In memory of "Rachel Corrie"

[SOHEIL]

Rachel Corrie

Rachel Aliene Corrie (April 10, 1979 – March 16, 2003) was an American peace activist and member of International Solidarity Movement (ISM) from Olympia, Washington, who was crushed to death by an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) armored bulldozer in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

Corrie in the aftermath of the incident​

She had come to Gaza during the height of the second Palestinian intifada as part of her senior-year college assignment to connect her home town with Rafah in a sister cities project. While there she had engaged with other ISM activists in efforts to non-violently prevent the Israeli army's demolition of the homes of Palestinian people.
Less than two months after her arrival, on March 16, 2003, Corrie was killed after a three-hour confrontation between two bulldozers and eight ISM activists. Wearing a bright orange fluorescent jacket and, until shortly before her death, using a megaphone, she was killed while standing in the path of a bulldozer that she believed was about to demolish the house of local pharmacist Samir Nasralla's family whom she had befriended. She was run over twice by the bulldozer resulting in a fractured skull, shattered ribs and punctured lungs.
The exact nature of her death and the culpability of the bulldozer operator are disputed, with eyewitnesses saying that the Israeli soldier operating the bulldozer deliberately ran over Corrie, and the Israeli government saying that it was an accident since the bulldozer operator could not see her.
In 2005 Corrie's parents filed a civil lawsuit against the state of Israel. The lawsuit charged Israel with not conducting a full and credible investigation into the case and with responsibility for her death, contending that she had either been intentionally killed or that the soldiers had acted with reckless neglect. They sued for a symbolic one U.S. dollar in damages to make the point that their case was about justice for their daughter and the Palestinian cause she had been defending.
In August 2012, an Israeli court rejected their suit and upheld the results of Israel's 2003 military investigation, ruling that the Israeli government was not responsible for Corrie's death. The ruling, the Israeli justice system, and the investigation it exonerated have been criticized.
Rachel Corrie's life has been memorialized in several tributes, including the play My Name Is Rachel Corrie and the cantata The Skies are Weeping. Her collected writings were published in 2008 under the title Let Me Stand Alone, opening "a window on the maturation of a young woman seeking to make the world a better place". The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice has been established to continue her work.

Early life

Corrie was born on April 10, 1979, and raised in Olympia, Washington, United States. She was the youngest of three children of Craig Corrie, an insurance executive, and Cindy Corrie. Cindy describes their family as "average Americans—politically liberal, economically conservative, middle class".
After graduating from Capital High School, Corrie went on to attend The Evergreen State College, also in Olympia, where she took a number of arts courses. She took a year off from her studies to work as a volunteer in the Washington State Conservation Corps. She also spent three years making weekly visits to mental patients.
While at Evergreen State College she became a "committed peace activist" arranging peace events through a local group called 'Olympians for Peace and Solidarity'. She later joined the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) organisation in order to use non-violent methods for challenging the policies of the Israeli army in the West Bank and Gaza. In her senior year, she proposed an independent-study program in which she would travel to Gaza, join protesters from the ISM, and initiate a "sister city" project between Olympia and Rafah. Before leaving, she also organized a pen-pal program between children in Olympia and Rafah.

Corrie with Israeli bulldozers in background​

Activities in the Palestinian territories

See also: House demolition in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and Gaza Strip smuggling tunnels

After flying to Israel on January 22, 2003, and staying overnight in East Jerusalem, Corrie underwent a two-day training course at the ISM's West Bank headquarters before heading to Rafah to participate in ISM demonstrations. During her training, Corrie studied direct action tactics, which included basic rules for avoiding harm. A later article on the Corrie incident summarized these as: "Wear fluorescent jackets. Don't run. Don't frighten the army. Try to communicate by megaphone. Make your presence known." On January 27, 2003, Corrie and William Hewitt (also from Olympia), traveled to the Erez checkpoint and entered the Gaza Strip.


