Saturday, May 18, 2013

Palestinians Love Caterpillar. Why doesn't JVP?


Nearly every divestment initiative that hits American campuses and church groups insists that the institution divest from Caterpillar, a manufacturer of construction equipment that  supplies bulldozers to Israel  that allegedly are "complicit in the destruction of Palestinian homes".  In particular,  Jewish Voice for Peace has become obsessed with Caterpillar, regularly stalking their meetings, shareholder events, and social media sites. Their latest campaign has been to pressure and bully the  investment giant Tiaa-Cref  to withdraw its holdings from Caterpillar.


JVP  remains  oblivious to the fact that the Palestinians themselves have not divested from Caterpillar.  In this youtube from last year, the Palestinians celebrate the delivery of new Caterpillar equipment to the West Bank.  Maybe someone needs to remind them of the Palestinian "civil society" call to boycott.
There are Caterpillar dealerships in both Gaza and in Ramallah, incidentally.


Why does JVP insist that Americans be more Palestinian than the Palestinians? Why does JVP insist that American institutions divest from Caterpillar, when  Palestinian institutions refuse to?

No comments: