Invest In Peace

[I added a picture of my son and myself]

Greetings,

My name is Eitan Sanger and I am an Israeli Jew who served in the Israeli military.

I would like to ask for your support today on selective divestment from companies that benefit from the Israeli occupation.

Many Israelis like myself have been eagerly waiting for years to see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict being finally resolved. So much blood has been shed, so many lives on both sides of the conflict have been interrupted and destroyed. But at the same time I sadly witness how the occupation also economically benefits different companies and the Israeli government. This is a situation that over all encourages politicians to do all in their hands to prevent any serious advancement towards a possible peace.

I believe it is time for us to help resolve one of today’s longest violent conflicts and I see in selective divestment an effective, non-violent way to do so.

Thank you very much,
Eitan Sanger.

Thank you so much for taking this bold and moral step and considering divestment from companies that profit off of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories. Without divesting from these companies, the status quo will continue undisturbed: Palestinians will suffer under constant Israeli control, surveillance and violence in their lives; Israelis will suffer from being the perpetrators of that ongoing violence; both peoples will suffer from armed attacks on each other; and the corporations that benefit from the Israeli occupation by providing military, technological or construction equipment will continue to make a profit off the misery of others. If we don’t challenge that status quo, stockholders in those companies will benefit from the profits made from that misery.

Thank you very much.
Sarah Anne Minkin
Jewish American

Dear Delegates:

Juliet (my wife) and I have traveled to Gaza since 1991. I have been there six times and Juliet four. Juliet is Jewish. We both actively impose the Israeli government’s policies toward Palestinians. In so doing, we join 65% of the Israeli population. Because of the nature of their constitutional government, the nation of Israel is beholden to the most extreme factions among the political parties.

We urge you to vote for divestiture. It is a very effective, non-violent means of providing support to those Israelis who are trying to neutralize the abusive policies of the extremist parties in the government. Please do not be dissuaded by arguments that divestiture undermines Israel. In fact, ending the occupation is the only hope Israel has for peace with its neighbors, foremost among whom are the Palestinians. But they cannot do it without our support.

Please support Israel by supporting divestiture from those corporations that benefit from the occupation.

Regards,

The Rev. Dr. John and Dr. Juliet Van Eenwyk

The Rev. Dr. John R. Van Eenwyk, Clinical Director
The International Trauma Treatment Program
1026 State Ave NE
Olympia, WA 98506
www.ittp.org

Statement for web site:

I grew up Methodist — still have my RVS Bible with the date I started
Sunday School. My dad worked for a pipeline driving Cats. Now, as an
adult, I’m a Jew-by-choice, and an anti-Occupation activist. That’s a lot
of life change, but one thing is consistent and always has been — a deep
understanding of who has the power, who doesn’t, and how power is used and
abused. From that vantage point, I sincerely hope you take every step you
can towards divesting from companies that profit from abusing power, from
stealing homes, land, futures, and lives. What is happening in the
Palestinian Occupied Territories, and in Arab and Bedoin villages within
Israel’s 1967 borders, is wrong. I know it is wrong. We know it is wrong.
Even Caterpillar knows it is wrong. So the only question on the table is
this — how will we, as U.S. citizens, as global citizens of conscience,
begin to take responsibility for acting on what we know to be right?

Elliott batTzedek
Philadelphia, PA

Please vote for selective divestment from companies that benefit form the occupation. It is the most powerful, nonviolent way we, as Americans, have to pressure the Israeli government to end its occupation. Ending the occupation will foster a chance for lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

By the extension of life, in all its forms, we come closer to embodying the richness of our religious and spiritual traditions!

Nadia Brewart, Seal Beach CA

Thank you for your courage in taking a stand on Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. I urge you to support selective divestment from companies profiting from the occupation.

Jane K. Alper
East Burke, Vermont

Dear Methodist Church delegates

I write to urge to vote in favour of disinvestment from companies involved in the occupation of Palestinian land. I write as a British woman of Jewish heritage, with the support of my 87 year old Jewish mother, who feels ashamed of what she sees Israel doing in her name. Last year I visited the West Bank to see for myself, and was shocked at the inhuman nature of the military occupation, which affects every single Palestinian person in every single aspect of their lives. I am a member of a support group in the Uk, which is proud to have Jewish, Muslim, Christian and secular members working together to support the Palestinian people.

I truly believe that to be a true friend of the Israeli people, we each have a duty to stand up and criticise what is wrong about the behaviour of the Israeli state and of all those companies and individuals who support its occupation. This is not anti semetism - I believe that it is the opposite.

I attach a phtograph of myself harvesting olives from an 300 year old Palestinian tree, which will be destroyed next year in order to build the Israeli apartheid wall. This is not the way to build peace and justice.
thank you for reading this

Hilary Smith
Sheffield, U.K.

Dear Fellow Methodists and brothers and sisters in the Presbyterian Church,

I write as a lifelong Methodist in the UK, a Methodist Local Preacher and a member of the UK Methodist Conference.

I fully support the proposals that are coming forward to your Conference for divestment from the Israeli Occupation. Last year I traveled to the West Bank and Israel and was absolutely shocked by the treatment being meted out to the Palestinian people. Just the scale of the blatant theft of land that the illegal Israeli settlements represent, as well as the all pervasive sense of repression by which the Israeli army seeks to control ordinary decent people means that it would be quite wrong for any Church to profit from such activities. Furthermore, Israel’s human rights abuses cost money - if we can stop even some of that money supporting such activities, we will have done good.

Our own UK Methodist Conference has taken a strong and consistent stand against the Occupation and we have an ethical investment policy regarding it. Please vote for divestment, so that a just peace may be established for all the peoples of Palestine and Israel.

Stephen Leah
York, UK