Corrie with Israeli bulldozers in background
While in Rafah, Corrie acted as a human shield in an attempt to impede house demolitions carried out by the IDF using armored bulldozers. Demolitions were a common tactic employed at that time in Rafah, for military purposes according to the IDF, or as collective punishment according to human rights groups. According to B'Tselem, approximately 1,700 homes were demolished resulting in 17,000 people becoming homeless between 2000 and 2004. Corrie was a member of a group of about eight activists from outside of the Palestinian territories who tried to prevent the demolitions by acting as human shields.
On Corrie's first night there, she and two other ISM members set up camp inside Block J, "a densely populated neighborhood along the Pink Line and frequent target of gunfire from an Israeli watchtower". By situating themselves visibly between the Palestinian residents and the Israeli snipers manning the watchtowers they hoped to discourage shooting by displaying banners stating that they were "internationals". However, Israeli soldiers fired bullets over their tent and at the ground a few feet away. Deciding that their presence was provoking the Israeli soldiers rather than deterring them, Corrie and her colleagues dismantled their tent and left the area.
Qishta, a Palestinian who worked as an interpreter, noted: "Late January and February was a very crazy time. There were house demolitions taking place all over the border strip and the activists had no time to do anything else." Qishta also stated of the ISM activists: "They were not only brave; they were crazy." The confrontations were not entirely safe for the activists: a British participant was wounded by shrapnel while entering an olive grove to retrieve the body of a young Palestinian man killed by an Israeli sniper's bullet, and an Irish peace activist named Jenny was nearly run down by a bulldozer.
Palestinian militants expressed concern that the "internationals" staying in tents between the Israeli watchtowers and the residential neighborhoods would get caught in crossfire, while other residents were concerned that the young activists might be spies. Corrie worked hard to overcome this suspicion, learning a few words of Arabic, and participating in a mock trial denouncing the "crimes of the Bush Administration". With time, the ISM members were taken into Palestinian family homes, and provided with meals and beds. Even so, in the days before Corrie's death, a letter gained wide circulation in Rafah, casting suspicion again on the ISM members. "Who are they? Why are they here? Who asked them to come here?" it asked. The letter made the activists feel preoccupied and frustrated, and on the morning of Corrie's death they planned ways to counteract its effects. According to one of them, "We all had a feeling that our role was too passive. We talked about how to engage the Israeli military."
On March 14, 2003, during an interview with the Middle East Broadcasting network, Corrie said:

I feel like I'm witnessing the systematic destruction of a people's ability to survive.... Sometimes I sit down to dinner with people and I realize there is a massive military machine surrounding us, trying to kill the people I'm having dinner with.​

​

>>> Rachel Corrie

Bulldozer similar to the one involved

A Palestinian memorial

Craig and Cindy Corrie at an End the Occupation rally, 2007

Vigil in Olympia, WA

MV Rachel Corrie​

 

[KingMamba]

May she rest in peace, another victim of the zionazi regime.

 

[khanboy007]

may she rest in peace

 

[mohsen]

trailer of new Iranian animation : Message of Rachel Corrie.
it's short animation regarding the martyr of Rachel and the fate of Zionists in Armageddon.

 

[Juice]

I've got a fun game.....compare the number of American women killed by Jews and muslims.

 

[Solomon2]

May she rest in peace, another victim of the zionazi regime.

She was no innocent victim and Zionists aren't Nazis.

Court rejects Corrie family civil suit
Judge Oded Gershon rules that pro-Palestinian activist run over by IDF bulldozer in 2003 'consciously put herself in harm's way'
Reuters, Ahiya Raved
Published: 08.28.12, 10:05 / Israel News

The Haifa District Court rejected on Tuesday accusations that Israel was at fault over the death of American activist Rachel Corrie, who was crushed by an army bulldozer during a 2003 pro-Palestinian demonstration in Gaza.

Corrie's family had accused Israel of intentionally and unlawfully killing their 23-year-old daughter, launching a civil case in Haifa after a military investigation had cleared the army of wrong-doing.

In a ruling read out to the court, Judge Oded Gershon called Corrie's death a "regrettable accident", but said the state was not responsible because the incident had occurred during what he termed a war-time situation.

At the time of her death, during a Palestinian uprising, Corrie was protesting against Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

"I reject the suit," the judge said. "There is no justification to demand the state pay any damages."
He added that the soldiers had done their utmost to keep people away from the site. "She (Corrie) did not distance herself from the area, as any thinking person would have done."

He rejected a claim of negligence explaining that the bulldozer's driver had limited vision unlike Corrie. "She consciously put herself

in harm's way," Gershon said. The accident had been self inflicted, he added.

In a 162-verdict, the Judge Gershon pointed to three entry bans and noted that the Philadelphi route had effectively been a war zone formally declared a closed military zone at the time of the accident. He mentioned that the US had issued an Israel travel advisory warning its citizens to avoid Gaza and the West Bank.

