Israeli Elections Come and Go, But Israel Remains an Outlaw State
A Palestinian family reacts after Israeli bulldozers demolished their home in the Arab East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, Feb. 5, 2013. (AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Two Views: Israel’s Parliamentary Elections
Newly elected Israeli Knesset member Yair Lapid (l), leader of the Yesh Atid party, speaks to Naftali Bennett, head of the hard-line national religious party the Jewish Home, during a Feb. 5 reception in Jerusalem marking the opening of the 19th Knesset. (URIEL SINAI/GETTY IMAGES)
Richard H. Curtiss (1927-2013) Devoted His Life to Telling People Stories
Richard Curtiss at work in his Washington Report office. (STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY)
Israeli License to Cheney-Linked Energy Firm on Golan Heights Raises Eyebrows
Then-Vice President Dick Cheney (l) and Likud chairman Benyamin Netanyahu, out of office at the time and serving as the official Israeli opposition leader, at a March 23, 2008 breakfast meeting at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Peace at Last in the Southern Philippines?
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III (r) shares candies with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chief Murad Ebrahim during a Feb. 11 visit to the rebels’ stronghold in Sultan Kudarat on the island of Mindanao. (KARLOS MANLUPIG/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Two Palestinian, Israeli Documentaries Depict Evils of Military Occupation
Emad Burnat views his five broken cameras in his documentary of the same name. (PHOTO COURTESY KINO LORBER)
April 2005 Postcard
Downloadable PDF (360 KB)
Cut and paste html (for emailing your Sen. or Rep.:
DEAR JAMES W. OWENS:
The Israeli army’s use of Caterpillar equipment to demolish Palestinian homes and trees is widespread, systematic, and thoroughly documented.
Israel has used Caterpillar bulldozers to demolish more than 12,000 Palestinian homes; to uproot 385,000 Palestinian olive trees; to kill Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist, as she nonviolently tried to prevent the razing of a Palestinian home; and to build a 25-foot-high wall that will confiscate about 40 percent of the territory of the West Bank.
Israel is most likely violating the U.S. Arms Export Control Act through its use of Caterpillar bulldozers in the occupied Palestinian territories. I urge the Caterpillar board of directors to stop selling D-9 bulldozers to the Israeli army. Review whether the sale of your equipment to the Israeli army violates your corporation’s own Code of Worldwide Business Conduct.
Selling bulldozers to Israel harms the name of the Caterpillar corporation.
FROM:
Address:
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Rachel Corrie, 23, shortly before a Caterpillar bulldozer crushed her to death as she tried to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home on March 16, 2003 in Rafah, Gaza (Photo courtesy International Solidarity Movement).
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A Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer crushed to death Rachel Corrie, a young American woman, on March 16, 2003 as she stood peacefully in front of the machine and attempted to prevent it from destroying a Palestinian home in Rafah, in the Gaza Strip.
Since 1967 Israel has destroyed some 12,000 Palestinian homes to make way for new settlements, Jewish-only roads or its separation wall, as punishment, or just to provide soldiers a clear line of fire. In 2004 the army destroyed 2,370 houses in Gaza, and last year in Jerusalem at least 80 homes were demolished because the owners lacked permits. I believe that the use of Caterpillar D-9 bulldozers to demolish homes of Palestinians violates not only international law and the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, but Caterpillar’s own code of ethics, which your company calls its “most important document.” Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Jewish Voice for Peace, ProgressivePortal, the Presbyterians and Pax Christi, and many other groups, have called on Caterpillar to cease selling your bulldozers to Israel.
