Presbyterians Move Closer to Divestment

Middle East Policy Council

The Committee on Mission Responsibility through Investment, an important part of the hierarchy of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has recently voted to recommend that the church divest from three large American companies doing business in the Occupied Territories.  This recommendation will go forward at the 220th General Assembly of the church next year.   The official explanation for this move follows below.  In addition, we have posted two articles on the history of the issue of Presbyterian divestiture, published in Middle East Policy in 2005 and 2006.  These articles have gained additional resonance with the recent progress of the worldwide movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against companies profiting from Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands. 

Justification for divestment from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola, from the report of the Committee on Mission Responsibility through Investment to the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.):

Caterpillar has profited from sales of its products to Israeli military and civilian authorities, including its D-9 bulldozers which are used to demolish Palestinian homes and construct settlements and Israeli-only roads on Palestinian land, acts deemed illegal under international law. The company has never accepted responsibility for how its products are used and has not responded to requests for dialogue since 2009 from MRTI or other religious groups.

Hewlett-Packard has profited from sales of specialized technology used in invasive and unjust biometric scanning processes at checkpoints in the separation wall constructed on Palestinian territory. It has also provided hardware used by the Israeli Navy in its internationally condemned blockade of the Gaza Strip and in the municipal governments of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, deemed illegal under international law. Discussions with the company have been unproductive, and the company has been unwilling to address serious issues of concern.

Motorola Solutions, one of two companies to emerge from a corporate reorganization of Motorola at the start of 2011, has profited from providing communications technology to the Israeli military used in operations in the West Bank and the blockade of Gaza, and has built and supported high-tech surveillance systems in the separation barrier and Israeli settlements built illegally on Palestinian land. The company has consistently declined to have dialogue with religious investors.

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Volume XII, Winter 2005, Number 4

The Presbyterian Divestiture Vote and the Jewish Response

Ronald R. Stockton

In June 2004, the Presbyterian General Assembly voted to initiate a process that could lead to a divestiture of stock from companies that supported or profited from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. The vote was overwhelming, 431-62, or 87 percent. It was unlikely that such a divestiture would have much of an economic impact upon either the $8 billion Presbyterian Endowment and Retirement Portfolios or on the companies that might be affected (or on Israel for that matter), but from a political perspective the vote was an unexpected bombshell. It was a statement by an organization rooted in an ethical theology that they found the situation in the occupied territories unacceptable and at the very least did not want to profit from it. Because Israel had always claimed the moral high ground in its struggle with the Palestinians, the vote represented a powerful ethical challenge. The Jewish leadership in the United States was stunned by the decision, the first by any major religious body to divest. The Presbyterians (2.4 million members) were also stunned by the intensity of the Jewish reaction. The controversy leaves us with three major questions: Why did this vote occur? Why was the reaction as intense as it was? Will the decision have any long-term impact, and, if so, what?

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Volume XIII, Winter 2006, Number 4

Presbyterians, Jews and Divestment: The Church Steps Back

Ronald R. Stockton

In 2004, the Presbyterian General Assembly (GA) voted to initiate a process of “phased selective divestment in multinational corporations operating in Israel” and “to make appropriate recommendations to the General Assembly Council for action.”¹ The denomination’s Mission Responsibility through Investment Committee (MRTI), which had handled several divestments over the past decades, was to be in charge of this process. The General Assembly also passed two other resolutions, one that condemned the Israeli security barrier for penetrating Palestinian territory and one that criticized Christian Zionism for incorrectly interpreting Biblical texts so as to put today’s Israel too near the heart of Christian theology. The resolution on divestment called for “a just and equitable solution” to the conflict, rooted in “international law, human rights, the sanctity of life and dignity of persons, land property, safety of home, freedom of movement, the rights of refugees to return to their homeland, the right of people to determine their political future, and to live in peace and prosperity.” It called for the end of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land since it “has proven to be at the root of evil acts committed against innocent people on both sides of the conflict.” It called upon the United States to be “an honest, even-handed broker for peace,” endorsed the four-party diplomatic “Quartet,” and referred to the Geneva Accord negotiating plan as “a useful and practical approach” to a settlement. It called for direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. It declared that “horrific acts of violence and deadly attacks on innocent people, whether carried out by Palestinian ‘suicide bombers’ or by the Israeli military, are abhorrent and inexcusable by all measures, and are a dead end alternative to a negotiated settlement of the conflict.”

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