[PAA-Discuss] FW: Caterpillar has stopped selling buldozers to Israel... for now

Sat Oct 30 23:33:22 EDT 2010

You can sign a petition to Obama asking him to not send the caterpillar
tractors to Israel here. Lee

  _____  

From: Professor Schwartz' symposium on the Iraq war
[mailto:IRAQVIEWS-L at LISTS.SUNYSB.EDU] On Behalf Of Michael Schwartz
Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2010 4:56 PM
To: IRAQVIEWS-L at LISTS.SUNYSB.EDU
Subject: Fw: Caterpillar has stopped selling buldozers to Israel... for now

Here is something very interesting--perhaps the first tangible evidence that
a boycott or divestment campaign can yield material results.  At least
temporarily, Caterpillar has discontinued delivery of the killer caterpillar
tractors (used to demolish Palestinian homes and other property), because
they are worried about the lawsuits being pursued by Rachel Corrie's
parents.   A small, but real sign that protest can deprive Israel of at
least some of its lethal weaponry.   

best
Michael  
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Sydney Levy, Jewish Voice for  <mailto:info at jewishvoiceforpeace.org>
Peace 
To: ms42 at optonline.net 
Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 5:12 PM
Subject: Caterpillar has stopped selling buldozers to Israel... for now

 Jewish Voice for Peace
<https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/301/images/TIACREFEMAILBANNER.jpg> 

This is not an earthquake.

<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/301/images/ABASsilw170107034.preview.j
pg> 

This is what CAT bulldozers
do in Palestine.

Tell
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=CpZ8XqYvzDJCAI7K8I3I
56EPQbr7Te2T> TIAA-CREF to stop investing in CAT now.
Sign our petition.

Dear  Michael,

I have remarkable news. The Israeli press is reporting that Caterpillar is
withholding the delivery of tens of D9 bulldozers-valued at $50 million-to
the Israeli military.(1) These are weaponized bulldozers that are used to
illegally destroy homes and orchards of Palestinian families. And they are
the very same bulldozers as the one that killed a 23-year-old American peace
activist named Rachel Corrie seven years ago when she tried to protect the
home of the Nasrallah family in Gaza.

That's why the next part of the story is even more amazing. The news reports
say that the deliveries have been suspended now because Rachel's parents,
Cindy and Craig Corrie, are bringing a civil suit against the government of
Israel in a court in Tel Aviv.(2) The deliveries are to stop during the
length of the trial. We take this as an indirect admission by the company
that these bulldozers are being used to violate human rights and to violate
the law. The Corrie story is sadly just one of thousands of stories of loss
and pain.

A suspension of the sale of bulldozers is what we have been asking
Caterpillar for over seven years now. This is a great win, but this is no
time to let off the pressure.

Caterpillar and the U.S. government have neither confirmed nor denied the
news. And news reports describe the company's move as a temporary decision
only. To urge the U.S. government to make this policy permanent,
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=x6cjA4vwEj51B5Ap8GyB
%2FqEPQbr7Te2T> please sign the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli
Occupation's petition to President Obama to continue this new policy.

We need to hold both our government and corporations profiting from the
occupation accountable. TIAA-CREF, one of the largest financial services in
the United States, invests heavily in Caterpillar (over $250 million as of
their last financial report).
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=iDUz1tLjK%2B2XWeXNdj
f%2FsqEPQbr7Te2T> Please ask TIAA-CREF to divest from Caterpillar and other
companies that profit from the Israeli occupation. If TIAA-CREF divests from
Caterpillar, it will have a rippling impact everywhere.

Since 2003, Jewish Voice for Peace has been filing annual shareholder
resolutions to pressure Caterpillar with a growing coalition of interfaith
partners. We've organized protests. We've taken over a CAT dealership. We've
worked in support of Presbyterian and Methodist divestment initiatives from
the company, and with your help,
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=PbA4X4dUu1SdWkiGWORK
4KEPQbr7Te2T> we are asking TIAA-CREF to divest from Caterpillar as well.

Caterpillar has never budged... until now.

Caterpillar's irresponsible behavior comes with a heavy price tag. In the
last ten years, at least 11,795 homes have been demolished.(3) These
statistics, gruesome as they are, cannot do justice to the pain of so many
families, to their razed livelihoods and their shattered dreams.

The picture above does not come from an earthquake scene. It depicts the
man-made destruction and the hopelessness that the Caterpillar bulldozers
bring at the hand of the soldiers who wield them. Let's make sure that this
is the last picture of this kind we get to see.

Thank you and shabbat shalom,

<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/301/images/signatures/SydneyJVPSign.jp
g> 

Sydney Levy
Jewish Voice for Peace

(1) Report:
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=K8F13QY%2FHmcfynZPY2
Lx%2B6EPQbr7Te2T> Caterpillar to delay supply of D9 bulldozers to IDF.
Jerusalem Post, Oct 25, 2010, as well as Israel's Channel 2 TV, October 25,
2010 (evening broadcast in Hebrew).
(2) For updates on the trial, visit the
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=6yS07gdFwOcNF8H0fDLp
kaEPQbr7Te2T> Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice.
(3) The statistics are from the
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=NyF53snkgHV1s8sdVqOm
86EPQbr7Te2T> Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions and run up only
until July 28, 2010, a day after the Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the
northern Negev desert was razed to the ground. The village would be rebuilt
and demolished five additional times (see Open
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=NG7%2BV3thxZ435HHsYB
iKJKEPQbr7Te2T> Letter to JNF: Equal Rights, Sustainable Development for
Negev, Not Dispossession of Bedouin! and El
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=afsplu6sQB7quqNRBEMs
xaEPQbr7Te2T> Araqib Village Demolished for Sixth Time.)

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