UPDATE (a sad one)
CHICAGO – Caterpillar Inc. shareholders on Wednesday soundly rejected a resolution that would have directed the heavy equipment manufacturer
to investigate the use of its bulldozers by the Israeli army to demolish
Palestinian homes.The resolution, which the company said at its annual meeting was defeated 97 percent to 3 percent, stated that Israel has used Caterpillar equipment to destroy more than 3,000 homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since 2000.
It was introduced by four Roman Catholic orders of nuns and the group Jewish Voice for Peace, who argued that the sale of company equipment for such purposes violates Caterpillar’s code of business conduct.
Dozens of protesters lined the sidewalk outside before the meeting, next to a huge banner reading “Caterpillar bulldozers destroy Palestinian homes.”
“Caterpillar’s sale of weaponized bulldozers to the Israeli military is tantamount to selling a gun to a person you know is planning to kill someone,” said Liat Weingart, co-director of Jewish Voice for Peace. “Though Caterpillar is not actually behind the wheel, they are providing the machinery as well as training and support for the Israeli military to harm civilians.”
Other Jewish organizations had opposed the resolution as unfairly singling out Israel for economic pressure without holding Palestinians accountable for acts contributing to unrest in the region.
Caterpillar’s board of directors urged defeat of the resolution, saying that the company has “neither the legal right nor the means to police individual use” of its equipment. [more]
Campaigners held an international day of action yesterday against Caterpillar, with demonstrations outside British plants and “flashmobbing” of the company’s shops where protesters asked to try on shoes then sat reading a report that detailed the firm’s alleged complicity in Israeli human rights abuses [more]
Irony at its worst…
At approximately 8:00 am, less than 12 hours before Caterpillar shareholders were scheduled to meet in Chicago to discuss a resolution concerning sales of bulldozers to Israel, 60 Israeli soldiers accompanied two Caterpillar excavation drills to the Yamani home in Anata on the outskirts of East Jerusalem. The family of 12 was given 30 minutes to remove their belongings from the 80 meter home. It took approximately 30 minutes for the Caterpillar excavation drills to destroy the home along with the animal stable alongside the house. [more]
So to sum up, you can manufacture and sell a piece of machinery to a nation that has no denials about its intention on using it to destroy homes to drive Palestinians out and build settlements on them, but you just don’t have “the legal right nor the means to police individual use”.
So for anyone whose been wondering lately how far has the human race sunk, I hope that answers your query.
Posted In: Caterrorpillar Chronicles
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