GC44 GCE10 Authorizing Action For A Principle-Based Approach To Justice Work In The United Church Of Canada With Regards To Palestine - Israel for October 2024

1. What is the issue? 

The 2023 annual meeting of the 44ᵗʰ General Council approved in principle the use of a principle-based approach to the justice work of the United Church. The principles were intended to guide all the justice advocacy work of the church, but also have particular resonance for the church’s response to the occupation of Palestine, now an ongoing and escalating war in Gaza and the Middle East. In adopting the principles, the council asked the General Secretary (staff) to begin using them and to gather learning for the ultimate sharpening of the principles to be brought to the 45ᵗʰ General Council in 2025. At the same time, a number of regional proposals, calling on the church to engage in Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), to join the consensus of the international human rights community in recognizing and rejecting Israel’s apartheid system of laws and legal procedures towards the Palestinian people, and to engage with the Kairos Palestine Call, were postponed definitely. As the church seeks to move from a policy-based engagement for its justice work to a principle-based framework, it has not been clear how far staff can go in applying the principles with respect to the strategy of engaging with BDS and joining with the international community’s call to action.

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