World Council of Churches says YES to Israeli divestment proposal
IRAN:An earthquake of 6.4 magnitude shook Iran's southeastern Kerman province today, the Iranian Red Crescent said. At least 400 people died, the British Broadcasting Corp. said. As many as 5,000 were hurt, Agence France-Presse reported. The U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site that the quake was centered on a point 60 kilometers (35 miles) northwest of the city of Kerman, the province's capital, and struck at 5:55 a.m. local time. One village near Zarand city was completely destroyed, another was 80 percent damaged, Red Crescent spokesman Mostafa Mohejhejh said in a telephone interview from the agency's headquarters in Geneva. At least five other villages were also affected, he said.Read here for more UK: British Jewish lobby group up in arms demonising Mayor of London. Defiant London Mayor Ken Livingstone has again refused to apologize for a tirade in which he accused a Jewish reporter of behaving like a Nazi concentration camp guard.Read here for more Israel released 500 Palestinian prisoners, loading them on buses and transporting them to drop-off points in the West Bank and Gaza, where they were reunited with crowds of family and friends.An additional 400 prisoners are to be freed in coming months, but yesterday's release was the largest in almost a decade. It is one of the steps that both sides are counting on to deepen the apparent trust between Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, and the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, who is seeking to cement support among Palestinian militant groups for a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Read here for more Australia: Australia will send another 450 troops to Iraq to provide security for Japanese military engineers in the southern province of Al Muthanna.Prime Minister John Howard said the troops would deploy in 10 weeks' time and stay for six months, followed by a second six-month rotation.Mr Howard said the decision could cost at least $250 million to $300 million a year.Greens Senator Bob Brown said Mr Howard misled voters at the last election by letting them believe Australia's involvement in Iraq would be scaled down."The reason the UK and Japan aren't sending more (of their own) troops is because it would create an uproar in London or Tokyo," Senator Brown said in Perth today."John Howard is saying 'Well, the prime ministers of Japan and the UK are not going to risk the electoral backlash but I've got an election over and done with, I will fill in using Australian troops'."This is John Howard indicating if other countries withdraw then (US President) George (W) Bush, give me a call."Read here for more Australia:Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable. We're sending MORE troops to Iraq Where is the mandate for that? Howard framed the Iraq war before and during the election around not bringing them home until the job was done. No 'cut and run'. He made no mention of sending in more - indeed he said we wouldn't be doing so and that we didn't have "the capacity" to do so even if we wanted to. Read here for more IRAQ: A US military column was completely wiped out in fierce fighting with Resistance forces according to the Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent in the town of al-Mundhiriyah, near the Iranian border, east of Ba'qubah. The correspondent, who was at the scene of the battle, wrote that a US column made up of eight vehicles came under Iraqi Resistance attack in the Jalabiyah area, known as the at-Tilal or hilly area, at 10pm Friday night. The Resistance fighters holed up in strongholds in the hills unleashed a sweeping attack on the US column, using missiles, pipe rockets, bazookas, and land mines that they had planted in the path of the American forces before their arrival. Four US tanks, three Humvees, and one armored vehicle were destroyed in the fighting that lasted two hours, the correspondent reported. Read here for more China:A Chinese weekly magazine issued in Beijing reported on February 21 that China feels a serious security threat from the fact that the U.S. is surrounding China, its potential antagonist, from three sides: east, west, and south. The weekly says that the U.S. considers Japan and Taiwan as the first encircling net in the east and accordingly tries to strengthen its military alliance with Japan, sell advanced weapons to Taiwan, and push forward the establishment of an air base in Shadidiao. Read here for more
Israel:Israel has been privately pressing Washington to solve the Iran nuclear problem in a hint that Tel Aviv may be left with no choice but to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities, defense officials say. Military analysts say the United States "would have no problem" taking out Iran's major nuclear facilities should it decide to launch a pre-emptive strike. The defense officials say Israel isn't putting its concerns about Iran in the form of a "you attack or we do" ultimatum to the United States. But they said senior Israeli officials often have raised the Iran problem during visits to Washington in the past 18 months.
21 February 2005
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The World Council of Churches (WCC) on February 21 urged its members to consider economic measures to oppose Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory and praised the action of a U.S. denomination that has started a process of selective divestment from companies linked to the occupation. (see WCC Statement below)
The WCC's main governing body said in a statement adopted during a February 15-22 meeting in Geneva:"Multinational corporations have been involved in the demolition of Palestinian homes....(they) are involved in the construction of settlements and settlement infrastructure on occupied territory, in building a dividing wall which is also largely inside occupied territory, and in other violations of international law.
