Posted on 06/20/2006 3:12:53 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
BIRMINGHAM -- Nearly 50 people -- including a former U.S. government official who served as a European ambassador and later directed the CIA - spoke during an intense hearing Friday on the divestment policy of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Nearly equal numbers opposed and favored the resolution of the 216th General Assembly that called for "phased selective divestment" of PCUSA holdings in corporations doing business with Israel.
The majority of the overtures being reviewed by the assembly's Committee on Peacemaking and International Issues oppose the one-sided divestment policy that has spawned worldwide opposition from Jewish groups. A few favor the policy and others call for a third way - investing in businesses in both Israel and Palestine that focus on peace.
During Friday's hearing, the most pointed statements showed a partisan divide between supporting Israel and Palestine and the merits or demerits of the divestment resolution.
James Woolsey, a member of Chevy Chase (Md.) Presbyterian Church, whose term as director of the CIA ended in 1995, strongly opposed the divestment resolution. Woolsey said he didn't know "whatever the church thought it was doing two years ago when it opted for effectively choosing the side of the Palestinian Liberation Organization."
(Excerpt) Read more at layman.org ...
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