The judge added that the organization where Corrie worked "abuses the human rights discourse to blur its actions which are de facto violence. He claimed that it specialized in disrupting IDF activity. "This included an army of activists serving as 'human shields' for terrorists wanted by Israeli security forces, financial and logistical aid to Palestinians including terrorists and their families, and disruption of the sealing of suicide bombers' houses."

Judge Gershon also rejected the Corrie family's claims that Military Police had not done its best to investigate the incident.

Symbol of uprising
Corrie's death made her a symbol of the uprising, and while her family battled through the courts to establish who was responsible for her killing, her story was dramatised on stage in a dozen countries and told in the book "Let Me Stand Alone."

"I am hurt," Corrie's mother, Cindy, told reporters after the verdict was read.

Attorney Hussein Abu Hussein, who represents the Corries, said that the family belives the verdict contradicts international law. "The court has given a stamp of approval to harm innocent lives," he said.

Attorney Irit Kalman, of the Tel Aviv Prosecutor's Office, said that evidence showed there was no intent to harm or any negligence.

Corrie came from Olympia, Washington and was a volunteer with the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement.

Senior US officials criticized the original military investigation into the case, saying it had been neither thorough nor credible. But the judge said the inquiry had been appropriate and pinned no blame on the army.

Solomon2 note: Investigation has also revealed that Corrie received college credit for her anti-Israel activities which explains why so many of her professors and colleagues who weren't there were quick to blame Israel: it was their judgement that encouraged her to go in harm's way so they share morally culpability for putting her in deadly danger and were trying to hide that fact.

 

[KingMamba]

She was no innocent victim and Zionists aren't Nazis.

Court rejects Corrie family civil suit
Judge Oded Gershon rules that pro-Palestinian activist run over by IDF bulldozer in 2003 'consciously put herself in harm's way'
Reuters, Ahiya Raved
Published: 08.28.12, 10:05 / Israel News

The Haifa District Court rejected on Tuesday accusations that Israel was at fault over the death of American activist Rachel Corrie, who was crushed by an army bulldozer during a 2003 pro-Palestinian demonstration in Gaza.

Corrie's family had accused Israel of intentionally and unlawfully killing their 23-year-old daughter, launching a civil case in Haifa after a military investigation had cleared the army of wrong-doing.

In a ruling read out to the court, Judge Oded Gershon called Corrie's death a "regrettable accident", but said the state was not responsible because the incident had occurred during what he termed a war-time situation.

At the time of her death, during a Palestinian uprising, Corrie was protesting against Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

"I reject the suit," the judge said. "There is no justification to demand the state pay any damages."
He added that the soldiers had done their utmost to keep people away from the site. "She (Corrie) did not distance herself from the area, as any thinking person would have done."

He rejected a claim of negligence explaining that the bulldozer's driver had limited vision unlike Corrie. "She consciously put herself

in harm's way," Gershon said. The accident had been self inflicted, he added.

In a 162-verdict, the Judge Gershon pointed to three entry bans and noted that the Philadelphi route had effectively been a war zone formally declared a closed military zone at the time of the accident. He mentioned that the US had issued an Israel travel advisory warning its citizens to avoid Gaza and the West Bank.

The judge added that the organization where Corrie worked "abuses the human rights discourse to blur its actions which are de facto violence. He claimed that it specialized in disrupting IDF activity. "This included an army of activists serving as 'human shields' for terrorists wanted by Israeli security forces, financial and logistical aid to Palestinians including terrorists and their families, and disruption of the sealing of suicide bombers' houses."

Judge Gershon also rejected the Corrie family's claims that Military Police had not done its best to investigate the incident.

Symbol of uprising
Corrie's death made her a symbol of the uprising, and while her family battled through the courts to establish who was responsible for her killing, her story was dramatised on stage in a dozen countries and told in the book "Let Me Stand Alone."

"I am hurt," Corrie's mother, Cindy, told reporters after the verdict was read.

Attorney Hussein Abu Hussein, who represents the Corries, said that the family belives the verdict contradicts international law. "The court has given a stamp of approval to harm innocent lives," he said.

Attorney Irit Kalman, of the Tel Aviv Prosecutor's Office, said that evidence showed there was no intent to harm or any negligence.

Corrie came from Olympia, Washington and was a volunteer with the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement.

Senior US officials criticized the original military investigation into the case, saying it had been neither thorough nor credible. But the judge said the inquiry had been appropriate and pinned no blame on the army.

Solomon2 note: Investigation has also revealed that Corrie received college credit for her anti-Israel activities which explains why so many of her professors and colleagues who weren't there were quick to blame Israel: it was their judgement that encouraged her to go in harm's way so they share morally culpable for putting her in deadly danger and were trying to hide that fact.

