Note #9130 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06091 Feb. 15, 2006
Hamas win makes Christian engagement even more crucial, Palestinian leader says
Director of Bethlehem institute advocates divestment strategy
by Jerry L. Van Marter Ecumenical News International
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil - Hamas' victory in recent Palestinian legislative elections makes the churches' engagement in the Holy Land more crucial than ever, a Palestinian Christian leader said on the opening day of the ninth Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC).
"The election is very confusing," said the Rev. Naim Ateek, an Anglican who is director of Jerusalem's Sabeel Institute. "Hopefully, pressure on Hamas to be responsible in government will help us create a stronger force for non-violence."
At the same time, Ateek said, churches must sustain their economic campaign in opposition to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. Sabeel's call for "selective divestment" from corporations profiting from the occupation was taken up in 2004 by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). A year ago the WCC central committee, another of the council's governing bodies, urged its member churches to follow that lead, and several have.
Sabeel has called only for divestment directed at multi-national corporations; others are advocating an approach also including government sanctions and consumer boycotts of Israeli products.
Nidal Abu Zuluf, assistant director of the East Jerusalem YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) branch in Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem, said sanctions and boycotts, in addition to divestment, comprise "a strategy that will make a difference," because it will involve governments and individuals, not just churches. "We shouldn't have to wait another 20 years, so we must employ any and every non-violent means," he said.
Sabeel, however, has concentrated on selective divestment, Ateek said, because it keeps the focus of churches' efforts on the Israeli occupation, which he called "immoral and illegal under international law."
"We know there are corporations profiting from the misery of occupation, and if you find your money invested in that misery, then it becomes your responsibility to question the morality of that investment," he said. "In the church, we have a concept of the Body of Christ, that when one suffers we all suffer. So we must stand together and do justice.
"Engage these companies, and they may change. If they don't, we urge the churches to divest from those companies and reinvest in companies that are building up the Palestinian people and economy."
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