- (AP) -- An international human rights group has called
on American heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. to suspend bulldozer
sales to the Israel Defense Forces, citing the army's use of the vehicles
in destroying Palestinian homes and property.
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- Human Rights Watch said the huge D-9 bulldozers are the
army's "primary weapon" in home demolitions, destruction of farmland
and ruining Palestinian roads and sewage pipes. The 64-ton bulldozers are
built to military specifications and enforced with armor by the army.
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- "Caterpillar betrays its stated values when it sells
bulldozers to Israel knowing that they are being used to illegally destroy
Palestinian homes," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director
for the New York-based rights group. "Until Israel stops these practices,
Caterpillar's continued sales will make the company complicit in human
rights abuses," she said.
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- During more than four years of fighting with the Palestinians,
Israel has destroyed some 4,100 Palestinian homes, according to B'tselem,
an group that monitors rights violations in the Palestinian areas. Bulldozers
are often used in the operations.
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- The IDF routinely destroys the family homes of Palestinian
suicide bombers and other attackers as punishment and deterrent. But many
of the home demolitions have occurred in "clearing operations,"
meant to remove buildings the army says are used for cover by Palestinian
gunmen. Most of these operations have been in the Gaza Strip?s Rafah refugee
camp along the Egyptian border.
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- Caterpillar spokesman Rusty L. Dunn said the Peoria,
Illinois, maker of heavy equipment "shares the world's concern over
unrest in the Middle East," but isn't responsible for its customers'
actions.
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- "With more than two million Caterpillar machines
and engines at work around the world each day, we have neither the practical
means nor the legal right to dictate how customers use them," he said.
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- The IDF declined to comment.
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- In June, a United Nations-appointed expert said Israel's
use of Caterpillar bulldozers in military operations could make the company
an accomplice in human rights violations.
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- In a separate complaint, the California-based Jewish
Voice for Peace said it has filed a shareholder resolution requesting Caterpillar
to review whether sales to the Israeli army violate the company's code
of conduct.
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- Similar attempts by stockholders in the past have failed.
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