Invest In Peace

Peace/shalom/salaam delegates,

It is with warmth and affection that I ask you to please vote for selective divestment from companies that benefit from the occupation of Palestinian lands. I feel it is the most powerful, nonviolent way we Americans have to pressure the Israeli government to end its occupation. It is through ending the occupation that we have a chance for a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

I pray that you can find it in your hearts to so vote.

To Peace through Justice,
Tom

I would like to strongly encourage you to vote for selective divestment and help give the Israeli and Palestinian people a real chance at peace. As a Jewish-American it is so important to me that people understand that disagreeing with policies of the Israeli Government and choosing to divest from businesses that profit from the occupation does not equate to anti-Semitism. In fact, it is the teachings of my Jewish heritage that have led me to feel so strongly about this issue. I have spent a lot of time in Israel and have also spent time in the occupied territories, and the human rights violations that are occurring there are astounding. The only way that the people of Israel can have peace is by allowing the people of Palestine to also live in peace. I admire and appreciate your courage in taking a stand on this complicated issue. Thank you so much.

Sharon McKellar

Dear Methodist and Presbyterian friends -

I am a PCUSA clergyman who visited Israel and Palestine in the company of PCUSA Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel in 2002. In 2005 I helped facilitate Jewish / Presbyterian dialogue on the question of divestment. Today I believe even more firmly that a policy of selective divestment is the right course for both denominations to pursue in order to achieve long-denied rights for the Palestinian people and an Israel that will respect those rights and live side-by-side in peace with them. Our financial investments should reflect our own values and yearning for peace. No one else should presume to judge us when we struggle in good conscience to accomplish exactly that.

Rev. Donald L. Smith
Glendale, CA

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

Sincerely,
Kalil and Karin Cohen

Israel’s disposession and daily abuse of Palestinians is illegal and immoral. Selective divestment worked to end apartheid in South Africa, let’s apply it to end the shameful conduct of Israel in the Holy Land. Middle Eastern Jews and Palestinians are blood brothers, genetically similar enough to donate blood and organs to each other, which they sometimes do. This mutually harmful conflict must end. Financial pressure may succeed where social pressure has failed.

Carol Wilson - Olympia, WA USA

As a Jewish American, I encourage you to vote for selective divestment from
businesses that benefit from the Israeli occupation. I am dismayed by the
continuous conflation of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism as well as the
conflation of Palestinian nationalism and terrorism. I don’t believe the
current US policy toward Israel represents the majority of Jews in either
the US or Israel, nor is it in the best interest of the Israeli state or
people, let alone the Palestinians. If our government refuses to heed us or
the world community, we must circumvent it with actions such as divestment.

Thank you,
Brett Greenspan

To The Methodist Delegates,

Please vote to divest from corporations that profit from the occupation of Palestine. It’s time to show the world that the Church takes its principles very seriously. I was baptised a Methodist and attended church as a child. Your courage makes me very, very proud of my heritage.

Sincerely,

Steve Roddy
San Francisco, CA

PS I’ve attached a photo of the next generation of Roddys!

Please vote to divest selectively from companies that benefit from the Israeli occupation. As a Jewish person the occupation causes me great emotional pain. Knowing that my people are complicit in the occupation and all the abuse that goes along with it causes me great sadness. Please help end this cycle of abuse and violence against the Palestinians. Help to pressure the Israeli government to end the occupation. This is the kindest thing you can do for Jewish people.

Peace to all, i’ve been to Jerusalem on a Middle East Peace Initiative,
To All my Christian and Jewish Brothers
and i’ve been to Ramallah to see how they have this Wall erected what the Palestinians call an open prison and how could i demand that these peace loving people live under these conditions and raise their family’s , there has to been a solution to this Middle East Apartied, and i am saying thru Peaceful means Divesting in a Country that supports this kind of behavior, is a start we already saw it in action , look at South Africa, it will work anywhere,

Imam Yusef