April 13: Join the International Day of Action Against Caterpillar

author : Rochelle Gause topic : Caterpillar | Palestine | Rachel Corrie | Rafah

by Rochelle Gause

"We stand in the path of the bulldozers and are physically pushed with the shovels backwards. The bulldozers then proceeded on their course, demolishing one side of the houses with the protesters inside. The drivers sometimes drop a sound grenade out of the cab of the bulldozer, and continue to demolish the houses, at which point the activists are able to escape, amid gunfire from the tanks. We can only imagine what it is like for Palestinians living here, most of them once-or-twice refugees already, for whom this is not a nightmare, but a continuous reality from which international privilege cannot protect them, and from which they have no economic means to escape."

-Olympia resident, Rachel Corrie, while in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in 2003.

On March 16, 2003, a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer, like the one described above, crushed Rachel Corrie as she attempted to defend the home of a Palestinian family from demolition by the Israeli military. According to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, more than 12,000 homes have been demolished throughout the Occupied Territories since 1967 - leaving 50,000 Palestinians homeless. Caterpillar bulldozers have been used to destroy greenhouses and uproot 385,000 olive trees. Last May, wanting to get a better understanding of the situation and what happened to my friend, Rachel, I traveled to Rafah and witnessed the vast wasteland of demolished homes near the border. Children were flying kites made out of scavenged plastic in the Philadelphi Corridor, a strip of land between, Rafah, on the border of Gaza, and Egypt that the Israeli government has been in the process of structurally and ethnically cleansing since the beginning of the Second Palestinian Intifada in 2000.

Just weeks after I left, the Israeli forces began "Operation Rainbow," a large incursion into Rafah in which D9s were used to create 4,000 new homeless Palestinians, indiscriminately tearing up roads, destroying water and sewage networks, and creating a public health risk in an already vulnerable community. According to Human Rights Watch, "In some areas, water shortages forced residents to leave their homes in search of water, putting them at risk of being shot by IDF snipers for breaking curfew. In total, the IDF destroyed fifty-one percent of Rafah's roads, usually by dragging a blade known as the "ripper" from the back of the D9 down the middle of the road." The home demolitions occur most often at night without warning, preventing the families from gathering their belongings. There seems to be no end in sight. Last month the Israeli army proposed a plan to the Attorney General to construct a moat in the Philadelphi Corridor, which will involve demolishing between 200 and 3,000 additional homes.

The Caterpillar Corporation claims that, "With regard to Israel, sales between Caterpillar and the U.S. government are openly conducted through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales Program." Our government purchases Caterpillar bulldozers and sends them to Israel as part of our annual foreign military assistance package. Such sales are governed by the U.S. Arms Export Control Act (Public Law 90-829), which limits the use of U.S. military aid to "internal security" and "legitimate self-defense" and prohibits its use against civilians. The home demolitions are illegal under international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Hague Conventions of 1907.

Recognizing the role the Caterpillar Corporation is playing in grave abuses of human rights and humanitarian law, an International Day of Action Against Caterpillar has been called on April 13, 2005, by Jewish Voice for Peace and SUSTAIN (Stop U.S. Tax-Funded Aid to Israel Now). On that day, the shareholders of the Caterpillar Corporation will be meeting and discussing a resolution addressing the sale of bulldozers to the Israeli Military brought forward by Jewish Voice for Peace.

Over the past year momentum has been growing. Multiple human rights groups and the UN have made clear statements connecting Caterpillar with the illegal occupation. Due to "Operation Rainbow," Amnesty International released a new report on the Israeli practice of home demolition, which concluded that, "The grounds invoked by Israel to justify the destruction are overly broad and based on discriminatory policies and practices," adding, "According to Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, 'extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly' is a grave breach, and hence, a war crime."

Grassroots actions have also increased. Last September, Jewish peace activists protested Caterpillar's safety record in the Middle East when they disrupted the Caterpillar-sponsored Safety Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada. They unrolled a banner with a photo of an armored D-9 bulldozer destroying homes that read, "What do Cat dozers make possible? Death and destruction for Palestinians and Israelis." In April the Palestine Solidarity Committee began its campaign requesting the City of Seattle to withdraw financial support from companies, including Caterpillar, who sell equipment to Israel's military occupation so that public funds are spent in support of human rights and well-being, not on occupation and war crimes. During last year's International Day of Action, 300 protesters gathered at Caterpillar's corporate headquarters in Peoria, Illinois, including Rachel's parents, Craig and Cindy Corrie. The campaign to stop sales of Caterpillar equipment to the Israeli military is supported by Human Rights Watch, the Presbyterian Church USA, the Sisters of Mercy, Churches for Peace in the Middle East, and over thirty other national organizations.

On April 13 at 2:00pm, the Olympia Rafah Sister City Project in collaboration with other peace groups, plans to hold a rally at the headquarters for N.C. Machinery, the largest Caterpillar dealer in Washington. The uses of Caterpillar machinery by the Israeli forces lie in direct contrast with the distributor's values as stated on its website: "We are uncompromising in our adherence to moral and ethical principles. We do what is right, even when it is not the easiest solution." In preparation for this action, we are asking organizations to sign on to a letter to the CEO at N.C. Machinery seeking a meeting with the management and including the following requests:

* Support the shareholder resolution brought forward by Jewish Voice for Peace, requesting that Caterpillar review whether the direct or indirect sale of its equipment to the Israeli army violates the corporation's own Code of Worldwide Business Conduct. Vote your personal shares of Caterpillar stock in favor of the resolution.

* Support the demand by Human Rights Watch that Caterpillar cease all sales to the Israeli military of the D9, D10, and D11 militarized bulldozers, as well as parts and maintenance services; and communicate your support for this demand to the Caterpillar Board of Directors.

*Issue a public statement of concern about the Israeli army's use of Caterpillar bulldozers to commit systematic human rights violations.

We are urging individual letters to N.C. Machinery and to Caterpillar Corporation, as well. E-mail addresses are available at http://www.progressiveportal.org .

This campaign is winnable. The Caterpillar Corporation earned thirty billion dollars in sales last year alone. The labor practices of this company are notorious, including strike breaking and union busting providing strong opportunities for cross issue solidarity. Sales to the Israeli military represent a very small part of Caterpillar's total business and, unlike military contractors, Caterpillar sells primarily to civilians making it a company vulnerable to public pressure.

There are so many directions in which to direct our energies in these times. However, rarely does an opportunity present itself for action in solidarity with so many others and with a clearly definable goal. Palestine is central to global justice and peace in the Middle East. In order to be effective, we must acknowledge the crucial links and stand in solidarity with those suffering from the occupation of both Iraq and Palestine.

On April 13th and before let us come together and use our privilege to take a stand for those suffering tremendous human rights abuses, whether directly or indirectly, perpetrated by our own government while corporations, like Caterpillar, continue to profit. Rachel chose to and left us with these words from on the ground in Rafah: "Honestly, a lot of the time the sheer kindness of the people here, coupled with the overwhelming evidence of the willful destruction of their lives, makes it seem unreal to me. I really can't believe that something like this can happen in the world without a bigger outcry about it. It really hurts me, again, like it has hurt me in the past, to witness how awful we can allow the world to be."

If your organization is interested in signing on to the letter, or for more information on the upcoming action, check out the Olympia Rafah Sister City Project website at http://www.orscp.org or call 753-7093. Or, even better, join us at our next organizing meeting for the International Day of Action on Thursday, March 10th at 7:00pm at the Olympia Free School next to the downtown post office. For more information on the issue, visit http://www.catdestroyshomes.org .