We must hold Caterpillar responsible for its complicity in war crimes

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

by Rochelle Gause

Since 1967 the Caterpillar Corporation has been providing equipment to the Israeli military for use in its illegal occupation of the Palestinian people. Since the second intifada began in 2000, the Israeli military has created a human rights crisis in the Occupied Territories. Three specific incidents have recently highlighted the role Caterpillar is playing in these human rights abuses: the 2002 destruction of the Jenin refugee Camp, the 2003 killing of Rachel Corrie, as she nonviolently defended a Palestinian home, and last May's "Operation Rainbow" in Rafah where farmland, homes, and infrastructure were destroyed.

We can no longer let corporations such as Caterpillar use public relation statements to cover up their breaking of international law without consequence. Those in political power are not holding Corporations responsible, so it leaves the work to us. Momentum is building against the Caterpillar Corporation for providing equipment to the Israeli military knowing that is continuously being used for human rights abuses. On behalf of Rachel's parents Craig and Cindy Corrie on March 16th, 2005, the Center for Constitutional Rights is charging Caterpillar with war crimes in federal court. On the International Day of Action Against Caterpillar on April 13th protests are planned in Buffalo, New York; San Francisco, California; Lafayette, Indiana; Meridian, Idaho; Memphis, Tennessee; Dallas, Texas; Corvallis, Oregon; Peoria and Chicago, Illinois. Locally, a coalition of 43 organizations sent a letter to the CEO of N.C. Machinery, Washington's largest Caterpillar distributor, requesting he use his position to help end Caterpillars complicity in human rights abuses. He did not respond to the letter and refuses to return our messages. So clearly we need to increase the public pressure.

On Wednesday, April 13 we will be gathering for a rally at 2pm at the N.C. Machinery headquarters in Tukwila, 17025 W Valley Highway. A carpool will leave the Olympia area at 12:30pm from the Rainy Day parking lot on the corner of Division and Harrison.

On the anniversary of Rachel's death, Dr. Samir, the father of the family whose home she died defending wrote this to the international community: "As for Rachel and the message she delivered to us and to the world, she was in pursuit of the truth. She dedicated her life to that. She conveyed the truth as she saw it, reporting the crimes of the Israeli army against innocent Palestinian civilians. The hands of the occupation killed her in cold blood as if to say to us, "I will deny you your spoken voice." I don't feel safe as long as our voice does not reach the outside world. I call on my ISM friends to return to us. I ask you to come back because Rafah needs you. Tanks roll in and out with total ease, killing and destroying at will. And, without you, no one sees and no one hears. There is not a day when my family and I don't think of Rachel. I told her family when they came to visit us that Rachel was a loss to my family, a loss to the whole Palestinian people, just as she was to them. Everyone lost her. We still see that bulldozer that took her away from us. As much as I speak about her, I still cannot do her justice."

We each have the potential, as Rachel did , to stand for bravery and for justice with open hearted compassion. The question is not how did Rachel become so spectacular, but what is keeping us from reaching our own courage, preventing us from making our own stand for justice, reaching people outside ourselves and realizing the power and privilege that we as Americans hold.

The International Day of Action Against Caterpillar provides us an opportunity to support the Palestinian people and to contribute to the end of their suffering of human rights abuses at the hands of the Israeli military. We must also work to inform and inspire people in wealthy countries to challenge the corporate and global structures that sustain the violence and injustices throughout world.

For more information check out http://www.orscp.org or call 360 753-7093. To sign up for the car pool contact Jake 360 259-6549.