Caterpillar Should Do the Right Thing, Now By ELIZABETH W. CORRIE

Unable to sleep, I decided to write. For the past week, my email box has been flooded with desperate pleas for help from the people in Rafah, a Palestinian village on the border with Egypt. Since last week, the Israeli Army has relentlessly hammered the people of Rafah, destroying over 100 hundred homes, leaving at least 1000 civilians homeless. The image of these people, standing by helplessly as they watch their walls and roofs cave in under the pressure of the armored, D-9 and D-10 American made Caterpillar bulldozers--supplied to the Israeli army by the US government--has destroyed my sleep.

This image would make anyone of conscience sleepless, but it makes me sleepless because I cannot stop thinking about the horror my cousin Rachel Corrie would have felt witnessing this attack. Rachel worked in Rafah. Undoubtedly, she knew some of the people killed, wounded and/or made homeless by this latest attack. Rachel died in Rafah. She herself fell victim to the crushing blade of the bulldozer, the driver so intent on destroying a home that he had to destroy human life to do so.

When I pointedly mention that Caterpillar manufactured the bulldozer used to kill Rachel, I am sometimes asked whether it is reasonable to suggest that Caterpillar bears some responsibility for Rachel's death, and for the deaths and homelessness of Palestinians. I concede that, legally, it is difficult to make this case. Morally, however, it is not, and it is to the consciences of the people who manage, work for, and invest in Caterpillar that I appeal.


http://www.counterpunch.org/corrie05192004.html

Yes, I blame Caterpillar.

I was there for the march on them (and have pics).

Legally, they have no responsibility.

Morally and ethically, they are indirectly responsible for Rachel's death.

1. stop selling to Israel.

2. stop providing spare parts.

3. condemn the use of these machines to demolish homes.