Zionazi court rejects appeal of family who lost a loved one to zionazi terror, sounds legit.

 

[mohsen]

desperate Zionists.

 

[ovarel]

I've got a fun game.....compare the number of American women killed by Jews and muslims.

why should jews kill americans? you are doing whatever they want. try to do to jews half of what you have done in the muslim world.(invasions, civilian casualties etc).

they took a good care of uss liberty though.

 

[Juice]

why should jews kill americans? you are doing whatever they want. try to do to jews half of what you have done in the muslim world.(invasions, civilian casualties etc).

they took a good care of uss liberty though.

Really? Where did it sink?

 

[ovarel]

Really? Where did it sink?

In my tub..

 

[Solomon2]

The Rachel Corrie myth
Op-ed: Killed ‘peace activist’ one of the most powerful tools in anti-Israel propaganda campaign
Giulio Meotti
Published: 03.08.12, 11:25 / Israel Opinion

March 16 is the anniversary of Rachel Corrie’s death. She is the American college student killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza while attempting to block a house demolition. Israeli authorities claim that the driver was unable to see Corrie, given the restricted vision from his perch, and that she acted recklessly by inserting herself into the path of the bulldozer. But as always happens in the Middle East, lies trumped truth.

The Corrie myth has been one of the most powerful tools in the anti-Israel propaganda campaign. She inspired literary works, boycotts and political memorials all around the world. Her story constituted bad press for Israel that was even worse than the fabricated martyrdom of Mohammed al-Dura.

A few days ago, a lawsuit seeking to overturn Olympia food co-op’s boycott of Israeli goods was dismissed in Washington’s Superior Court. Olympia is the hometown of Rachel Corrie. After her death, Caterpillar has been targeted by a series of initiatives and even the Church of England divested from the company. Fatah mourned Corrie as “the martyr of freedom and peace,” Hamas adopted her face as a mascot and Iran named a street after her.

The mythology presented Corrie as “a peaceful protester,” “a young woman who had dedicated her life to the non-violent defense of others” and as “a new Joan of Arc.” One Gazaflotilla ship was named after her. She was not just an unarmed, idealistic Western girl.

However, Corrie was in the Gaza Strip to serve as a human shield for the Arab terrorist campaign. Her death constituted a devastating blow to Israel’s policy against the terrorists. In Gaza, Israel destroyed homes hiding tunnels used as conduits for weapons, or the homes of Palestinian suicide bombers responsible for slaughtering innumerable civilians. After Corrie's death, this policy became more difficult to pursue and rarer.

A martyr and hero
Meanwhile, Corrie became a martyr and hero. Her hagiography has been exploited by anti-Semites all over the world. For zealots of chaos, Corrie’s death helped to denigrate the State of Israel and its people for their simple desire to stay alive. At Evergreen State University, her professors wore khakis and kaffiyehs at graduation ceremonies.

For Western media, NGOs, legal forums, the United Nations, some churches and ordinary public opinion it was very easy to mythicize the American girl and forget the Israeli Rachels: Rachel Teller, blown up in a shopping mall; Rachel Levy, blown up in a grocery store; Rachel Levi, shot while waiting for the bus; Rachel Gavish, killed with her husband, son and father while celebrating a Passover meal; Rachel Shabo, murdered with her three sons aged 5, 13 and 16 while at home.

Let’s hope that one day these Western peaceniks will ride on Israeli buses to experience the homicidal fear of terrorist attacks, or demonstrate on the streets of Haifa and Sderot, destroyed by rockets. Yet until that day comes, we can say that the human rights industry is rooted in the equality of humankind, with the exception of the Jews.

Giulio Meotti, a journalist with Il Foglio, is the author of the book "A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel's Victims of Terrorism"

 

[Yzd Khalifa]

RiP Rachel

 

[Solomon2]

It seems that it's always moments like this, when Arab-vs.-Arab or Muslim-vs.-Muslim violence flares up somewhere in the world, that the Jews/Zionists-are-evil myths get resurrected. The purpose, of course, is to redirect the angry and discontented away from their rulers towards some "external" foe that is "safe" either because they are weak or won't, due to their own principles, commit violence or cut trade in response to such accusations.

 

[Yzd Khalifa]

I've got a fun game.....compare the number of American women killed by Jews and muslims.

I hardly think it will be necessary, Al-Qaida did kill American Muslims as well, does that mean all American Muslims' blood is "Halal"?