WCC advocates selective divestment from US companies like Caterpillar that profit from the Occupation, and from Israeli companies that depend on settlements for materials and labor, or that produce military equipment used to violate Palestinian human rights.

Churches with investment funds have an opportunity to use those funds responsibly in support of peaceful solutions to conflict. “Economic pressure, appropriately and openly applied, is one such means of action. “ (Adopted 2/05; reaffirmed 8/06) (media@wcc-coe.org)

“There is a spiritual dimension to all investment.”

1. Earning money through investment in companies whose products and services are used to violate International Law and human rights is equivalent to profiting from unlawful acts and the oppression of others.

2. Continuing such investments, once the facts are brought to our attention, constitutes enabling harm to innocent civilians under Occupation and condoning illegal settlement policies that lead to human rights violations.

“The churches have exhausted all other options,” says Sabeel founder Naim Ateek, a Palestinian-Israeli Anglican priest. (See “Morally Responsible Investment: A Nonviolent Response to the Occupation,” 8/05.) (www.fosna.org)

Supported by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, the Synod overwhelmingly votes to support “morally responsible investment in the Palestinian occupied territories and, in particular to disinvest from companies profiting from the illegal occupation, such as Caterpillar Inc, until they change their policies.” The Synod asks its Ethical Investment Advisory Group (EIAG) to engage Caterpillar in “intensive discussions . . . with a view to its withdrawing from supplying or maintaining either equipment or parts for use by the State of Israel in demolishing Palestinian homes.”

The Synod urges EIAG to visit Palestinian lands to see recent house demolitions and “to give weight to the illegality under international law of the activities in which Caterpillar Inc.’s equipment is involved. ”The Episcopal Bishop of Jerusalem urges action, asking the Synod if the church must “wait until there are no homes and no trees for our people to wake up . . . ” (www.anglicancommunion.org/)

The parish decides to implement the decision of the General Synod on its own. It withdraws its funds from its Church of England investment account in order to disinvest from companies such as Caterpillar that are profiting from Israel's occupation of Palestine. The Central Board of Finance (CBF), which manages investment funds, has so far declined to implement the General Synod's decision. "We are simply doing what the local Church in Palestine and the General Synod has asked us to do," says Vicar Stephen Sizer. "If the CBF will not withdraw our money from Caterpillar, then we will do it for them. We are looking for an investment fund with a more ethically sound policy." (info@imri.org.uk)

Calls for “active engagement” by Anglican communions worldwide to wrestle with companies that support the occupation of Palestinian lands or violence against innocent Israelis. It encourages investment that supports the infrastructure of a future Palestinian State. (www.anglicancommunion.org/)

Joins in urging movement toward divestment from companies whose activities contribute to the occupation of Palestinian land or to violence against innocent Israelis. “You only have to go there and [you will] sympathize with the Palestinians, especially when it comes to the separation wall. . . and the mistreatment of the women and men at the roadblocks,” said Bishop Gideon Ireri, speaking after the Kenyan synod backed the 5/05 call of the Anglican Consultative Council. (www.episcopalchurch.org)

The Council of General Synod unanimously passed a resolution asking the eco-justice committee, with the help of Kairos, a Canadian ecumenical justice group, to research the activities of companies believed to be contributing to violence in Israel and Palestine, as well as those contributing to peace and economic stability in that region. The committee, along with the Financial Management Development Investment Subcommittee, should “explore a range of socially responsible investment strategies, including corporate engagement and positive investment or divestment.” (anglicanjournal.com/132/01/canada15.html)

EEC directs its Committee for Social Responsibility in Investments to undertake the following:

1. Corporate engagement via dialogue and shareholder resolutions, as appropriate, to encourage companies to adopt socially responsible practices that advance positive changes in Israeli government policy and end the Occupation.

2. Urge the Palestinian Authority to oppose violence as a means of resistance.

3. “Positive investment” – encourage companies to invest in the economic infrastructure of the West Bank and Gaza: “A stable Palestinian state will make for a more secure Israel.” Seek opportunities, with others, to make loans to “support economic justice and development in support of a future Palestinian State.” Palestine, like Israel, has a right to an economy that flourishes.

