{"id":2436,"date":"2008-04-19T10:50:59","date_gmt":"2008-04-19T09:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ethicalquote.com\/index.php\/2008\/04\/19\/united-methodists-to-withdraw-caterpillar-divestment-plans\/"},"modified":"2008-04-28T14:18:58","modified_gmt":"2008-04-28T13:18:58","slug":"united-methodists-to-withdraw-caterpillar-divestment-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.covalence.ch\/index.php\/2008\/04\/19\/united-methodists-to-withdraw-caterpillar-divestment-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"United Methodists to Withdraw Caterpillar Divestment Plans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/article\/20080419\/32016_United_Methodists_to_Withdraw_Caterpillar_Divestment_Plans.htm\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"080423_caterpillar.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ethicalquote.com\/newTemplate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/080423_caterpillar.jpg\" title=\"080423_caterpillar.jpg\" alt=\"080423_caterpillar.jpg\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>The United Methodist Church announced this week that it had achieved \u201cpositive results\u201d in its negotiations with large construction manufacturer Caterpillar Inc. to review use of its equipment and examine its ties to Israeli military forces. The Protestant church body, which has a history of dedication to moral and social activism, notified the company that it would petition and divest its stock holdings in the corporation because of what it described as its profiteering in \u201cillegal Israeli settlements.\u201d \u201cCaterpillar equipment, fitted with armored plating, is used by Israeli Defense Forces to destroy Palestinian homes, orchards and olive groves in the Occupied Territories, and to clear Palestinian land for illegal Israeli settlements, segregated roads and the separation barrier,\u201d UMC noted in a statement.  The denomination has about $5 million of its estimated $17 billion pension portfolio invested in Caterpillar stock, according to a press release on the UMC website. Caterpillar\u2019s response to The United Methodist Church, however, was deemed \u201cpositive\u201d by the denomination, which subsequently announced that it would withdraw its petition of divestment. In a statement, Caterpillar \u201caffirmed the importance of continuing dialogue between Caterpillar and The United Methodist Church,\u201d and announced that it would review its record concerning the use of its equipment. &#8220;Caterpillar&#8217;s products are designed to improve quality of life. &#8230; We do not condone the illegal or immoral use of any Caterpillar equipment. &#8230; We expect our customers to use our products in environmentally responsible ways and consistent with human rights and the requirements of international humanitarian law,\u201d the company expressed in a statement. &#8220;We are committed to further conversations and possible philanthropic activities in Palestinian areas,\u201d the company added. Image source: UMNS \/ Kathy L. Gilber, File \/ christianpost.com. &gt; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/article\/20080419\/32016_United_Methodists_to_Withdraw_Caterpillar_Divestment_Plans.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Continue<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\">News selected by Covalence | Region: <\/span><st1:place><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Middle East<\/span><\/st1:place><span lang=\"EN-GB\"> | Company: <\/span>Caterpillar<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ethicalquote.com\/newTemplate\/index.php\/ethicalquote\/?value=6\"><\/a><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><o:p><\/o:p> | Source: <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/article\/20080419\/32016_United_Methodists_to_Withdraw_Caterpillar_Divestment_Plans.htm\" target=\"_blank\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">The Christian Post<br \/>\n<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The United Methodist Church announced this week that it had achieved \u201cpositive results\u201d in its negotiations with large construction manufacturer Caterpillar Inc. to review use of its equipment and examine its ties to Israeli military forces. The Protestant church body, which has a history of dedication to moral and social activism, notified the company that&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":665,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_post_series":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[117],"post_series":[],"class_list":["post-2436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-caterpillar","entry","no-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.covalence.ch\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.covalence.ch\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.covalence.ch\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.covalence.ch\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/665"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.covalence.ch\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.covalence.ch\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2436\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.covalence.ch\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.covalence.ch\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.covalence.ch\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2436"},{"taxonomy":"post_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.covalence.ch\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_series?post=2436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}