London -- An international Anglican meeting has supported the removal of investment funds from companies whose activities contribute to the occupation of Palestinian land or violence against innocent Israelis. The Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) on 24 June unanimously praised a member church, the Episcopal Church USA, which is considering such a policy, and commended the policy to other churches of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
The resolution followed a visit to the region in 2004 by members of the Anglican Peace and Justice Network.
"There is little will on behalf of the Israeli government to recognise the rights of the Palestinians to a sovereign state to be created in the West Bank - which includes East Jerusalem - and Gaza," a statement from the network declared in September after the visit.
The 18 to 28 June meeting in Nottingham, England, is composed of Anglican bishops, clergy and laypeople. It can make recommendations but has no formal authority over the 38 provinces that make up the worldwide Anglican communion.
The divestment initiative of the Episcopal Church echoes the plan by the US Presbyterian Church to remove investments from companies that profit from the occupation of Palestine lands.
Earlier, the ACC in a close vote - 30 to 28, with four abstentions - backed a call by the heads of the Anglican provinces for representatives of the US church and Canadian Anglicans to withdraw from ACC meetings voluntarily until 2008 over the issue of homosexuality.
In the United States, V. Gene Robinson, an actively gay man, was consecrated as a bishop while the Canadian diocese of New Westminster introduced a rite of blessing for same-sex unions. Both actions were contrary to a decision of the 1998 Lambeth Conference of worldwide Anglican bishops.
The scheduled date for the next Lambeth Conference, when homosexuality is due to be further debated, is 2008.
