Fears that the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) would back the disinvestment campaign against Israel were allayed on Friday when delegates endorsed a resolution calling for peace in the Middle East but gave a measured reception to a September statement critical of Israeli policies prepared by the Anglican Peace and Justice Network (AJPN).
With only one dissent, the delegates adopted the resolution commending the Episcopal Church’s Social Responsibility in Investment program, asking the Anglican Observer to the United Nations lobby for the implementation of U.N. Resolutions 242 and 338, and welcoming the APJN’s September 22nd Statement on Israel.
Dr. Jenny Te Paa of New Zealand, chairman of the AJPN, introduced the resolution addressing social justice concerns toward the environment, interfaith relations, theological education, conflict resolution, refugees, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the Friday morning session.
While the resolution addressed six distinct areas, Dr. Te Paa focused solely on the Palestinian conflict in her address, recounting the AJPN’s September 14-22 trip to Israel. She dismissed charges the group’s report was biased and said she was dismayed by the “intense lobbying” of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the ACC by outside groups opposed to the resolution.
“We claim to represent to you the absolute truth we witnessed,” she told the delegates.
The Bishop in Jerusalem, the Rt. Rev. Riah Abu al-Assal, rose to speak of the plight of Palestinian Christians and asked the “Anglican Communion take action on behalf of peace and justice for co-living, not just co-existence”.
“The root cause of all the pain and suffering” in the Middle East, Bishop Riah said, “is the illegal occupation of the occupied territories, of East Jerusalem.” He advocated a two-state solution, saying demography favored the Palestinians.
Bishop Riah told the delegates “the resolution has nothing to do with punishing Israel” as “Israel has enough support from the American Administration and the Jewish lobby”.
ACC Secretary General the Rev Canon Kenneth Kearon told the delegates he had received correspondence from the Board of Deputies of British Jews and had been in conversation with the Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sachs of Britain. Both cautioned against precipitous action that might hurt Christian-Jewish relations and harm the Palestine peace process.
Welsh delegate Sylvia Scarf announced her support for the resolution, describing her visit to a Palestinian home destroyed by the Israeli army. “You feel angry and you feel impotent and you feel so many emotions that you feel have to do something” she told the delegates.
Sudanese delegate the Rev. Enock Tombe “we find it very difficult whether we should support the Palestinians or the Jews” as “we are being tortured by the Arabs”. However, “the Church always takes the position of the weak,” he said, and urged passage of the resolution.
The Very Rev. John Moses, dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, said he was “not entirely happy” with the resolution’s “call for disinvestments,” saying “I want to draw back from anything that might exacerbate the peaceful settlement they might seek”.
“A call for disinvestments will be such a major statement of policy that I would have to be absolutely sure of the credentials of all the participants” in the preparation of the report, as “no one in this matter has a monopoly on the truth,” he argued.
“We are not here commending a blanket policy of disinvestments,” Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams told the delegates, saying the Episcopal Church’s statement merely “resolves to take appropriate action.”
Archbishop Williams said that while he had empathy for the Palestinians, he had concerns about what “authority and credibility” the report “might have with the wider public.”
He suggested that the resolution be changed from “adopting" to "welcoming" the Sept 22 statement. “I would not want to commit ourselves to everything here,” he said, adding that the issues were not readily resolvable in forums such as the ACC and that “the Iraqi points are a hugely complex territory.”
A motion to amend the resolution in line with Archbishop Williams’ recommendations was accepted and the final resolution passed with two abstentions and Dean Moses voting in dissent.
(The Rev.) George Conger is in Nottingham, England reporting for The Living Church from the triennial meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council.
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