Arab boycott warns Caterpillar not to sell equipment to IDF
By The Associated Press
DAMASCUS - The Damascus-based Arab office for the boycott of Israel warned the U.S. company Caterpillar Inc. on Thursday that Arab states will blacklist it if it keeps selling bulldozers to the Israel Defense Forces.
In a letter sent to the Illinois-based company, the boycott office accused Caterpillar of selling Israel equipment used to destroy Palestinian property in the 'Israeli-occupied territories.'
"Your insistence to go on supplying the Israeli army with bulldozers and other equipment that helps it to destroy Palestinian lands and houses ... would eventually lead to halting any dealing with your company by all Arab countries," according to the letter, the contents of which were made available to The Associated Press on Thursday.
Caterpillar has come under fire for its sale of equipment that Israel uses to destroy Palestinian homes. The company has repeatedly disputed protesters' arguments, saying it has "neither the legal right nor the means to police individual use of that equipment."
"We have compassion for all those impacted by political strife around the world, but the facts remain that we don't have the legal right to police the use of our equipment," Caterpillar spokesman Ben Cordani told AP.
Cordani said his company has sales agents throughout the Arab world, including the Gaza Strip, but he refused to provide information on machinery sold to Arab buyers. He said he was unaware of the Arab boycott office's letter.
American peace activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death in March 2003 while trying to block an Israeli army bulldozer destroying a row of Palestinian homes in a refugee camp near the Gaza-Egypt border.
In April, Corrie's parents, along with hundreds of Americans, demonstrated outside Caterpillar's offices, demanding that it stop selling equipment to the Israeli army to destroy Palestinians' houses.
In its letter, the Arab boycott office said that since 1967, Israel has used Caterpillar bulldozers to destroy 9,000 Palestinian houses, leaving 50,000 Palestinians homeless. It said the Israeli army also used the company's bulldozers to uproot around 200,000 olive trees since the start of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000.
The boycott office official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said if the company does not respond within several months, its name will be placed on the boycott list.
In its heyday, the Arab boycott office blacklisted more than 8,500 companies, including Coca-Cola and Ford Motor Co. But its influence has waned considerably as major players in the Arab world such as Egypt and Jordan made peace with Israel.
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