4. Urge members of the Church to visit church partners and others in Israel and the Palestinian Territories in order to understand the complexities of the conflict. (www.episcopalchurch.org/)

Evangelical Lutherans, with nearly 5 million US members, back "exploration of the feasibility of refusing to buy products produced in Israeli settlements," and of supporting the purchase of Palestinian products, in measures adopted by The Churchwide Assembly, the denomination's key legislative body. The Assembly calls for examination of the denomination's "entire investment activity," excluding divestiture. These economic initiatives are part of a decision to "recommit to the Churchwide Strategy for Engagement in Israel and Palestine through awareness-building, accompaniment [visits with Holy Land hosts], and advocacy." The initiative builds on the Peace Not Walls campaign the Assembly adopted in 2005, and will be undertaken in consultation with Evangelical Lutheran churches in Jordan and the Holy Land. (www.elca.org/news/Releases.asp?a=3718)

Pax Christi announces support for a UK campaign aimed at multi-national companies that profit from the Occupation, including Volvo, Caterpillar, Daewoo and Sainsbury's. Australian Pax Christi convenor Fr. Claude Mostowik calls for the campaign to expand as a worldwide boycott. (cathnews.com/news/607/60.php)

The 2006 General Assembly votes to continue its policy of economic engagement in the denomination’s work for peace in Israel-Palestine. The new resolution makes the geographic scope and the substantial reach of the project more explicit, urging that the church’s investments “as they pertain to Israel, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank, be invested in only peaceful pursuits.” The resolution, overwhelmingly adopted, states that “the proper vehicle for achieving this goal” is the “customary corporate engagement process of the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI).” MRTI aims to persuade corporations to change their practices through correspondence, direct talks, proxy voting, shareholder resolutions, and if need-be through a recommendation for divestment. Rev. Gretchen Graf, Moderator of the GA Peacemaking Committee, affirms that MRTI “as a last resort” could recommend divestment to the next General Assembly in 2008 despite the absence of the words “phased selective divestment,” in this year’s resolution. That phrase in the 2004 GA document aroused the ire of organizations that considered it punitive toward Israel, although the phrase had drawn praise from organizations that believe it may persuade Israel to end its occupation more effectively than have decades of urgent requests.

The 2006 resolution asks MRTI to ”identify affirmative investment opportunities as they pertain to Israel, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank.” The Presbyterians also explicitly ask the entire church “to work through peaceful means” to end the occupation, to end violence against civilians, and for the “creation of a socially, economically, geographically, and politically viable and secure Palestinian state, alongside an equally viable and secure Israeli state, both of which have a right to exist.” Finally, the GA supports “fair criticism” of the wall: “To the extent that the security barrier violates Palestinian land . . . the barrier should be dismantled and relocated." . (http://www.pcusa.org/worldwide/israelpalestine/resources/divestmentfaqpart2.pdf)

Temporary Suspension of Military Aid to Israel:  The Presbytery votes to ask the 2008 General Assembly to 1)reaffirm the right of Israel to exist; 2)deplore suicide bombings and terror attacks; and

3) call for temporary suspension of US military aid to Israel until it complies with the Arms Export Control Act and the Foreign Assistance Act. These laws prohibit the use of US weapons against civilians or civilian infrastructure and bar aid to countries that engage in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.

General Assemblies have repeatedly addressed denial of aid to Israel and have called for an end to further settlements and land appropriation. Yet, since 1948, Israel has driven Palestinians from their homes, lands and towns, confined them to refugee camps, destroyed their commerce with blockades, and built a wall that divides families, separates children from school and sick persons from hospitals. It has arrested and imprisoned people without trial and created fear and loss of life through random military attacks on civilians. Christian communities are being eliminated. US military aid, now over 10 million dollars a day, is crucial to the continuance of these human rights violations. The Presbytery deplores all violence, including suicide bombings and other terrorist acts, as well as violence perpetrated by an occupying army. Heeding the call of the prophets, of Jesus, and of the denomination's own Book of Order, the Presbytery affirms that all human life is precious. The cycle of violence must stop.    

