UN moves to stop Caterpillar wrecking West Bank orchards

A UN-appointed expert said yesterday that he has warned Caterpillar Inc. that Israel’s use of bulldozers to destroy West Bank orchards could make the company an accomplice in what he called the violation of basic human rights of the Palestinians.

Jean Ziegler, the United Nations’ special expert on the right to food, said he sent a letter to Caterpillar chief executive James Owen expressing concern “about the actions of the Israeli occupation forces in Rafah and in other locations in Gaza and the West Bank.”

Ziegler said his letter was the first under a new resolution passed this year by the UN Human Rights Commission extending responsibility for protecting rights beyond mere governments.

The Israelis are “using armoured bulldozers supplied by your company to destroy farms, greenhouses, ancient olive groves and fields planted with crops,” the May 28 letter said.

No comment was immediately available from Caterpillar headquarters in Peoria, Illinois.