MRTI still in research phase of divestment process related to Israel, Palestine

Ecumenical partners’ actions creating ‘movement,’ Bill S-J says

by Toya Richards Hill

PHOENIX — The Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) is continuing to research which corporations the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) should target for a General Assembly-mandated “process of selective, phased divestment” because of their involvement in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

      The group expects to identify which companies to engage in dialogue — the first step in the process — at its next meeting, scheduled for Aug. 4-6 in the Seattle area, said Bill Somplatsky-Jarman, the lead researcher for MRTI.

      So far, research findings include a list from the U.S.-Israel Business Exchange (US/IBEX) of nearly 400 U.S. companies with investments in Israel, he said. MRTI has also obtained a list of companies that have sold products to Israel through the U.S Department of Defense Arms Transfer Program, Somplatsky-Jarman said.

      “This is the critical phase of being very rigorous in identifying any companies that may be profiting from the conflict over there,” he said. “It will be important for us to be as thorough as we can.”

      MRTI, whose job is to monitor the corporate behavior of companies in which PC(USA) entities are invested, was assigned to “initiate the process of phased selective divestment” by the 216^th General Assembly last summer.

      The process — which has been employed in Sudan and South Africa as well as with companies involved in gambling, alcohol, tobacco, massive defense contracting and nuclear weapons and land-mine production — involves dialogue with corporate officials, shareholder actions and, as a last resort, the actual divestment of stock.

      In November, MRTI set up the six criteria it will use in the Israeli occupation-related process, and during its regular meeting Feb. 3-5 here members again talked about their mission.

      Somplatsky-Jarman also gave the committee an update on the work of PC(USA) ecumenical partners to foster peace in Israel and Palestine. 

      “Virtually all the Protestant denominations are trying to tackle this issue in one way or another,” he told MRTI. “It’s in everybody’s interest to come up with a full-blown engagement plan.”

       Among those churches looking into the issue are the United Church of Christ and the Reformed Church of America. “The Episcopal Church has already adopted a resolution for their (version of) MRTI to come up with a full-blown engagement program,” Somplatsky-Jarman said.

      “They (the churches) are kind of under a movement now,” he said.

      In other actions, MRTI:

• Affirmed the 2005 General Assembly’s military-related divestment list, which includes nine companies such as Alliant Technologies, Boeing and General Dynamics that it says are overly dependent on defense contracts.
• Recommend to the General Assembly Council (GAC) that proxies be voted in support of a shareholder resolution calling on Avon Products to annually report its contributions in a number of areas, including the total contributions of Avon Products to the Avon Foundation and fundraising and administrative costs connected with the Avon 2-Day Walk for Breast Cancer.
• Requested the National Ministries Division, under which MRTI operates, to provide an additional $7,000 in 2005 and 2006 in order for MRTI to schedule one additional face-to-face meeting. Currently, MRTI meets twice a year, but feels it needs the extra meeting to deal with the phased, selective divestment issues related to Israel and Palestine. Three meetings annually would return the committee to the schedule it had prior to budget cuts in 2003.
• Re-elected committee chair Carol Hylkema, who serves on MRTI as a representative from the GAC. MRTI also elected Bernice McIntyre, an at-large member of the committee, to serve as vice chair. She replaces the Rev. Isaiah Jones Jr., who represented the Board of Pensions.