The following recommendation was received by the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church for implementation at its meeting November 1-4, 2004 in Boise , Idaho. 

TO:  
The National Concerns Committee of The Executive Council

FROM: 
The Social Responsibility in Investments Committee of the Executive Council
The Episcopal Church Center
815 Second Avenue, NY NY 10017

RE: 
Report on SRI's plan to study corporate engagement on issues related to Israel and the Palestinian Territories

DATE:  
October 2004

It is the intent of the Social Responsibility in Investments Committee to undertake the following:

• Over the next twelve months, SRI will investigate what corporate actions (including corporate dialogues and shareholder resolutions) might be appropriate with (1) companies that contribute to the infrastructure of Israel's ongoing occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and (2) companies that have connections to organizations responsible for violence against Israel.
• In doing this work, SRI will work in partnership with the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East and with the Anglican Peace and Justice Network, the latter of which is preparing a report for the Anglican Consultative Council in June 2005. It will also seek dioceses and congregations that may be interested in being partners in corporate actions designed to promote peace in the Middle East.
• In doing this work, SRI will also seek input from the wider church, from ecumenical and interfaith partners (including the American Jewish community), and from Jewish and Palestinian groups in the Middle East.
• SRI will report back to the Executive Council with recommendations on this work at its October 2005 meeting.

The Episcopal Church, on its own and as part of the Anglican Communion, has sought to provide tangible support for the peace process in Israel and Palestine, including a two-state solution that recognizes secure borders for both Israel and Palestine, with Jerusalem as the capital of both.  The Episcopal Church has been clear in its support of Palestinian human rights and a Palestinian state that exists in peace with Israel, and has also been clear in its support for the right of Israel to exist and its revulsion at violence against Israelis.

Israel's actions, including building settlements in the Occupied Territories,  building bypass roads that connect settlements to Israel which separate Palestinian villages from one another, demolishing homes of innocent civilians, and building a separation wall on Palestinian land all make a just resolution of the conflict more difficult.  Similarly, attacks against Israel and Israelis by groups inside and outside of Palestine are both morally repugnant and a major stumbling block to any sort of peaceful resolution.  The Episcopal Church has spoken to all these issues over the past 16 years and will form the focus of SRI's work during this 12 month period.

The Social Responsibility in Investments Committee—which while monitoring what other church bodies like the Presbyterian Church (USA) are doing, understands that its primary responsibility is to implement existing Episcopal Church policies—will interact with as many groups as possible to better understand the underlying issues and how corporate actions in the Middle East may be impediments to peace.  Further, the emphasis of this process is not likely to be divestment from companies whose actions are morally questionable, but rather engagement with them.  In so doing, the Episcopal Church is acting in ways consistent with its own policy statements on the Middle East, with our participation in the wider Anglican Communion, and its call to peacemaking in the world.