(RNS) The Church of England has voted to pull its investments out of companies, including the U.S. machinery giant Caterpillar Inc., that it claims are profiting from Israel’s “illegal occupation” of Palestinian territory.
The surprise action came Feb. 6 at the behest of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East. It was approved overwhelmingly by the Church’s general synod and appears to target the 2.2 million-pound ($3.92 million) holdings it has in Caterpillar. The holdings in Caterpillar are part of the Church of England’s overall share portfolio that published figures put at $1.6 billion.
The disinvestment vote signaled Church of England concerns that the bulldozers that Caterpillar manufactures are used by Israel to demolish Palestinian homes. The same sort of earthmoving equipment is used by the Palestinians in their own rebuilding work.
The motion approved by the general synod specifically calls on the Church of England “to disinvest from companies profiting from the illegal occupation, such as Caterpillar, until they change their policies.”
During the debate, a message was read to the synod from the Episcopal bishop of Jerusalem, the Right Rev. Riah Abu el-Assai, who complained that “nonviolent instruments such as divestment from companies that produce death rather than life does (sic) not get the same attention” as the church gives to issues such as human sexuality.
The worldwide Anglican Communion called for such a disinvestment move at a meeting last summer. That action was greeted by protests from Israel and Jewish groups.
The Guardian newspaper in London reported that Caterpillar “insists it has not provided the earthmovers directly to Israel but to the U.S. military, which sold them on.”