(Middle East Work Group (MEWG) of the Presbytery of Detroit )

The General Assembly, meeting in Edinburgh, calls on European authorities and the World Council of Churches to clearly identify products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank “to enable consumers to make informed choices.” The General Assembly has no investments directly relevant to its concerns about Israel and the Palestinians. (ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_060524cofs.s)

“By using US-supplied weapons to attack Gaza and Lebanon, Israel is violating the terms of the US Arms Export Control Act and Foreign Assistance Act. The Arms Export Control Act restricts the use of US weapons to legitimate self-defense and internal policing; US weapons cannot be used to attack civilians in offensive operations. The Foreign Assistance Act prohibits US aid of any kind to a country that routinely kills civilians as a result of its military operations. … We urge the President and Congress to stop all foreign assistance and military equipment exports to Israel until it ceases military attacks outside of its internationally recognized borders.” (atlanta.quaker.org) (olyfriends.homestead.com)

The Sisters’ Caterpillar shareholder resolution asked Cat to investigate whether its sale of bulldozers to Israel violates the company’s own code of conduct: “It is a matter of public record that since September 2000, the Israeli government has used Caterpillar equipment to destroy more than 3000 homes, hundreds of public buildings and private commercial properties and vast areas of agricultural land,” uprooting “hundreds of thousands of olive trees as well as orchards of dates, prunes, lemons and oranges causing widespread economic hardship and environmental degradation in rural areas of Palestine.” The resolution received a 3% vote at the shareholders’ meeting --“a remarkable success,” said JVP. The goal was "to put this issue front and center in the minds of the Caterpillar board.” (sistersofmercy.org) (iccr.org/)

The coalition, founded in 1969 for individual nuns dedicated to issues of social justice and human rights, backs municipal boycotts of Caterpillar machinery and a boycott of Israeli goods at its August 2007 board meeting, stating: "Because Caterpillar (CAT) bulldozers are used as weapons of war in the Occupied Territories in violation not only of the U. S. Arms Export Control Act, but also of international law and the corporation’s own code of conduct, we call for divestment from Caterpillar, municipal boycotts of CAT machinery, and a consumer boycott of other CAT products." Further, "We call on the U. S. government to begin at once to withdraw from its occupation in Iraq and to withdraw support of the Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza. We encourage a boycott of Israeli goods in order to hasten a more just civil order in the Holy Land." (www.journalnow.com)

As shareholders in Caterpillar, Inc., the Sisters community filed a resolution in 2004, asking Caterpillar to stop providing arms to Israel. A Sister addressed the annual shareholders meeting, telling the executives, “You understand the implications of improvement in clean emissions, equal employment opportunity, environmental impact of mining and logging. But with sales to the Israeli Army through the Department of Defense, you have stepped up Caterpillar's role in the public arena. Caterpillar bulldozers are tools of war now and Caterpillar is an arms dealer, sharing in responsibility for the horrendous use of those weapons.” The resolution won 4% of the shareholders’ votes, assuring its reconsideration in 2005. (catdestroyshomes.org) (lorettocommunity.org)

The Council, representing millions of South Africans, endorses the call for boycott issued by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. The endorsement was joined by over a hundred prominent South African academics. (www.aidc.org.za/?q=book/view/586)

The 2002 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association opposes Israeli settlements, land confiscation, house demolitions, and other violations of international law, as well as "all attacks on civilians, whether by suicide bombers, F-16 or helicopter gunships, or any other means." The US government "is responsible for a significant portion of arms sales to this over-armed region" and the GA calls on the US to "suspend all transfers of those types of weapons and munitions used to commit human rights violations until Israel is clearly in compliance with the terms for arms transfers as expressed in United States law and bilateral agreements."

The Assembly urges UU congregations to become educated on Middle East issues, to support Israeli peace activists, to give encouragement to Jewish Americans and others who support Israel but oppose its occupation of Palestine, and to support a central United Nations role in seeking a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace. (uua.org/socialjustice/socialjustice/statements/13983.shtml)

The UCC General Council adopts a Pro-Peace Investment Strategy “to invite the membership, congregations, and organizations of The United Church of Canada to invest in companies that contribute to peace and a secure and economically viable Palestinian state alongside a secure and economically viable State of Israel” and to “make financial investments, as they pertain to Israel, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank, with . . . companies that are engaged only in peaceful pursuits in the region.” UCC is Canada’s largest Protestant denomination. It rules out investment in companies supporting the occupation and settlements, as well as in firms serving “any government or organization that refuses to recognize the legitimate rights of the State of Israel, including its right to exist as a Jewish state.” The denomination denounces acts of violence perpetrated against persons on all sides of the conflict. It commits to raising one million dollars to support projects of groups working for peace in Palestine and Israel. (www.united-church.ca/news/2006/0818.shtm)

