In June, three more U.S. churches to consider ending financial support for Israeli occupation

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

http://mondoweiss.net/2015/06/churches-financial-occupation

Faith in the peace process is at an all-time low after the re-election of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the extremism of his new government. With even President Obama admitting that the door on negotiations is all but closed, Christian activists are opening new windows to expose Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.

“Understanding Netanyahu’s intent and policy is not guess work at all, it is consistent with the historical record for any who bother to look,” said Rev. Dr. Jeffrey DeYoe, moderator of the Israel Palestine Mission Network (IPMN) of the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA). “Talk of a two-state solution, even with Netanyahu resurrecting that language after being elected, is a cynical delaying tactic.”

“Netanyahu is going to cost us Palestinians a tremendous amount of suffering, and more atrocities and policies of oppression,” said Bisan Mitri of the West Bank town of Beit Sahour. “But this also means that the mask has been dropped.”

Mitri is one of 3,000 Palestinian Christians, including the heads of 13 churches, who signed the Kairos Palestine document calling for: “boycott and disinvestment as tools of nonviolence for justice, peace and security for all.”

This is the real truth. Israel is creating the foundation for its own end game. People are fed up with the apartheid machine are will walk away from it. The school-boy hasbarists can call it anti-semitism all they want, but that just doesn't stick any longer.


BDS.

[Israeli]

1. Norwegian insurance giant divests from multinational firms operating in West Bank settlements

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.660901

Norwegian insurance giant KLP Kapitalforvaltning has excluded two multinational building material companies from its investment portfolio because of their operations in the West Bank.

“KLP is excluding Heidelberg Cement and Cemex on the grounds of their exploitation of natural resources in occupied territory on the West Bank,” the company announced Thursday. “In KLP’s opinion this activity constitutes an unacceptable risk of violating fundamental ethical norms.”

KLP divested of its shares in these companies effective June 1, citing international law as set in the Hague and Geneva conventions. The Norwegian firm insures all municipal workers in the Scandinavian nation and holds 35 billion dollars worth of assets.

The decision is relatively unusual for divesting from companies operating in the West Bank because it constitutes a tertiary boycott – not on acquiring a product made in the West Bank or from an Israeli company producing it but rather a multinational company involved in a financial relationship with an Israeli company operating over the Green Line.

[6chars]

2. What is the end game?

[azurnoir]

3. what do you believe it is, surely you must have some thought on that

and welcome to DU

[6chars]

4. I don't have a clue

I don't think it works that way that there is a single endgame. History is full of surprises. In this situation, we can stitch together stories that lead to 50 different endgames, some good for one side and bad for the other, a lot of them bad for both sides and a scant few of them good for both sides.

[azurnoir]

5. Really? there has been enough posted about it in this group and quite recently too

[6chars]

7. There are different theories about what will happen

I don't pretend to know. It depends on what actual human beings end up doing, not on what they theoretically will do. I do know it won't be easy to get a win-win outcome. If it were easy it would hae happened by now.

[azurnoir]

6. here from the BDS website but we're told it's either lies or a cover for a plot to destroy Israel

In view of this continued failure, Palestinian civil society called for a global citizens’ response. On July 9 2005, a year after the International Court of Justice’s historic advisory opinion on the illegality of Israel’s Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), a clear majority of Palestinian civil society called upon their counterparts and people of conscience all over the world to launch broad boycotts, implement divestment initiatives, and to demand sanctions against Israel, until Palestinian rights are recognised in full compliance with international law.

The campaign for boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) is shaped by a rights-based approach and highlights the three broad sections of the Palestinian people: the refugees, those under military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Palestinians in Israel. The call urges various forms of boycott against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law by:

Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967 and dismantling the Wall;
Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.

The BDS call was endorsed by over 170 Palestinian political parties, organizations, trade unions and movements. The signatories represent the refugees, Palestinians in the OPT, and Palestinian citizens of Israel.

- See more at: http://www.bdsmovement.net/bdsintro#sthash.Ly9ah6ab.dpuf

[6chars]

8. Oh, that's what you meant

Yes, i've read about this here and of course heard about it. I am not convinced it will lead to the desired effect. Maybe - to this point the Israeli goverment response has been modest and not entirely in the direction of meeting the above conditions. The Gandhi theory is that ultimately they will.