U.S. Catholics All for Disinvestment
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U.S. Roman Catholics have come out squarely against Israel in a new poll by a Catholic publication. In a survey conducted by The Tablet, a majority of those questioned agreed that they Ö²“would disinvest from companies whose products are used by the Israeli government in the occupied territoriesÖ²”.
In the poll of more than 2,800 people, 68.5 per cent supported disinvestment while 75 per cent called for the Ö²“removal of Jewish West Bank settlementsÖ²”.
The widespread anti-Israeli sentiment among the polled Catholics was further revealed by the large number who opposed the security fence around Palestinian Authority areas to prevent the entry into Israel of terrorists and suicide bombers. The poll said that 79.4 per cent of those polled disagreed with the statement that Ö²“the security wall is needed to protect the population of [Israel] from suicide bombersÖ²”. 80.4 per cent said they Ö²“support international efforts to arrive at a two-state solution between the Israelis and the PalestiniansÖ²” while 75.2 per cent said they supported PA Arab calls for an independent homeland within the borders that existed before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.