Passed on the last day of the WCC Central Committee meeting, the “Statement on Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” encouraged an international boycott of products and services from settlements. It also urged the Israeli government to commit to non-violence and peace negotiations.

“[While] Israel’s own right to exist in security evokes sympathy and solidarity around the world,” states the Central Committee, WCC’s main decision-making body, “its policies of expansion and annexation generate dismay or hostility.” There is a clear distinction, the committee maintains, “between the legitimate interests of the state of Israel and its illegal settlements.”

The statement comes exactly a week after the group’s outgoing general secretary called Israel’s “occupation” of Palestinian territories “a sin against God.” The Rev. Samuel Kobia had urged the central committee to also make that declaration official.

Jewish groups have had a long and at times disagreeable relationship with the WCC, which they accuse of being more favorable to the plight of Palestinians.

The Central Committee statement said all its member churches should boycott settlement products and services so as not to be “complicit in illegal activities on occupied territory” and to “practice morally responsible investment.”