Saturday, July 10, 2010
[The following, by Will Spotts, is crossposted from The PC(USA) on Israel and Palestine.]
None of the actions will be final until the assembly concludes. Anything can still be "reconsidered". At this point, however, all of the business items related to Israelis and Palestinians have been addressed.
· The paper, "Christians and Jews: People of God" has been referred for a rewrite.
· Divestment has been declined.
· The GA has denounced Caterpillar.
· The GA has declined to find Israel guilty of the crime of apartheid. It added this comment:
While we are deeply concerned with the policies implemented by Israel in relation to the Palestine territories and Palestinians under its jurisdiction, we believe that dialogue is hampered by words like "apartheid."
· The GA approved a modestly less bad version of the MESC report.
· The GA expressed "its extreme disappointment with the U.S. government that ... the State of Israel ... continues to be the recipient of U.S. military aid."
· The GA approved the Belhar Confession.
· The GA rejected the overture from the Presbytery of Grand Canyon on Amending the Process for Forming Social Witness Policy.
The good news: No divestment, no Israel = apartheid, and the modifications to the MESC. [See CAMERA's press release, here. -MS]
The bad news: Everything else.
