The JCPA’s 2005 “Economic Sanctions Including Divestment as Obstacles to the Advancement of Middle East Peace” resolution spoke to the Jewish community’s deep commitment to alleviating the suffering of all people and our support of efforts to bring about a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Economic sanctions against companies doing business with Israel evince a misunderstanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and are a cause for great concern. 

We believe economic sanctions, such as divestment, serve to undermine efforts to achieve peace and reconciliation, and therefore urge the Jewish community relations field to encourage investment in companies, including those operating in the Qualified Industrial Zones[1], whose work contributes to the growth of the Palestinian and Israeli economies as well as those of Israel’s neighbors, particularly Jordan and Egypt.

[1] Qualified Industrial Zones are defined as industrial parks from which goods can be exported duty-free to the United States.