Presbyterian Church USA set to vote on divestment after committee approval

The Presbyterian Church USA is set to vote on a resolution recommending divestment from three companies linked to the Israeli military, after a committee backed the call and sent it to the general plenary.

The Middle East Issues Committee of the 221st General Assembly voted 45-20 in favour of an overture calling for the church to divest holdings worth $21 million from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions.

Responding to the committee vote, Rabbi Alissa Wise of Jewish Voice for Peace said:

I am so impressed by the deliberate and heartfelt process I witnessed in committee. The result of this powerful witness is a true compromise which includes investing in the Palestinian economy, commitment to reconciliation, and divestment from American companies profiting from the Israeli occupation.

Efforts to secure a positive vote in favour of divesting from the three companies received a boost last week, when Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu added his support to the initiative. “I know firsthand that Israel has created an apartheid reality within its borders and through its occupation”, he wrote, adding that “the parallels to my own beloved South Africa are painfully stark indeed.”

The overtures proposed at the General Assembly are…about ending its suppression of four million Palestinian sisters and brothers. It’s about naming an unjust system and refusing to participate in it.

The Middle East Committee also voted 55-6-4 to support a resolution expressing solidarity with Palestinian project ‘Tent of Nations’, located on farmland near Bethlehem, and condemning the recent destruction of fruit trees by the Israeli military.