Madison-Rafah Journal

Wisconsin State Journal :: OPINION :: A10
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Jennifer Loewenstein

After careful consideration of the Presbyterian Church's decision to selectively divest from multinational corporations directly involved in Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands, the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project has decided to support this policy.

The Presbyterian Church's "selective, phased divestment process" is designed to "engage a limited number of companies whose presence in Israel is perceived to undergird, in some critical way, Israel's intransigence" — including:

* Refusal to end the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

* Continued illegal building of settlements in these areas.

* Building a "separation wall" that further intensifies the difficulties of day-to-day life for Palestinians and follows boundaries that the Israeli Supreme Court has declared illegal.

The Presbyterian Church's involvement in divestment issues goes back to its 1985 decision to divest from apartheid South Africa. That decision was part of the worldwide anti-apartheid divestment campaign. The guidelines for divesting from companies supporting Israel's occupation would follow the same pattern: A decision to divest would take place only after careful research, investigation and "progressive engagement" with targeted companies working in Israel or the Occupied Territories. Anyone wishing to review these guidelines should visit www.pcusa.org.

The Madison-Rafah Sister City Project supports the Presbyterians' call for divestment and similar actions such as the divestment resolution before the Somerville, Mass., city council because of the need to put sustained pressure on companies such as Caterpillar Inc. which are, in effect, underwriting Israel's brutal and devastating occupation. We call for an immediate end to this occupation and, with it, the unqualified support and funding it receives from the tax-paying citizens of the United States.

Madison-Rafah rejects the ongoing efforts by pro-Israel organizations and individuals to intimidate the church into repealing its decision. We deplore the hysterical and hate-filled mail that has flooded the Presbyterians' offices, often labeling its actions "anti-Semitic" and "Israel-bashing."

Having been on the receiving end of such tactics here in Madison, we condemn this McCarthyist vilification campaign whose sole purpose is to silence and isolate those who dare take a stand against Israel's illegal occupation policies.

Because the governments of the United States and Israel have consistently refused to comply with the international legal principles upon which a just peace to the Israel-Palestine conflict could be built, we believe that only through direct citizen pressure, as embodied in the divestment proposals of the Presbyterian Church-USA as well as grassroots, people-to-people initiatives such as the sister cities projects, can this intolerable situation begin to change.