...They said the denomination will continue to push for the cessation of actions by both Israelis and Palestinians “that violate human rights and impede peace,” including terrorist attacks, settlement expansions, construction of the “separation barrier,” and home demolitions...

Divestment (Mississippi Overture) This overture was approved unanimously by the Presbytery of Mississippi on May 17, 2005 On rescinding and modifying certain actions of the 216th General Assembly regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict The Presbytery of Mississippi respectfully overtures the 217th General Assembly (2006) to approve the following:...

...3. The 217th General Assembly (2006) believes that the Overture expressed as Item 12-02 (On Calling for an End to the Construction of a Wall by the State of Israel) is too broad in scope and does not further the cause of peace. Item 12-02 is a blanket condemnation of the security wall being built by the State of Israel. The 217th General Assembly does not believe that the Presbyterian Church (USA) should tell a sovereign nation whether or how it can protect its borders or handle matters of national defense. [There follows some business about the location of the Security Fence I do not necessarily agree with, but it's better than what came before I suppose. -Sol]...

...As a matter of conscience, the congregations comprising the Presbytery of Mississippi cannot support divestment as an economic sanction against American companies legally doing business in Israel and/or Palestine. The underlying purpose of divestment is to inflict economic hardship and harm on companies doing business in Israel or Palestine. In clear cases – like genocide or apartheid – such action can be justified. In the present situation, however, where there is justice and injustice on both sides, it is unjustified and inappropriate.

The price of phased selective divestment falls disproportionately on one party to this conflict, namely Israel. Such remedies do not make for peace. The use of economic sanctions as a weapon in peacemaking puts the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in the position of a judge passing judgment and imposing a sentence rather than a partner for peace. To rank and file members of the church, it appears arrogant, condescending, and punitive. Such actions, however well intentioned, do not make for peace...

The United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) crossed the line from criticism to outright racism when they passed resolutions condemning Israel’s security fence this summer, according to the Judeo-Christian Alliance, a group formed to stop the defamation of Israel by U.S. churches.

“Racism is the only word to describe resolutions that portray the uprooting of olive trees, which can be replanted, as a bigger problem than the deaths of Israeli children who are gone forever,” says Dexter Van Zile, director of the Judeo-Christian Alliance and author of Walls of Indifference, Walls of Contempt, a report on two anti-“wall” resolutions passed by the deliberative bodies of the UCC and DOC in July.

The report details how the churches portray Israel’s security fence as the cause and not the result of Palestinian terror against Israelis. It also documents how the churches portray the inconvenience suffered by the Palestinians as a bigger problem than the loss of Israeli lives. The resolutions make no mention whatsoever of the Israeli deaths caused by terrorism, but describe in great detail the impact of the security fence on Palestinians, notes Van Zile, a member of the UCC.

“These churches could not be bothered to ask Palestinians to stop the terror attacks that made the barrier necessary,” Van Zile says...