Overture 04-32. On Supporting the Geneva Accord, Urging Israel and Palestine to Implement the Accord—From the Presbytery of St. Augustine.

The Presbytery of St. Augustine respectfully overtures the 216th General Assembly (2004) to do the following:

1. Affirm support for the Geneva Accord and urge both sides to engage in negotiations to implement the accord.

2. Urge an end to the assassination policy of the Israel government and to Palestinian suicide bombings.

3. Urge the Congress to end all military aid to Israel until the occupation ends.

4. Urge the Congress to cease all loan guarantees for building or expanding settlements in Palestinian areas.

5. Call on our Board of Pensions to divest itself of investments in companies receiving one million dollars or more in profits per year from investments in Israel or that have invested one million dollars or more in Israel.

Rationale

In support of this overture, the Presbytery of St. Augustine observes the following:

1. The state of Israel has occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan heights since the Six Day War of 1967, and this occupation has resulted in great suffering for the 3.5 million Palestinians who live in the occupied territories.

2. The government of Israel has confiscated large areas in the West Bank to build settlements for Jews only, and these settlements are connected by roads restricted to settlers and the Israeli military.

3. Several thousand Palestinians have been killed during the second Intifada, which began in September of 2000. During this same Intifada, hundreds of Israeli citizens have been killed by suicide bombers.

4. The government of Israel has signed and ratified the Fourth Geneva convention that prohibits the use of collective punishment as represented by the imposition of closure, curfew, house demolitions, the transfer of parts of a conquering nation’s own civilian population into territories it occupies (a clear ban on settlements), and massive land expropriations. Virtually every element of Israel’s occupation violates a provision of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The General Assembly has called for an end to the occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem.

5. The government of Israel is currently building a “Separation Fence” that encircles several Palestinian villages on three sides, divides others in half, and reaches twelve miles into the West Bank in places.

6. The General Assembly has urged the Israeli government to end its expansionist policies of

a. confiscation of land and water resources and the building and enlarging of settlements,

b. collective punishment of Palestinians, such as is exercised through administrative detentions, demolition of homes, mass house imprisonment (“curfews”), uprooting olive trees, setting up road blocks and checkpoints, and other forms of harassment and humiliation (see Minutes, 2003, Part I, p. 635; Minutes, 2002, Part I, p. 732).

7. The General Assembly has supported United Nations resolutions affirming the right of Israel to exist within secure borders and the right of the Palestinians to self-determination, including the establishment of its own sovereign state and the right of return of Palestinian refugees (see Minutes, 2003, Part I, p. 635; Minutes, 2002, Part I, p. 732).