Thursday, May 26, 2005
Much as the AUT boycott of Israeli Universities has now been overturned by a grass-roots effort of the normally silent majority - a majority with common sense - it looks as though the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s divestment call will be defeated in a similar way. Like the AUT's boycott, the PC(USA)'s efforts are "more like advocacy of a determined minority than the product of considered debate, reflection, and judgment" and are thus unlikely to stand once the masses give the issue a fair shake. PC(USA)'s decision will take a bit longer to get rid of, however.
Says my emailer:
The article, with the complete text of the "overture" is here:
The action sparked a barrage of criticism that continues today, and prompted the staff leaders of the PCUSA to summon representatives of presbyteries and synods to Louisville, Ky., in February to explain "what we did and why we did it."
The controversial language of the General Assembly resolution calls for "phased selective divestment in multinational corporations operating in Israel," but does not call for any economic sanctions against the Palestinians.
While the resolution does condemn both terrorism and Israel's military response to attacks by suicide bombers who have murdered hundreds of civilians, it clearly blames Israel's government for the war.
The PCUSA's policy has been widely criticized by Jewish groups, Presbyterians and other Christians for being politically partisan in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a threat to Jewish-Presbyterian relations...
The text of the overture itself is just about everything an opponent of the divestment effort can ask for (I wish they had avoided talking about the "67" borders - the fence is located where necessary to save lives, the '49 border is not), and hits all the right notes. In that way it's quite satisfying and worth reading in full if you have the time and are interested in the subject.
