METHODISTS URGE ISRAEL TO END GAZA "SIEGE"

Methodists back call for ending 'siege' (JTA)
The leader of U.S. Methodists endorsed a letter urging Israel to end the "siege" of the Gaza Strip.

In his endorsement of the statement by Holy Land clerics, Bishop Felton May of the United Methodist Church also recognized Israeli security needs.

"The issues are complex, involving control of borders, the movement of food and fuel into Gaza, the continuing launch of rockets into Israel from the militant Hamas faction in Gaza and retaliatory actions by Israel," said a Jan. 25 statement issued by May. "Israeli policy inflexibility is intensified by the actions of Hamas and its rockets."

Israel has sealed Gaza in a bid to end intensified rocket attacks on civilians in Israel's south.

"One and a half million people imprisoned and without proper food or medicine, 800,000 without electricity supply; this is illegal collective punishment, an immoral act in violation of the basic human and natural laws as well as International Law," said the Jan. 22 statement signed by Christian leaders in Israel and Palestinian areas. "It cannot be tolerated anymore. The siege over Gaza should end now."

May added: "I share the astonishment of Christian leaders in Israel-Palestine that the Israeli government would even temporarily block the movement of food and fuel into Gaza. Political expediency cannot be used to starve -- or threaten to starve -- people or to demean the humanity of any people."

NEW ENGLAND METHODISTS WEIGH ISRAEL DIVESTMENT

New England Methodists Weigh Divestment from Israel - Michael Paulson
The New England Conference of the United Methodist Church is advising congregations and individuals to divest their holdings from a wide variety of American corporations doing business with Israel. The action is giving new energy to the divestment movement, which had lost steam in other mainline Protestant denominations. In June, after two years of research, a committee released a list of 20 companies from which it recommends divestment, including Blockbuster, Boeing, General Electric, Raytheon and Volvo. Blockbuster was criticized for maintaining video rental kiosks in Israeli settlements.

Leading Jewish organizations argue that divestment is not appropriate because Israel is unable to work with a Palestinian government that is associated with terrorism. Among the individuals who are not supporting the action is Bishop Peter Weaver of the New England Conference. "I believe we ought to be continuing in conversation with the Israeli leadership, as well as the Palestinian leadership, and trying to be evenhanded in our call for justice," he said. (Boston Globe)

METHODIST CHURCH TO DIVEST FROM COMPANIES DOING BUSINESS WITH ISRAEL

Bush, Clinton called to condemn antisemitism of UMC (JNW)
US President George W. Bush and Senator Hillary Clinton have been asked to distance themselves from the recent decision of the United Methodist Church (UMC) to divest from companies doing business with Israel. Both politicians are Methodists.

The Anti-Defamation League sharply criticized the one-sided statement released by the “Divestment Task Force” of the UMC’s New England Conference, which asserted that “the urgency of the humanitarian crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories cannot be overstated” but completely disregarded the unrelenting terrorist attacks against Israelis being perpetrated by those very Arabs.

Continuing, the ADL said “the authors of the report must be living in a bubble to ignore ongoing attacks on Israel and Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza to issue such an outrageous, biased report that focuses only on Israel."

Representatives for Bush and Clinton did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment on the Methodist divestment action, according to the New York Sun.