Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Episcopal Church Calls for Two-State Solution

The U.S.-based Episcopal Church adopted a resolution at its General Convention Assembly calling for “a negotiated two-state solution” and “positive investment” as responses to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Also at the meeting in Indianapolis, delegates tabled a resolution urging “corporate engagement” by the church and dissemination of “information on products” made in the West Bank.

The moves “distanced the church” from the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, according to an American Jewish Committee statement.

“The Episcopal Church has demonstrated its commitment to a negotiated resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and a rejection of unhelpful one-sided judgments aimed at Israel that do not advance the cause of peace,” Rabbi Noam Marans, AJC’s director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations, said in the statement.

Marans attended the General Convention Assembly as an invited guest.

“The Episcopal Church has heard from the Anglican bishop in Jerusalem and other Christians, and has recognized that divestment is not a path to peacemaking – the same conclusion reached by every other American church that has considered the strategy,” Ethan Felson, vice president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, told JTA.

Last week, the Presbyterian Church (USA) narrowly defeated a resolution calling to divest its portfolio from three companies that it says is helping Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. At the same time, its delegates handily defeated a resolution likening the occupation to apartheid, but also approved a boycott of products made in the West Bank.

In May, the United Methodist Church turned down a divestment initiative.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.