wfn.org | [ENS] Israel/Palestine: Report recommends corporate engagement,

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Monday, October 3, 2005

Israel/Palestine: Report recommends corporate engagement, positive
investment

By Matthew Davies

ENS 100305-2

[Episcopal News Service] The Social Responsibility in Investments (SRI)
committee issued a report to the Executive Council October 3,
recommending
"corporate engagement" and "positive investment" practices when dealing
with
companies in which the Episcopal Church owns assets and shares.

The report follows a year's deliberations during which the SRI committee
engaged in research and study, dialogue with many groups and
individuals,
visited Israel and the Palestinian territories, and observed actions
from
other churches and denominations dealing with similar issues.

The committee's responsibility, as noted in its report, was "not to
create
new policy," but to make recommendations that "advance the existing
social
policies of the [Episcopal] Church on Israel and Palestine," its main
purpose being to promote peace and justice.

"[The report] was very carefully thought through and represents a
consensus
from a group that began with extremely diverse opinions on the issues,"
said
Kim Byham, Executive Council's liaison to the SRI committee. "It also
reflects the results of our studies of the issues, including our
inspection
visit, and numerous meetings with representatives of all points of
view."

Executive Council, the elected body which oversees the mission and
ministry
of the Episcopal Church, will consider and discuss the report during its
October 7-10 meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Corporate engagement

Through "corporate engagement," the Episcopal Church would encourage
companies in which it has investments to adopt socially responsible
practices that advance "positive changes in Israeli government policy"
that
would end the occupation, "as well as urging the Palestinian Authority
to
oppose violence as a means of resistance."

Furthermore, the report recommends investments that would "provide
support
for the development of a future Palestinian state," and also urges the
Episcopal Church to "engage in dialogue or file shareholder resolutions
with
companies in which it owns shares."

Positive investment

With "positive investment," the Episcopal Church would join with other
religious organizations, denominations and institutions in investing in
the
economic infrastructure of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as "a
stable
Palestinian state will make for a more secure Israel," the report says.

In particular, the report recommends that the council "seeks
opportunities,
with others, for making loans to loan funds in the Palestinian
Territories
and elsewhere that support economic justice and development in support
of a
future Palestinian State."

The committee noted that it was not recommending divestment because "the
goal is for selected companies to change behavior resulting in a more
hopeful climate for peace. If the church simply divests, nothing
positive
has happened."

The Rev. Brian Grieves, director of Peace and Justice Ministries and SRI
committee member, emphasized that the report represents the committee's
recommendations to council and not the position of the church.

"The committee has worked diligently and thoughtfully these past several
months," he said, "and has struggled hard to hear and respond to varying
views, while being mindful of the church's policy positions on the
conflict."

One year ago, the council charged the SRI committee with investigating
what
corporate actions "might be appropriate with (1) companies that
contribute
to the infrastructure of Israel's ongoing occupation of the West Bank
and
Gaza Strip and (2) companies that have connections to organizations
responsible for violence against Israel."

As part of its study, a delegation from SRI and the Anglican and
International Peace with Justice Concerns (AIPJC) visited Israel and the
Palestinian Territories April 29-May 6.

The group met with Israeli and Palestinian peace groups, representatives
of
the Palestinian Authority, residents of an Israeli settlement, staff of
the
Episcopal hospital in Gaza, and representatives of a leading pro-Israeli
government Jewish organization, as well as members of the Episcopal
Church
in Jerusalem.

"In addition, the committee has been in contact with all the companies
in
our portfolio," Byham said. "This is an ongoing process and a list of
companies with which to engage further has not yet been developed."

Byham explained that a number of options were examined when considering
how
General Convention and Executive Council resolutions could best be
implemented with respect to socially responsible investment.

"We decided that the means most likely to achieve the aims set forth by
the
church would be to engage corporations in which we own stock concerning
their activities in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian lands or in
supporting
terrorism in Israel itself," he said. "We want to discourage such
companies
from being complicit in illegal or immoral activities associated with
such
occupation or terrorism."

During its June 2005 meeting in Nottingham, England, the Anglican
Consultative Council (ACC), the Communion's most representative
decision-making body, commended the Episcopal Church's resolve "to take
appropriate action where it finds that its corporate investments support
the
occupation of Palestinian lands or violence against innocent Israelis,"
and
encouraged "investment strategies that support the infrastructure of a
future Palestinian State."

The SRI committee has agreed "to continue research on and dialogue with
other church groups, Jewish organizations, and Israeli and Palestinian
organizations to build bridges of understanding and a common witness for
a
just peace in the Holy Land."

Full text of the SRI committee's report to Executive Council is
available
online at: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/1866_68277_ENG_HTM.htm.

[Editor's Note: The Executive Council is composed of the Presiding
Bishop,
the President of the House of Deputies, 20 members elected by General
Convention (four bishops, four priests or deacons and 12 laypersons) and
18
members elected by provincial synods. Officers with seat and voice
include
the vice president, the treasurer and the secretary of the Domestic and
Foreign Mission Society.
	In the course of the three years between meetings of General
Convention, known as the "triennium," the Executive Council will
customarily
meet once in each of the nine provinces of the Episcopal Church.
	The Rev. Canon Kate J. Cullinane, associate dean and canon missioner
of Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis, and chair of the SRI
committee,
will attend the council meeting.]

-- Matthew Davies is international correspondent / multimedia manager
for
Episcopal News Service.

--
To SUBSCRIBE to enslist, send a blank email message, from the address
which
you wish subscribed, to: join-enslist@epicom.org

Send QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS to news@episcopalchurch.org

The enslist is published by Episcopal News Service:
  http://www.episcopalchurch.org/ens

--