Invest In Peace

Hi—I’m a Certified Christian Educator in the Presbyterian Church USA who
has had the pleasure of teaching and learning in the Middle East. I ask that
you please prayerfully consider voting for selective divestment from
companies that benefit from the occupation. I have stood at the site of demolished
houses in Hebron and talked to the families who lived there. Your votes is
the most powerful, nonviolent way we have as Americans to pressure the Israeli
government to end its occupation. Only through ending the occupation will
there be a chance for a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. I ask
this on behalf of my grandchildren and all the children in the world who
deserve to live in peace. My thoughts and prayers are with you as you
deliberate….Beverly Bailey, Bethany Beach, DE

Please vote for divestment. I recently returned from a trip to Palestine
and Israel as a member of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. I saw the
effects of the absence of a viable peace on both the Palestinians and the
Israelis. We saw how house demolitions ruin lives. I am sorry not to be
able to be with you at GA, but urge you to vote for selective divestment as
proposed by the overture.

Salaam, shalom, peace,

Melinda Thompson

Candidate certified ready to accept a call

National Capital Presbytery

Silver Spring Maryland

Thanks for your leadership!

As an ELCA Lutheran, I urge you to support divesting from companies who
profit from the illegal occupation of Palestine. Mary Anderson, Barrington, IL

Please Don’t Pray for Peace while Profiting from Occupation

Dear Friends,

As a young adult missionary with the United Methodist Church, serving in
Jerusalem, I have witnessed the occupation firsthand. I have seen it destroy
homes and families and spirits. It is time for our role as Christians in
this occupation to end. We can not pray for peace while we profit from
occupation. Please–it is time to divest from house demolitions, from
illegal settlements, from home invasions, from helicopter bombardments. It
is time to invest in a future of peace with justice.

Peace,

David

I am a Muslim, and I believe in a safe home for both Israelis and
Palestinians. However, military options haven’t solved anything. There
needs to be more balanced reporting of the atrocities committed on both
sides including the cutting off of electricity and other basic needs of
Palestinians.

I think Governments have ruined any hope and peace for everyday citizens of
both countries and they need to be addressed by voting for selective
divestment.

May God grant peace to the Middle East. Justice to the Palestinians and
security to Israel.

Be at peace,

Byron

03 08 26 Byron

Rev. Byron W. Kaiser

First United Methodist Church and The Children of Abraham

Aaron Stark, Ypsilanti MI

Bob Dylan once wrote that “money doesn’t talk, it swears.” Linking investments and human rights abuses should get attention. Peacemakers from all traditions need to support this kind of thinking and refuse to support companies that gain financially from occupation and violence. We must get into our hearts and out of the head-trips that want only to assign blame.

Waliya Inayat Perkins, Founder, Musallah Tauhid
Co-Vice Chair, Southern Calif. Comm. for the Parliament of World’s Religions

“Your task is not to seek for Love, but merely to find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it” - Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi

As a United Methodist who has traveled through Israel and much of Occupied
Palestine, I support morally responsible investment in those companies which
support human rights for all. Many Palestinians who are being increasingly
oppressed and suppressed are also Christians, the descendants of the
original converts to Christianity by Christ’s Disciples. Why U.S. and other
western governments and companies deliberately support oppression of
Palestinians of ALL faiths is criminal and not consistent with my faith and
understanding of God as I understand God.
–
Doug Sibley
Martinez, CA

Israel is not only a country and a territory, it is (was) above all a
concept: a safe haven for the Jews. Unfortunately Israel does not function
any more as such, due to years of wrong politics. The basic mistake was (is)
to invest in military force and apartheid, in stead of collaboration and
communication as the only real and sustainable ways towards peaceful
coexistence (and therefor an Israel as a safe haven for the Jews). It is
even more sad that companies are profiting from the misery both Palestinians
and Israeli are confronted with. Now after 60 years when so much is lost and
so much is destroyed the only real way forward is to invest even more in
communication, mediation, mutual understanding and empathy. As a Dutch Jew
living in Mexico City living very much in the diaspora I have strong strong
feelings about a safe and just Israel. That is why I really hope politics
will change soon and we can start to invest in peace and divest from
occupation.

Hans Dieleman
Professor in the Autonomous University of Mexico-City