IsraPundit has had the privilege and honour of posting several articles contributed by history professor emeritus Prof Paul Charles Merkley (to see these article, enter the word "merkley" in our search engine, at the middle of the right-hand column).

In this post, we bring to our readers an e-interview centered on the WCC divestment decision. Prof Merkley, my fellow-Ottawan, is eminently qualified to elucidate the issues involved, since Prof Merkley is at one and the same time a professional historian, a practising Lutheran, and an expert on Israel-Christian affairs.

Readers who wish to pose additional questions are asked to post the questions as comments, and I will ask Prof Merkley to respond.

Using a Canadian understatement, I extend my heartfelt thanks to Prof Merkley for agreeing to grant this interview to IsraPundit and for responding expeditiously...

The World Council of Churches, taking a cue from the U.S. Presbyterian Church, this week urged its 342 member congregations to strongly consider divesting from companies that it says profit from Israeli actions in the West Bank and Gaza.

Talk about a bizarre sense of timing — doesn't anyone at the Geneva-based group read the newspapers?

The WCC call, which is modeled on the economic-pressure campaign against apartheid South Africa, comes as Israelis and Palestinians are enjoying the brightest hope in years for a genuine breakthrough for peace.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, after months of bitter debate and political jockeying, last weekend won final endorsement from his Cabinet for unilaterally disengagement from all of Gaza and part of the West Bank, areas controlled by Israel since 1967.

This marks the first time an Israeli government has agreed to evacuate settlements on land claimed by the Palestinians for their state. (As part of the 1978 Camp David accords, Israel destroyed a settlement in Sinai, which was being handed back to Egypt.)

At the same time, the Israeli government adopted a new route for its anti-terrorist security fence — one that brings it much closer to the pre-1967 borders. And the Sharon government also agreed to halt, for the time being, the demolition of the homes of terrorists' families.

Meanwhile, the Palestinians have held their first truly free election — and this week adopted a Cabinet notably lacking in cronies of the late, unlamented Yasser Arafat, replacing them with technocrats and educators.

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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has managed to persuade Hamas and Islamic Jihad to abandon terrorist attacks — last night's bombing at a Tel Aviv nightclub was the first such attack in months. Israel has reciprocated by halting reprisal operations and freeing 900 Palestinians from its prisons.

Abbas also has committed the Palestinian Authority to democratic and economic reform, designed to lift the suffering of his population by ending the oppression of corruption imposed by Arafat and his cronies.

And this is the moment that the World Council of Churches chooses to pour oil on the still-simmering fire by urging disinvestment in Israel? [...]