The Use of Economic Leverage in Promoting Peace in the Middle East: Ask pension boards, conferences, local churches and members to use economic leverage: advocating reallocation of US foreign aid to constrain Middle East militarization; contributing to groups and partners committed to nonviolent resolution of the conflict; challenging corporations’ practices that gain from the conflict and occupation; and divesting from companies that refuse to change these practices. Educate congregants about how economic leverage may help support the development of Palestine and Israel as two independent, secure, economically viable states. Continue dialogue with Jewish, Christian and Muslim partners to work for Israel-Palestine peace. (ucc.org)

The General Conference of the denomination's 7.9 million members will consider calls from eight regional conferences and from UMC social justice bodies to consider ethical investment approaches at its session in Fort Worth, Texas, 4/08. Establishment of a churchwide "socially responsible investment task force" is proposed by the UMC Church and Society Board (9/07), calling for "targeted divestment with businesses directly involved with the oppression of Palestinians and the humanitarian crisis in Darfur," reports Rev. Steve Sprecher, chair of the C & S board.

A resolution titled "Divestment and Caterpillar" will also go before the General Conference, asking UMC members, churches, regional conferences, and pension agencies to divest from the company. James Winkler, UMC public affairs head, met with CAT's CEO Jim Owens in 1/08 to convey opposition to sales to Israel of CAT equipment used for "illegal destruction of Palestinian homes, orchards and olive groves ...and to clear Palestinian land for illegal Israeli settlements, segregated roads and the Separation barrier." The UMC pension board reportedly holds $5 million in Caterpillar shares. (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk)

The Conference joins a significant number of regional Methodist bodies in calling for a vigorous response to the occupation. It states that "our General Rules hold us first accountable to 'Doing no harm.'" But "financing the oppression and violence caused by the military occupation...with our investments harms every Israeli and Palestinian, including Christian, child, woman and man." The Conference joins "a proven means of non-violent protest to actively promote a peaceful resolution to the political violence [that is] harming, maiming and killing Israelis and Palestinians" -- violence that in fact "violates Christian principles, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and international law." The Conference calls upon Methodist boards of pensions and health benefits, administrators, and financial councilors to determine which corporations supported by Methodist investments profit from the Occupation, as by demolishing homes, constructing the wall, or supporting violence against Israelis or Palestinians. They are to engage such corporations to end such practices and, if they fail, they are to sell the investments and notify all member churches. The Conference concludes with the prayer that these actions "will give hope to Palestinians and Israelis...including our Christian brothers and sisters in the region who have not been forgotten." (UMC.org)

The Conference calls on Methodist churches, boards and foundations "to review and identify companies that profit from sales of products or services that are used as tools of occupation or oppression against the Palestinians by the State of Israel and divest from these companies." It urges the 2008 General Conference to take similar action on behalf of the entire United Methodist denomination in the United States. (UMC.org)

The Conference affirms "Israel's right to exist within permanent, recognized and secure borders, and Palestinians' rights to self-determination and formation of a viable state, whether it is through a one-state or two-state solution." It cites the denomination's Book of Resolutions on "Avoidance by Divestment" that prohibits investment in enterprises that have morally reprehensible policies or practices. It calls on all who are investing United Methodist funds to review and identify companies that profit from sales or services that harm Palestinians or Israelis and to divest from these companies. It supports other religious partners, such as the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the United Church of Christ, who are also divesting., and calls on the 2008 General Conference to take similar action. (UMC.org)

Resolution on “Divesting from Companies that are Supporting, in a Significant Way, the Israeli Occupation of Palestinian Territories.” Ending the Israeli occupation is a stated goal of The United Methodist Church, says Bishop Peter Weaver. The settlements and Israel’s wall on Palestinian land violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva Conventions, UN resolutions, and the 2003 Roadmap. The Church affirms the right of Christians, Jews, and Muslims to freedom of movement in the Holy Land and the maintenance of Jerusalem as an open city for people of all three faiths.

