Presbyterian Church Assembly Defeats Pro-plo Resolution

The 189th General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church today decisively defeated a resolution calling on the United States to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization and adopted, instead, a minority resolution proposed from the Assembly floor urging the U.S. “to reaffirm its commitments to Israel.” The resolution, supported by a majority of the 2000 delegates also called for “peace negotiations in a manner consistent with the principles of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 242.”

The action was immediately hailed by Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum, director of the American Jewish committee’s Interreligious Affairs Department, and James Rudin, assistant director, “as a significant contribution to the spirit of reason and moderation in the current public understanding of the complex problem of Israel and her Arab neighbors.”

The original resolution which sought to legitimize the PLO as the “acknowledged spokesperson for the Palestinians” and to devise “means to include the PLO in the negotiations” for a Mideast peace settlement, was drafted by the United Presbyterian Church’s Middle East professional staff with the support of missionaries from Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. The missionaries attended the Assembly mainly to press for their resolution.

However, it was bitterly contested by Presbyterian delegates from the U.S. who are sympathetic to Israel and maintain close friendships with Jews in their local communities. As a result of their intervention, the pro-PLO draft was defeated by a 75 percent vote.

The statement by Tanenbaum and Rudin said that “the fact that nearly 75 percent of the delegates adopted a minority resolution after hearing interventions that urged Prestyterian Church support for secure and recognized boundaries for Israel’ means that Israel and the Jewish people have many friends among Presbyterian men and women throughout the length and breadth of our country.”