c. 2006 Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. _ Under intense pressure from church members and Jewish groups, the Presbyterian Church (USA) on Wednesday (June 21) modified its controversial position calling for “phased, selective divestment” in companies involved in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

While church leaders said divestment _ withdrawing church funds _ remains an option of “last resort,” Wednesday’s vote shifts the church’s focus toward negotiation with companies rather than an all-out financial boycott.

The 500 commissioners, or delegates, said church funds could be invested “in only peaceful pursuits,” and ordered the church’s investments committee to continue dialogue with multinational firms operating in Israel and Palestinian territories.

The statement also apologized for the “hurt and misunderstanding” felt by Jewish groups, who have been longtime allies with the Presbyterians on many social issues, and appealed for “a new season of mutual understanding.”

The new statement was adopted by the General Assembly by a 483-28-1 vote after virtually no debate.

Mark Davidson of New Hope Presbytery in Eastern North Carolina urged that the document include “a clear statement of support so that our Palestinian partners do not feel they have lost a friend in the PC(USA).” That effort failed.

But other speakers called the statement balanced and fair, noting it allows criticism of Israel’s separation wall and the occupation.

A church panel that monitors socially responsible investing usually uses letters, talks, proxy voting and shareholder resolutions as means of influencing corporate behavior. Ultimately, it can recommend divestment if corporations are not responsive.

“The committee’s recommendation clarifies the engagement process,” said the Rev. Gretchen Graf, head of the Committee on Peacemaking and International Issues that brought the resolution. She said that divestment is “a last resort.”

“The earliest any divestment could occur is in 2008 and only with the approval of the General Assembly,” she said.

Ken Robbins, a commissioner from Stockton, Calif., urging its approval, said adopting the new statement allows the church “to fix a mistake” it made two years ago.

Jewish leaders agreed. Rabbi A. James Rudin, the senior interreligious affairs adviser for the American Jewish Committee, praised the Presbyterians for stepping back from what he called a “reckless” policy.

“They were going over the cliff with that statement (on divestment) in many ways, and they have now pulled back from the abyss,” Rudin said from New York.

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The call for divestment was adopted by the 2.3 million-member denomination’s convention in 2004 and immediately provoked a firestorm of harsh criticism from Jewish groups and members within the denomination. Some two dozen proposed resolutions on reworking the policy were sent to this year’s assembly meeting.

The divestment debate comes at a volatile moment in Israeli-Palestinian relations. The election victory of the Hamas party has led to economic isolation for the Palestinian people. At the same time, the new Israeli government has stepped up an aggressive hunt for militants, but airstrikes gone awry have left 19 Palestinian civilians, including a number of children, dead.

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The Presbyterians’ 2004 decision was the most high-profile action as a number of mainline Protestant denominations, heeding pleas from their co-religionists in the Holy Land, re-examined their Middle East policies, including the study of divestment.

But most, including the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, have backed away from divestment _ or at least the language of divestment _ as they seek to find a way to support Christians in their sister denominations in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Rudin said he hopes Wednesday’s vote “closes the door on divestment because the Presbyterians have often set the pace for mainline Protestants.”

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Just before the Presbyterians began arriving in Birmingham, a coalition of Jewish groups sent a letter to Presbyterian commissioners urging them to reverse the policy.

“We believe that this policy undermines peace, promotes extremism, exacerbates conflict, damages the relationships between Jews and Christians that have been nurtured for decades and is dangerously ill-matched with our passionately shared vision of a peaceful resolution to the conflict,” the letter said.

The new statement acknowledges that the 2004 actions “caused hurt and misunderstanding among many members of the Jewish community and within our Presbyterian communion. We are grieved by pain that this has caused, accept responsibility for the flaws in our process, and ask for a new season of mutual understanding and dialogue.”

KRE/PH END ANDERSON