The Divestment Task Force, established in 2005, communicated with key companies found to support the Occupation. Twenty companies have now been placed on a divestment list and shared with Methodist churches and investment managers. They are Lockheed Martin, Blockbuster, Alliant Tech Systems, Boeing, Caterpillar, Cement Roadstone Holdings, General Dynamics, General Electric, Globecomm Systems, Magal Security Systems, Motorola, Northrop Grumman, Oshkosh Truck Corp, Raytheon, Silicon Graphics, TEREX, United Technologies, Veolia Environnement, ITT, and Volvo. "Selective divestment is consistent with the United Methodist commitment to a just and sustainable peace for all the people of the Middle East," says William Aldrich, of the Divestment Task Force. Divestment offers "a tangible way of working toward this goal." (www.neumc.org)

The Conference cites the destructiveness of the Occupation and the resulting hopelessness, frustration, and humanitarian crisis, adding that "targeted assassinations, suicide bombings and attacks against civilians by both Israelis and Palestinians heighten the fear and suffering of all." Meanwhile, "people in the United States, through their taxes, provide over $10 million per day (IfAmericansKnew.org) in economic and military assistance to the State of Israel, which allows for the building of bypass roads and settlements that are illegal according to the Fourth Geneva Convention." The Conference calls on Methodist churches and boards to identify companies that are supporting the occupation "in a significant way" or causing harm to Palestinians or Israelis and to "begin the phased selective process using dialogue, shareholder actions, and as a last resort divestment." (UMC.org)

The Conference calls on the U.S. Congress, the Israeli Knesset, and the Palestinian Parliament to reject aggression and violence, to respect the equality and dignity of all the region's people, and to forge solutions based on the principles of international law and human rights. It rejects terrorism and acts of provocation that lead to violence, and it believes that security for one people can never be achieved by denying security to others. The Conference aims to make all United Methodists and other Americans aware of their unwitting participation in human rights violations that violate Christian principles and international law.

Palestinians are in crisis, with soaring unemployment, malnutrition, restrictions on movement, denial of medical care, denial of access to agricultural lands, humiliation at checkpoints, and extended lockdowns called curfews. Nearly two million live in poverty, with no access to their own lands, while Israel continues to take land and water for ever-expanding settlements, Israeli-only roadways, and construction of a giant wall and fence that is confiscating a significant portion of the Palestinian West Bank.

The Conference sends a resolution to the 2008 General Conference, calling on the United Methodist Church to begin a process of phased, selective divestment (beginning with dialogue) from multinational corporations profiting from violence in the area, from demolition of Palestinian homes, construction of the wall, confiscation of land, and continuing the Occupation, as well as divestment from institutions that perpetrate or support violence against Israelis. The Church should review its investments, evaluate alternative means of economic intervention, and invest in companies that "make a positive contribution" to its basic social goals, rather than profiting from illegal activities. (www/umc.org/nilconf/)

UMC "should not profit from the illegal (as defined by UN Resolution 242) Israeli occupation of Palestinian land or the destruction of Palestinian homes, orchards, and lives," says the O-I Conference in a resolution sent to the 2008 General Conference. UMC's Standing Resolution on Investment Ethics prohibits UMC investment in enterprises with policies or practices deemed "morally reprehensible" -- historically, liquor, tobacco, gambling, and, often, major military contractors. Under the UMC policy of "Avoidance by Divestment," some church investors divested from companies doing business in South Africa under apartheid, making public their action as a moral statement. In this tradition, the Oregon-Idaho Conference proposes that UMC boards of pensions and finance "review and identify companies that profit from sales of products or services that cause harm to Palestinians or Israelis and divest from these companies." (www.umoi.net/docbuilder/journal2007/ - actions/resolutions p.172)

Affirms Israel's right to exist within permanent, recognized, and secure borders, and Palestinians' right to self-determination and the formation of a viable state.

The Conference calls upon the United Methodist Board of Pensions to review its investments and undertake a process of phased, selective divestment from any multinational corporations that are profiting from the illegal demolition of Palestinian homes, destruction of the Palestinian economy, and confiscation of Palestinian land. (UMC.org)

Recommend to the UK Methodist Conference that it follow the lead of the World Council of Churches and Presbyterian Church, undertaking a review of all investments under its control, with a view to divesting from any corporations or activities that support the illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. “International Law is the basis of the Conference resolution. This fact should be well publicized.”