This action is commendable in both method and manner, uses criteria rooted in faith, and calls members to 'do the things that make for peace'..."
The WCC's central committee commended the action of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in initiating a process of phased, selective divestment from multinational corporations involved in the occupation.
It encouraged the WCC's 347 member churches "to give serious consideration to economic measures that are equitable, transparent and non-violent."
Churches with investment funds had "an opportunity to use those funds responsibly in support of peaceful solutions to conflict", the WCC central committee noted. "Economic pressure, appropriately and openly applied, is one such means of action."
Peter Weiderud, director of the WCC's commission on international relations, said the statement would also be brought to the church grouping's management in relation to the organization's own investment funds. "We need to review our policy," Weiderud told journalists.
"This is about activities related to the illegal occupation of the West Bank and not a general policy with regard to Israel," Canon Trond Bakkevig, the moderator of the WCC's public issues committee, said when he presented the statement.
The decision of the U.S. Presbyterian church in July 2004 to start a process of divestment caused a storm of reaction among U.S. Jewish groups and was criticized by some within the denomination itself.
In defending the proposal, Presbyterian officials have said that the denomination has consistently affirmed Israel's right to security and has condemned terrorist acts against Israel.
The WCC's governing body reaffirmed an earlier statement by the world church grouping that "criticism of the policies of the Israeli government is not in itself anti-Jewish."
It noted the grouping had called for "effective international guarantees for the political independence and territorial integrity of all nations in the area, including Israel" and had affirmed Israel's "serious and legitimate security concerns."
The Statement by the Council of Churches
Certain economic measures for peace in Israel/Palestine
The Public Issues Committee proposes Actions by the Central Committee on the following issues.
The Public Issues Committee proposes the Central Committee to adopt the following minute on Israel/Palestine.
Minute on Certain Economic Measures for Peace in Israel/Palestine.
In the conflict in Israel and Palestine there is a renewal of hope although there is not yet a reduction of the threats that separate the parties to the conflict. Palestinians have now organized two elections with constructive effect, despite continuing occupation, and plan another at mid-year. The churches welcome that momentum is building for peace and for solutions which credibly engage those who must make peace, the powerful as well as the weak.
The churches note the growing witness and impact of church engagement that includes both Israelis and Palestinians. The WCC-led Ecumenical Accompaniment Program (EAPPI) is present and supportive of both Palestinians and Israelis who suffer under current circumstances. There is also growing interest among churches in taking new actions that demonstrate commitment to and enhance prospects for a just, equitable and lasting peace in both Israel and Palestine.
Notable among these are initiatives within churches to become better stewards of justice in economic affairs which link them to on-going violations of international law in occupied territory. The Central Committee takes note of the current action by the Presbyterian Church (USA) which has initiated a process of phased, selective divestment from multinational corporations involved in the occupation. This action is commendable in both method and manner, uses criteria rooted in faith, and calls members to do the "things that make for peace" (Luke 19:42).
The concern here is to abide by law as the foundation for a just peace. Multinational corporations have been involved in the demolition of Palestinian homes, and are involved in the construction of settlements and settlement infrastructure on occupied territory, in building a dividing wall which is also largely inside occupied territory, and in other violations of international law being carried out beyond the internationally recognized borders of the State of Israel determined by the Armistice of 1949.
In this 38th year of occupation the desire for a just and equitable peace is growing. For churches of the WCC such hopes are guided by positions and programmes that reflect a search for truth amid much trouble.
The WCC has called, since 1969, for "effective international guarantees for the political independence and territorial integrity of all nations in the area, including Israel" and restated the concern at regular intervals, most recently in recognizing, in 2004, Israel’s "serious and legitimate security concerns".
In 1992, the WCC Central Committee stated that "criticism of the policies of the Israeli government is not in itself anti-Jewish". During the Oslo peace process of the 1990s churches supported civil society projects of rapprochement between communities in conflict in the Holy Land.
In 1995, the Central Committee established criteria for economic actions in the service of justice, namely, that these must be part of a broader strategy of peacemaking, address flagrant and persistent violations, have a clear and limited purpose plus proportionality and adequate monitoring, and are carried out transparently.
In 2001, the WCC Executive Committee recommended an international boycott of goods produced in illegal settlements on occupied territory, and the WCC-related APRODEV agencies in Europe are now working to have Israeli settlement products fully and properly identified before shipment to the European Community in accordance with the terms of the EU’s Association Agreement with Israel.
Yet illegal activities in occupied territory continue as if a viable peace for both peoples is not a possibility. We are not blind to facts and must not be complicit in them even unwittingly. The Central Committee, meeting in Geneva 15-22 February 2005 therefore:
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