Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land continues in part because it is so profitable for companies in Israel and around the world. Israeli and international corporations are directly involved in the occupation: in the construction of Israeli colonies and infrastructure in the occupied territories, in the settlements’ economy, in building walls and checkpoints, in the supply of specific equipment used in the control and repression of the civilian population under occupation. The Interfaith Peace Initiative offers a list of publicly traded companies that support this significant obstacle to peace. The groupWho Profits?–initiated by the Coalition of Women for Peace–as well as the We Divest Campaign offer an excellent list of public and private companies profiting from the occupation.
The United Methodist Church New England Conference has published a list of 29 publicly traded companies “supporting the occupation in a significant way” that the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has used to develop their Israel-Palestine Investment Screen. (Quakers have also identified ten companies in which Friends Fiduciary has confirmed it holds no investment.) The AFSC Israel-Palestine Investment Screen is one that the Mennonite Central Committee U.S. board identified in its decision to not invest knowingly “in companies that benefit from products or services used to perpetrate acts of violence against Palestinians, Israelis and other people groups”.
MennoPIN 