"Caterpillar disinvestment move hailed"
11 February 2009
WAR ON WANT (U.K.)
On the Web at:
http://www.waronwant.org/news/press-releases/16457-caterpillar-disinvestment-move-hailed
Investors urged to follow Church lead
War on Want welcomes the decision by the Church of England to disinvest from Caterpillar. Institutional investors are today urged to follow the Church by disinvesting from a company whose bulldozers have been used to build the Separation Wall and destroy Palestinians' homes.
The call, from the anti-poverty charity War on Want, comes after the Church of England decision to divest £2.2 million from Caterpillar on financial grounds.
Yasmin Khan, senior campaigns officer at War on Want, said: "The Church of England's decision to disinvest from Caterpillar is welcome. It also brings the Church in line with its own ethical investment policy and the decision of the General Synod. Now other institutional investors should take similar action."
War on Want has long called for the Church of England to disinvest from Caterpillar on the grounds of the company's complicity in the violation of Palestinian human rights.
In the report Profiting From the Occupation, the charity attacked Caterpillar over selling bulldozers for the Israeli army to destroy Palestinian homes, schools, orchards and olive groves.
It said that equipment from Caterpillar was also used to construct the Separation Wall, ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice.
And the UN has singled out Caterpillar in particular for its collusion with Israel's human rights abuse.
In 2006 the Church of England General Synod voted to withdraw its investment from Caterpillar. But the Church Commissioners failed to follow the Synod's decision.
After the Israeli onslaught against Gaza in recent weeks, Palestinian civil society groups, including the charity's partner Stop the Wall, have called for an escalation of the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories.
CONTACT: Paul Collins, War on Want media officer (+44) (0)20 7549 0584 or (+44) (0)7983 550728
Note: the Church's disinvestment from Caterpillar comes after its own clerics insisted on it...
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"Clerics urge church to disinvest from Israel"
February 9, 2009
In "The National" at:
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090209/FOREIGN/392065308/1013/rss
by David Sapsted, Foreign Correspondent
An Israeli bulldozer demolishes a Palestinian house on the Israeli-Gaza border.
Photo by Jack Guez / AFP
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LONDON // Christian clerics today demanded that the Church of England honour its commitment to disinvest from Israeli companies operating in the occupied territories.
More than 20 clerics and theologians, including Alun Morinan, national co-ordinator of the Christian Network’s Campaign Against the Arms Trade, signed a letter to be published today in The Guardian newspaper, calling for immediate action.
Amid growing public protests in Britain since the Gaza offensive, including a sit-in at a leading Scottish university and a mass demonstration on Saturday at an Israeli import centre in London, the clerics complain that the General Synod, the ruling body of the Church of England, had done nothing to implement a three-year-old commitment to disinvest.
The letter says: “In February, 2006, the Church of England voted at the General Synod to disinvest in companies that operated in the Palestinian occupied territories, saying that there was a need for ‘morally responsible investment’.
“This was a highly principled decision by the Synod, one that we totally support.
“However, since that resolution was passed, the Church has not acted on that decision and it still remains that the Church of England has investments in companies that profit from the suppression of human rights in the Palestinian occupied territories.
“We believe that given the events in Gaza as well as the continued illegal occupation of whole swathes of Palestinian land and the illegal land grabs by settlers, supported by the Israeli government, that the Church of England must make good on its policy of disinvestment and withdraw its investments from those who profit from the misery of millions of Palestinians immediately.”
The London-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) applauded the move. Betty Hunter, its general secretary, said the General Synod had taken “a morally courageous decision” to disinvest.
“Sadly, three years on and the Church of England retains investments of £2.2 million [Dh12m] in a company, Caterpillar, whose bulldozers and heavy machinery are used to extract the legitimate residents of Palestine to be replaced by illegal settlers.
“I hope that the General Synod will take heed of what their own clergy and congregations are saying and disinvest now.”
Nobody from the Church of England was available for comment yesterday but, after the General Synod vote, Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, appeared to back away from the call to disinvest.
Apparently alarmed by the angry reaction of leading Jews in Britain, Dr Williams, who voted in favour of the motion, denied that it was a commitment to disinvest but, rather, “to engage with companies about whom we had concerns”.
Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian campaigners in the United Kingdom were celebrating a victory in academia yesterday after a student sit-in in the foyer of Strathclyde University in Glasgow ended when the university authorities agreed to cancel a contract with an Israeli water company.
About 40 students took part in the protest, organised by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, demanding that the university cut all ties with Israel following the Gaza offensive.
The students’ demands included the cancellation of a contract with Eden Springs, its main water cooler supplier, and the creation of a scholarship programme for Palestinian students at Strathclyde.
The university authorities agreed to both of these demands and also to broadcast an appeal across the campus for funds to help those suffering in Gaza.
Danny McGregor, one of the protesters, told yesterday’s Scotsman newspaper: “We are happy with what we have achieved. We were in there for 24 hours and we feel we made a lot of progress.”
Peter West, the university secretary, said: “The university expresses its deep concern about the plight of the people of Gaza. We are particularly aware that the infrastructure of higher education has been damaged, making it particularly difficult for Palestinian students to pursue their studies.
“The university has made a number of undertakings, including supporting its students in their effort to raise funds for the rebuilding of Gaza. In addition, it will create a scholarship scheme for Palestinian students, similar to the scheme already offered to students from Rwanda.”
Dr West added that he hoped Strathclyde’s actions would “encourage universities across Scotland” to join the scholarships scheme.
In London, the Boycott Israeli Goods (Big) campaign organised a demonstration outside the main depot of Carmel Agrexco, the Israeli state export company.
Tom Hayes, a spokesman for Big, said: “The aim of the protest was to draw attention to this company’s sale of flowers from occupied Palestinian land on Valentine’s Day.
“We are asking the British public not to buy bloodstained flowers for their loved ones this year. Following the murder of more than 1,300 people and the maiming of nearly 6,000, the majority women and children, in Gaza, it is vital that we keep in the public consciousness that, by purchasing Israeli goods, they are supporting the slaughter of innocent people.”
dsapsted@thenational.ae
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