semitism.net

I’m going to try to report more on non-militant forms of protest against the occupation - things going on both in the occupied territories, and internationally. This will include demonstrations and civil disobedience, as well as boycotts, divestment, and other forms of economic pressure. One of these is the Caterpillar shareholder protest.

Israel is a big market for Caterpillar, which sells the bulldozers that Israel uses to demolish Palestinian homes and neighborhoods. B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights group, and Human Rights Watch, released reports recently on the home demolitions. Both conclude that the demolition program far exceeds anything necessary for Israel’s security, and violates international law. In Rafah during the period from May 18 to 24 of this year, according to Human Rights Watch,

Armored Caterpillar D9 bulldozers plowed through houses and shops, indiscriminately ripped up roads, destroyed water and sewage systems, and turned agricultural fields into barren patches of earth. Fifty-nine Palestinians were reportedly killed in Rafah during a series of incursions from May 12-24, including eleven people under age eighteen and eighteen armed men. In total, these incursions left 254 houses destroyed and nearly 3,800 people homeless; another forty-four houses were razed in the Rafah area during the same month in smaller operations…

Based on interviews with the IDF, two Palestinian armed groups, international aid agencies and residents of Rafah, as well as physical examination of the town, Human Rights Watch found little evidence of a sustained battle or resistance in Rafah during the incursions into Tel al-Sultan and Brazil. Instead, extensive destruction of infrastructure and property occurred mostly in areas already under direct Israeli control.

Now Jewish Voice for Peace, a Bay Area Jewish organization, has joined with Human Rights Watch and other groups to file a shareholder motion asking Caterpillar to stop sales to Israel. The resolution is expected to be supported by the Presbyterian Church, which holds 3 million dollars in Caterpillar stock; and the Mennonite and Anglican churches may take a stand as well. The details are reported by Haaretz and Interpress.

If even a few more Jewish groups spoke out in favor of this protest, it would be a very powerful statement - to Caterpillar and to Israel - against human rights abuses in the occupied territories. If you are really brave, bring this up in your congregation. Try to get your synagogue to take a stand. If nothing else, it will generate discussion. You can download the reports on home demolitions here, and distribute them at Shul:

• B’Tselem
• Human Rights Watch