Making US Aid to the State of Israel Contingent on Halt to Settlement Construction

ADOPTED:
Memorial to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly:
Making US Aid to the State of Israel Contingent on Halt to Settlement Construction

WHEREAS the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in assembly in 2005 adopted “Churchwide Strategy for Engagement in Israel and Palestine,” to build “a movement that will strengthen the resolve of political leaders to find a peaceful and just solution in the Holy Land” (I.A)[1], by way of a “cessation of all settlement activities;” (II.B.1.b) and

WHEREAS the United Nations has determined that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law because they violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the transfer of the occupying power’s civilian population into occupied territory;[2] and

WHEREAS peace groups in Israel and the U.S.—such as the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, B’Tselem Israeli Information Center for Human Rights, Jewish Voice for Peace and Peace Now—assert that settlement construction is an obstacle to peace[3]; and

WHEREAS Israel continues to build more settlements on Palestinian land, and

WHEREAS the Rocky Mountain Synod in assembly in 2015 passed the resolution “Making US Aid to the State of Israel Contingent on Halt to Settlement Construction,” urging the Congress of the United States to make future U.S. aid to Israel contingent on Israel’s halt to all settlement-building in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), and encouraging congregations and members to contact their Congressional Representatives and Senators asking them to apply this condition to future US aid to Israel; therefore be it

RESOLVED that that the Rocky Mountain Synod Assembly memorialize the 2016 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, requesting that the Assembly call for Congressional action to make future U.S aid to Israel contingent on Israel’s halt to all settlement-building in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), by:

Requesting Bishop Eaton to contact the appropriate U.S. governmental officials to urge this condition be applied to U. S. aid to Israel
Requesting that the Assembly encourage ELCA members and congregations to study this issue and to contact their Congressional Representatives and Senators.

Signers:

Frank Gunn

Pastor Ted Fritschel

Barbara Hanst

Melanie Ferraro

Diana Linden-Johnson

Jan Miller

Ann Rutkofsky

Dorothy Stenman

Doug Wheeler

Jo Ann Wacker-Farrand

Natalie Walter