United Methodists are responding to Kairos Palestine: A Moment of Truth ,a statement of faith and urgent call to action from Christians in Palestine. UMKR seeks, through nonviolent means and in partnership with Palestinian Christians, freedom, justice and equality for all Palestinians and Israelis.
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Consider Investing in Wespath's ESPV Fund
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Whereas the Equity Social Values Plus Fund (ESVPF) is available for participant defined contribution accounts and conference deposit accounts with Wespath Benefits and Investments (Wespath), and
Whereas Wespath has developed a policy that may remove companies from its ESVPF named by seven to ten annual conferences in divestment resolutions (http://www.wespath.org/assets/1/7/investment_policy.pdf), and
Whereas Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions, and Hewlett Packard are the subject of such resolutions and have been removed from the ESVPF per Wespath's policy, and
Whereas while Wespath as a financial institution does not take a stand on the reasons conferences have voted to divest from these three companies, they have responded to serve those clients by providing the ESVPF, and
Whereas Caterpillar Inc. provides military bulldozers and earth-moving equipment which are used to uproot olive groves, demolish Palestinian homes, construct illegal settlements and build segregated roads and the separation barrier on occupied land; Motorola Solutions provides surveillance systems for illegal settlements, military bases and the separation wall as well as communication devices for the Israeli military; and Hewlett Packard provides data storage for settlements, manages information technology for the Israeli Navy, and provides biometric monitoring of checkpoints inside the West Bank, and
Whereas for up to ten years many religious investors and ecumenical groups have asked these companies to stop selling their products to the Israeli government for use in sustaining and maintaining the military occupation and settlement building and they have refused (https://www.kairosresponse.org/corporate_engagement_04-11.html), and
Whereas the Palestinian Christian community, through the Kairos Palestine Document, has requested the support of the wider Church in their struggle (Kairos Palestine. “A Moment of Truth: A Word of Faith, Hope and Love from the Heart of Palestinian Suffering” December 2009 http://www.kairospalestine.ps/index.php/about-us/kairos-palestine-document),
Therefore be it resolved that __________________Conference clergy and lay employee participants and the annual conference consider ESVPF for the portion of their accounts invested in equities.
**Optional, could be inserted as the third Whereas if your conference took such action:
Whereas in (year) the _______________Annual Conference approved such a divestment resolution, and
Resources 2017 Resolutions