Presbyterians proceed with divestment plan

By Manya A. Brachear
Chicago Tribune

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CHICAGO — Despite an outcry from American Jews, a Presbyterian Church committee has taken its first steps toward a process of selective divestment from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

The church last week announced standards it would use to identify which companies in its portfolio perpetuate Israeli-Palestinian discord. Once identified, those companies will be asked to change their business practices with parties that play a role in the conflict.

The church has not determined how much of its $8 billion in holdings would qualify for potential divestment. The last time the church voted with its portfolio to protest a foreign government was to deter Sudan's Islamic government from waging war on Christians and animists in the southern part of the country. Divestment also was used to encourage an end to apartheid in South Africa.

The step toward divestment in the Middle East further deepens the rift between Presbyterians and Jews, among whom relations already were starting to fray.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) has stepped up security at its Louisville, Ky., headquarters and advised its churches to be on alert after receiving a letter threatening arson attacks because of the policy.

The handwritten letter, received Wednesday, threatened to set churches on fire while people were inside in retaliation for "anti-Israel and anti-Jewish attitudes," Jerry Van Marter, director of the Presbyterian news service, said yesterday.

The letter had no return address but was postmarked from Queens, N.Y., Van Marter said. The letter gave a deadline of tomorrow for the church to reverse its Middle East policies, he said.

Jewish opponents view the divestment strategy, adopted in July, as an effort to undermine the state of Israel. Presbyterian proponents say it's an attempt to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that threatens their missions in the Middle East and to end oppression of the Palestinian people.

If conversations between the church and companies reach an impasse, actual divestment would not take place until the national church's governing body meets again in 2006. It would not take place at all if companies cooperate or Israeli occupation ends, the separation barrier falls and a peaceful agreement is reached regarding settlements.

By deciding to go forward, some experts say, the Presbyterians may encourage other mainline Protestant churches to follow suit. The topic of divestment has been raised within the United Church of Christ and the United Methodists, as well as the Anglican Communion.
 
Such a domino effect, experts say, would threaten centuries of progress in Christian and Jewish relations.

"I think the implications are very serious in that we don't yet have a full sense of how much damage has been done and what can be done to repair that damage," said the Rev. Paul Rutgers, executive director for the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago and a Presbyterian who opposes the divestment strategy.

Others said the move has raised the bar for interfaith dialogue by putting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — long considered too volatile a topic for inter-religious discussions — at the top of the agenda for talks between Protestants and Jews.

Jews said they felt penalized for defending their homeland against Palestinian militants.

"For Jews, divestment was the equivalent of boycott," said Emily Soloff, executive director of the Chicago chapter of the American Jewish Committee. "And the Jewish community has many years of experience at the wrong end of boycotts."

But the Rev. John Buchanan, senior pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, said it is not a matter of taking sides.

"It is not an attack on Israel," Buchanan said. "It is a modest attempt by one small denomination to say a word of peace and justice and hope in the middle of continuing mind-numbing violence and human suffering."

The church announced Tuesday that it would target companies that operate on occupied land; sell products, services or technology to support Israeli settlements or the construction of the separation barrier; or do business with organizations that support violence against innocent civilians.

Companies can balance their business practices by protesting the occupation, helping victims, contributing to a viable economy for an independent Palestinian state, or employing Israeli Arabs or Palestinians.

Once companies are named, negotiations will begin. If they fail, the church will submit shareholder resolutions. And if that does not succeed, the church's General Assembly will vote on whether to divest.

Some Presbyterian pastors have denounced the strategy. And veterans of inter-religious dialogue say relations have suffered irreparable damage. Two Jewish representatives have withdrawn from the formal dialogue.

"Jews feel attacked," said the Rev. Stanley Davis, a longtime facilitator of interfaith relations in Chicago. "This has cast a pall on all mainline Protestants."

Details on the threatening letter were reported by The Associated Press.