Olympia has a unique connection to the Caterpillar Corporation. In March of 2003, Rachel Corrie, an Evergreen student, was killed by a Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer in Rafah, Gaza strip. She was protecting the house of the Nasrallah family from demolition when she was run over twice by an Israeli Defense Force militarized Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer.

In 2004 and 2005, Jewish Voice for Peace put forth a shareholder resolution calling on Caterpillar to investigate violations of its own corporate responsibility policy. Also, in 2005, the Corries filed a lawsuit against the Caterpillar Corporation, charging that Caterpillar violated US and international law by continuing to sell bulldozers to the Israeli military.

Officially, bulldozers are sold to the IDF via the US Foreign Military Sales program. According to Caterpillar, the US provides Israel with military aid designated for Caterpillar . Investigations have revealed that Caterpillar provides consulting to the Israeli military on how best to amour and weaponize the D-9 and D-10.

Contained in this section is a statement and list from over 180 organizations calling on Caterpillar to cease its sales to the IDF. Also is the US Campaign to End the Occupation’s fact sheet on Caterpillar and a legal memo. More resources, such as figures on Israeli military assistance, are available on the Olympia CAT Campaign wiki:

http://olycat.pbwiki.com