London, England - The Church of England has said it is unlikely to sell its £2m stake in Caterpillar, whose bulldozers were used by the Israeli government to demolish Palestinian homes, even if the Anglican Church backs a call to take action over investments deemed to support Israel's presence in the occupied territories.
A report by the Anglican Justice and Peace Network, a lobby group within the church, has urged "appropriate action" in the case of investments "that support the occupation of Palestinian lands and violence against innocent Israelis".
But yesterday the church ruled out "gestures" such as selling shareholdings if, as expected, the report is approved in Nottingham today by the Anglican Consultative Council, an international body that makes recommendations to the 75m-strong church.
Although the network's report does not specifically ask churches to disinvest their holdings in offending companies, its authors believe that this could be done as a last resort, if the businesses concerned prove unresponsive.
The report, which was published earlier this year, has been heavily criticised by senior Anglican clerics and Jewish leaders.
But Riah Hanna Abu El-Assal, the Anglican bishop of Jerusalem, who played host to the network when it visited the city last September, said the adoption of the report would send a strong message to Israel and raise awareness.
"It is not the amount of money that is important," he said. "It is a symbolic way of speaking for those who, for example, have had their homes demolished."
The report does not mention specific companies, but Caterpillar was identified by Bishop Riah as one company that its authors were considering. The Church of England has about £6.5bn of investments, of which the Caterpillar shares are a very small element.
The Church of England said it would be "quite out of the ordinary" for its investment advisory group simply to dispose of a shareholding without first engaging with the company's management.
"Positive engagement works better than gestures," it said.
There is concern that action by the church would undermine attempts to revive the peace process in the Middle East.
Lord Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, said this month that approval of the report would be "disastrous" for the peace efforts, adding that it would be "another knife in the back" for Israelis already traumatised by attacks on them.
The chief rabbi's office and the Board of Deputies of British Jews have made private representations to senior Anglican figures, including Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury, who is president of the Anglican Consultative Council.
If the council accepts the report today, the 38 provinces that make up the global church will be asked to implement it, but they will be under no obligation to do so.