“No Other Way,” adopted at the 2005 annual plenary, calls for economic pressure targeted at the Occupation. The rationale for these measures highlights: 1) Their nonviolent nature and 2) The fact that the need to resort to these steps is a result of the failure of other means. Opposing the Israeli occupation cannot be construed as anti-Semitic.

Under “Divestment Actions,” EJJP calls for pressure by boycott and information campaigns on companies, institutions, organizations, and individuals that profit from involvement in or contribution to the Occupation, such as Caterpillar, Intel, and Soda Club. It includes Israeli companies that produce military equipment used to violate Palestinian human rights, and also universities, research institutions, and individuals that contribute to the perpetuation of the Occupation.

The purchase of Israeli arms and weapons should be banned, and governments are asked to stop selling Israel arms used to continue the Occupation. Settlement products should be boycotted, based on the Gush Shalom list, as well as products with labels that do not differentiate between settlement products and those made in Israel. (ejjp.org)

“Peace Bloc” in Hebrew, Gush is a highly active Israeli peace organization that started an ongoing National Boycott of Settlements’ Products in 1997, providing a list of products produced in settlements’ industrial parks to tens of thousands of Israeli households on request. The list is constantly revised and is used by international groups seeking such information. (gush-shalom.org)

1. Selective divestment from companies that profit from the Occupation, e.g., Caterpillar, and from Israeli companies that depend on settlements for materials or labor or that produce military equipment used to violate Palestinian human rights

2. Reminds churches with investment funds that they have an opportunity to use those funds responsibly in support of peaceful solutions to conflict. Economic pressure is one such means of action. Calls for churches to:

A. Exert pressure on companies to discontinue business that supports the occupation.

B. When pressure fails, divest from such companies. (lucia@icahd.org)

At JVP, we fully support efforts to divest from companies that profit from Israel's occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. This includes American companies like Caterpillar who profit from the wholesale destruction of Palestinian homes and orchards.

We are not advocating divestment from Israel. We absolutely reject the accusation that general divestment or boycott campaigns are inherently anti-Semitic. The Israeli government is a government like any other, and condemning human rights abuse as many of its own citizens do quite vigorously, is in no way the same as attacking the Jewish people.

Further, it is crucial not only to criticize the immoral and illegal acts of the Israeli and U.S. government, but to back up that criticism with action. When governments engage in oppressive policies, pressure from outside is required to bring about positive change. Putting economic pressure on U.S. companies has been and will be a successful grassroots organizing strategy that brings that pressure to bear.

As the movement to divest from Israel's occupation grows, we hope that the Israeli government will decide that there is nothing to be gained from sustaining the oppression of four million Palestinians, who live without equal protection under the law. We hope that this movement makes clear also to American representatives in government that American citizens will no longer fund the oppression of Palestinians, and by extension the destruction of Israeli civil society, through our taxes. (www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org)

“We are writing as deeply committed Jews to thank the Presbyterian Church for acting as a true friend to our people. Their decisions to condemn Israel's Wall . . . and to begin selective divestment of holdings in multinational corporations doing business in Israel/Palestine represent an important step forward in the struggle for Palestinian freedom and an end to the conflict . . . (W)e believe that the day will come, be it in five years or fifty, when the Presbyterian Church’s action in this matter will be remembered with love and gratitude by Jews around the world. . . ” (www.jatonyc.org)

An Israeli peace group, active with army Refusers, women’s groups, and other peace groups, 2/05, New Profile “opposes the Occupation on three counts: 1. Its destruction of Palestinian life, society, land, and property. 2. Its role in maintaining militarism in Israel. 3. Its erosion of Israel’s socio-economic and moral fabric.”

“We therefore seek non-violent means of ending this catastrophic Occupation. One such means is using economic sanctions to pressure the government to change its policy. To this end New Profile welcomes and supports selective divestment aimed at divesting from companies that contribute to the continuation of the Occupation by supplying arms, other equipment, or staff . . . [E]nding the occupation is not only to the benefit of the Palestinians but also necessary for the welfare of Israel, its youth, and future generations. Over 20,000 Israeli soldiers have died in its wars since 1948. Enough.” (www.newprofile.org)