Caterpillar distributor is asked to join protest against sales to Israel

A coalition of dozens of peace groups from Washington and around the nation are asking a Northwest distributor of Caterpillar construction equipment to help them stop the sale of bulldozers to the Israeli army in response to the death of a Washington state student.

The coalition made the request in a letter sent to Tukwila-based Harnish Group Inc. Harnish owns one of the leading Caterpillar dealerships in the world, according to its Web site, with 11 major branches in the Northwest.

The coalition, led by the Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project, hopes that Harnish will use that prominence within Caterpillar to end the sales. The group claims those sales are contrary to international law since the equipment has been used to destroy homes of Palestinians.

Members of the new coalition have been trying to get Caterpillar to stop its sales to Israel since Rachel Corrie, 23, a student at The Evergreen State College, was killed by one of its military-hardened bulldozers while protesting the destruction of Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip in 2003.

Attempts to meet with Caterpillar officials were unsuccessful, so the Olympia group hopes to get Harnish to join its cause and lean on the manufacturer, said Rochelle Gause, a member of the Sister City Project.

In the letter, the group asks Harnish to support a resolution at Caterpillar's next board meeting seeking a review of its sales and to back the demand that those sales be stopped. The group also wants Harnish to make a public statement "of concern" about the use of Caterpillar bulldozers "to commit systematic human rights violations."

Company officials did not return phone calls from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer seeking comment yesterday. Gause said the company hasn't responded to their request for a meeting, though they know the company received the letter Monday.

Corrie's parents, Craig and Cynthia Corrie, have filed a suit against Caterpillar for selling military-hardened bulldozers to Israel. They also support the Sister City Project's campaign.

"People have tried so hard for so long to talk to Caterpillar about this and this is one more step," said Cynthia Corrie. "It's one more step to convincing Caterpillar to change its policies and bring further awareness about this situation."

If Harnish officials don't meet with them, Gause said, members of the coalition may protest at its headquarters April 13, the same day international organizers plan protests against Caterpillar.

On its Web site, Caterpillar said it "shares the world's concern over unrest in the Middle East. ... However, more than 2 million Caterpillar machines and engines are at work in virtually every country and region of the world each day. We have neither the legal right nor the means to police individual use of that equipment."

While such actions are a long shot, public pressure on companies has worked in the past, said Scott Reynolds, a University of Washington professor of business ethics.

The McDonald's restaurant chain stopped using Styrofoam cups in the early 1990s because of public concern for the environment; and sports apparel company Nike began participating in global factory-monitoring programs after intense public scrutiny of its labor practices.

Reynolds said getting Caterpillar's corporate board to weigh in on the matter will come down to whether the coalition is raising enough eyebrows in the media, touching enough nerves with the employees, or having a powerful board member such as Harnish to back its cause at the board meeting.

Harnish's president and CEO, John Harnish, "really has a great opportunity to have a positive impact on this issue, much more than I do as an individual," Gause said. "So we hope that he will respond to this issue appropriately."

P-I reporter Jake Ellison can be reached at 206-448-8346 or jakeellison@seattlepi.com

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