The giant Caterpillar bulldozer, used by the Israeli military to destroy Palestinian homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, now comes with a controversial new feature: remote control. Israel says its remote-control technology will lower risks to soldiers. But Palestinians fear it will lead to more frequent raids using the machines and make the three-year conflict even bloodier.
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The remote-controlled D-9 bulldozer and a remote-control version of the Humvee, equipped with machine guns, were developed by the Israeli army and the Technion Institute of Technology. Both machines are U.S.-made, with Israeli modifications. They are expected to go into service in the next few weeks. The army refused to comment or reveal further details about the new equipment.
Describing a day of field trials, a Technion statement quoted an Israeli army officer as asserting the thousands of dollars invested in each machine would save lives. "Today the bulldozer drivers are exposed to great danger when they knock down buildings that have militants hiding in them," the statement quoted the officer as saying. But Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat warned the unmanned machines would lead to even more Palestinian deaths. "The whole idea is despicable," he said. "If an unmanned bulldozer is used, human life is in much greater danger," Erekat said.
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The Israeli military regularly demolishes suicide bombers’ homes and other buildings militants are suspected of using for cover to attack Israelis. For Palestinians, the name D-9 has become synonymous with destruction.
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The gray, heavily armored machines, which stand as tall as a small house, already have turned hundreds of buildings into dusty rubble heaps and ancient olive groves into wastelands with their powerful shovel blades. Israeli commentator Nahum Barnea has called them "the terrifying beast of this war."
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Ramadan Nawaf, 52, watched his house and groves of olives and oranges flattened by a D-9 four months ago, during a large-scale army raid of the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. "It was moving like a monster," said Nawaf. "It was very big and destroyed everything in front of it." But developers say the new machine will save lives on both sides, pointing to the case of American peace activist Rachel Corrie, 23, of Olympia, Wash., who was crushed to death by a bulldozer — not a D-9 — on March 16 while trying to block a house demolition in the Gaza Strip.
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The army said the driver, sitting in the heavily armored cabin, could not see Corrie. The new D-9 has a wider and better field of vision, with cameras mounted much higher than the driver’s cabin, said Technion project developer Shai Hershler.
From Meryl:
Remote-controlled bulldozers to be used by IDF
ISM will be using remote-controlled protesters in response. |
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