Dear Mr. Owens:
We are the parents of Rachel Corrie, a peace activist from the United States who was killed on March 16, 2003, in Rafah, at the southern end of the Gaza Strip. Several weeks ago we found ourselves standing among hundreds of other Americans, holding candles in silent vigil remembering Rachel. A year before, Rachel had stood bravely in front of a Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer in order to protect the home of Dr. Samir Nasrallah, a Palestinian pharmacist, his wife, Intiman, and their children, Kareem, Reem, and Iman. Rachel was crushed to death when she was run over by that Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer operated by the Israeli Defense Force. We are writing to request a meeting with you on April 23rd, when we will be at your headquarters in Peoria. We hope to discuss with you how Caterpillar can become a force for peace in the Middle East.
In January 2003, Rachel left our home in Olympia, Washington, and traveled to Israel where she joined others in the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). There are only two stipulations for joining ISM: one must believe in the right to freedom of the Palestinian people based on the relevant United Nations resolutions and international law; and one must agree to use only non-violent direct action methods of resistance. Rachel quickly made her way to Rafah where she hoped her presence would offer some protection not only to families like the Nasrallahs, trying to live in their homes along the Egyptian border where a border strip is being cleared and a steel wall erected, but also to municipal water workers trying to repair wells destroyed by the IDF, and to other civilians trying to peacefully go about their daily lives. She worked with school children to help them learn about democratic institutions and to try to set up a pen pal relationship with her own grade school in Olympia. She contacted Traditions, a folk art store in Olympia, to create a commercial outlet for the handcrafts made by the General Union of Palestinian Women. Rachel's dream of an informal sister city relationship between Rafah and Olympia is happening now through work by her friends in both cities.
After arriving in Rafah, Rachel wrote to her mother: "I have been in Palestine for two weeks and one hour now, and I still have very few words to describe what I see. It is most difficult for me to think about whats going on here when I sit down to write back to the United States. Something about the virtual portal into luxury. I don't know if many of the children here have ever existed without tank-shell holes in their walls and towers of an occupying army surveying them constantly from the near horizons. I think, although I'm not entirely sure, that even the smallest of these children understand that life is not like this everywhere. An eight-year-old was shot and killed by an Israeli tank two days before I got here, and many of the children murmur his name to me“Ali“or point at the posters of him on the walls..."
"Love you. Really miss you. I have bad nightmares about tanks and bulldozers outside our house and you and me inside. Sometimes the adrenaline acts as an anesthetic for weeks and then in the evening or at night it just hits me again a little bit of the reality of the situation. I am really scared for the people here."
The reality is that the machine that killed Rachel was a D-9 Caterpillar bulldozer (serial number 949623), a machine manufactured by your company and given to Israel as part of the aid package from the U.S. government. It is widely known and documented that Caterpillar bulldozers are used on a regular basis by the Israeli army to destroy Palestinian homes, to uproot olive trees and raze farmland, to build illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, and to construct the separation barriers that Israel is erecting within the West Bank and on the Rafah border with Egypt. In fact, the bulldozer has become a symbol of the Israeli occupation. We understand that the Caterpillar company is not driving these machines when they are used for such destruction (rather than for construction); but we feel there is corporate responsibility that your company holds for the use of its machines in such a manner.
Mr. Owens, we ask that Caterpillar stop sending machines to Israel for such purposes and that you demand that the Israeli government cease using its existing Caterpillar equipment to commit human rights abuses against the Palestinian population. We realize that through such action, you cannot bring back our daughter, rebuild the thousands of homes that have been destroyed, nor replant the hundreds of thousands of trees that have been uprooted. Nevertheless, we do know that there are more homes out there that will be destroyed, each one striking another blow to the dream our daughter had for peace and freedom in the Middle East. At a time when the United States and its corporations are viewed by much of the world as causing harm, pain and suffering, imagine what a statement and an example Caterpillar could make by living up to its own corporate standards, as articulated in Caterpillar's statement of social responsibility:
As a company, we strive to contribute toward a global environment in which all people can work safely and live healthy, productive lives, now and in the future.
What a different world your statement of social responsibility envisions. It is within your power to help make that vision a reality.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration. We very much look forward to hearing from you and to meeting you on April 23rd.
Yours sincerely,
Craig and Cindy Corrie
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