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Having witnessed firsthand the devastating impact of Caterpillar's bulldozers on property and life, including a visit to the site where Rachel Corrie was bulldozed to death in Rafah, Gaza, in March 2003, I want to applaud the Presbyterian Church for its attempts to divest from companies that further the occupation of Palestinian lands.
I've traveled twice to the region in the past 10 years and find it nearly impossible to express how truly disastrous the Israeli government's policies are toward the Christian and Muslim populations of Palestine. Marked by a 30-foot-high wall that is hundreds of miles long separating village from village, farmer from agricultural land, neighbor from neighbor, and brother from sister, the apartheid conditions are choking and destroying an entire culture of people. Bulldozed towns and homes, watchtowers and checkpoints, perpetual refugee status in their own land is everyday life. How long? Forever?
My one desire is that Americans awaken to the policies that we too often support, without question. Divesting from U.S. companies that do business with Israel is one clear message that we will no longer tolerate these clear violations of human rights -- at least, not in our name.
KATE DAHER
Wilkinsburg
First Published July 4, 2012 12:00 am
