Presbyterian Church finds middle ground in Middle East debate
A week ago, the Presbyterian Church USA seemed headed for a bruising, polarizing battle over a report on the Middle East that sharply criticized Israel. On Friday, meeting in Minneapolis, the church’s General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution that seemed to placate nearly everyone on both sides of the issue — a “miracle,” some said, that offered hope to those who see the Mideast as hopelessly deadlocked.
The church’s adoption of the report by its Middle East study committee was not without pointed language, including a denunciation of the Caterpillar company for allowing its equipment to be utilized for “nonpeaceful” uses by Israel. (Caterpillar, whose bulldozers have been used by Israel to knock down Palestinian homes, issued a statement in response saying that it did not “condone the illegal or immoral use of any Caterpillar equipment.”)
The report also affirmed previous positions of the church, including a call for the U.S. to withhold aid to Israel if it builds new West Bank settlements.
