PCJCR is an informal group of members, ministers, and congregations of the Presbyterian Church (USA); we are committed to a positive, constructive and respectful relationship with Jews. We are not an offical agency of the Presbyterian Church. For further information about our denomination, click on the logo above or any of the PCUSA links below.
   
 


For Immediate Release August, 22, 2005

Along with many other Presbyterians, we disagree with the recent actions of the PCUSA Mission Responsibility through Investment Committee regarding selective divestment from certain industries doing business in Israel. Both the timing and the substance of the MRTI actions are detrimental to peace in the Middle East. At a time when the State of Israel is currently withdrawing from the Gaza Strip and other settlements, our denomination continues to implement a year-old policy designed to press Israel for concessions, even after major conciliatory actions have occurred.

Our denomination's silence on the withdrawal from Gaza further damages the PCUSA's credibility and reputation as a just decision-maker and reliable partner for peacemaking in the Middle East.

Showing more wisdom than the 2004 Assembly did when it sent the issue to the Committee, the MRTI Committee has chosen to condemn actions of Palestinian terrorists as reprehensible and to explore divestment from industries which purportedly assist them. However, all the region's nations continue to bear responsibility for contributing to the peace process. Continuing a policy with a clear double standard (one for Israel, one for every other nation) reveals a PCUSA partisanship against Israel that is unworthy of the church.

We are urging Presbyterians to inform themselves about ways in which the PCUSA can be a pro-active force for peace in the Middle East, investing in peacemakers rather than applying a simplistic divestment strategy to an extremely complex situation.

We are urging Presbyterians to call upon the MRTI Committee to suspend the exploration of divestment until the PCUSA can reconsider its Middle East policy at the 2006 General Assembly.

We are uring every session, congregation and presbytery to consider adopting appropriate overtures to the 2006 General Assembly that will lead the PCUSA once again to be a truly effective peacemaker in the Middle East.

For more information, please contact:
Bill Harter 717 264-5715; 717 264-3828 harters@epix.net
or
John Wimberly 202 835 8383; 202 363 6085 john@westernpresbyterian.org



For further information about PCJCR please email Charles Henderson.

 


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