occupies another, neither can enjoy true peace. We salute the church’s will to divest from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation.

Personal video statements: Why I support divestment.

Other actions of the Middle East Issues Committee included:

• approving a new study to reconsider the denomination’s support for a “two-state solution”;
• turning down an overture to classify Israeli practices as “apartheid”;
• rejecting a call to boycott all Hewlett-Packard products;
• approving a resolution for “equal rights for all inhabitants of Israel and Palestine”;
• adopting a resolution clarifying that the controversial Zionism Unsettled study “does not represent the views of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)”;
• endorsing a discussion paper on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict produced by Chicago

https://twitter.com/hashtag/GA221 https://twitter.com/hashtag/PCUSA                 https://twitter.com/hashtag/BDS

https://www.facebook.com/pcusa Episcopal Peace Fellowship Palestine Israel Network Facebook page

http://oga.pcusa.org/section/ga/ga221/

Video Archive     http://oga.pcusa.org/section/ga/ga221/video/

Candid photos taken by smart phones http://iconosquare.com/tag/ga221