Rachel Corrie – This is not over

Rachel Corrie, for those of you who are not familiar with her, was a young American college student who went to Gaza to help the people of Rafah whose homes were being demolished.  Sadly, she never came home.  Rachel became the first foreign national to be killed while protesting Israeli occupation—but she was not the last.  She was run over by a Caterpillar bulldozer when the driver continued on his course to demolish a family home despite the fact that Rachel, wearing a day-glo orange jacket, was standing in front of it.

After a cursory investigation, Israel closed the case.

The family filed a lawsuit on the advice of Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who, on behalf of the State Department, told the family in 2004 that the United States did not consider the investigation into Rachel’s death to be “thorough, credible and transparent.” http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/rachel-corrie-blaming-the-victim.premium-1.462179

After seven years, the verdict was that Rachel was responsible for her own death.  The driver and the Israeli army were exonerated.  Although this verdict was not unexpected, it still generated cries of outrage throughout the world. 

Former President Jimmy Carter said, “The killing of an American peace activist is unacceptable.  The court’s decision confirms a climate of impunity, which facilitates Israeli human rights violations against Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Territory.” http://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/rachel-corrie-verdict-082912.html

The Guardian said, “The case laid bare the state of the collective Israeli military mind, which cast the definition of enemies so widely that children walking down the street were legitimate targets if they crossed a red line that was invisible to everyone but the soldiers looking at it on their maps.  The military gave itself a blanket of protection by declaring southern Gaza a war zone, even though it was heavily populated by ordinary Palestinians, and set rules of engagement so broad that just about anyone was a target.

With that went virtual impunity for Israeli troops no matter who they killed or in what circumstances.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/28/rachel-corrie-verdict-exposes-israeli-military-mindset?newsfeed=true

Going even farther, the actual testimony included phrases like “there are no civilians in Gaza.”  How can a community of 1.7 million people, almost half of whom are under age 15, not have civilians?  Are newborn babies combatants? 

 

Rachel’s family founded the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice to carry on the work that meant so much to Rachel and for which she made the ultimate sacrifice.  You can learn more about their work at http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/

You can also read more about Rachel in my post earlier this year on the ninth anniversary of her death. http://www.dixianehallaj.blogspot.com/2012/03/rachel-corrie-we-will-always-remember.html

Rachel Corrie, we will always remember

Rachel Corrie was killed 9 years ago today.  On March 16, 2003 she was crushed by a Caterpillar bulldozer on the Gaza Strip as she tried to stop a home demolition by the Israeli Army.  The next day Amnesty International condemned the killing and called for suspension of weapons transfers to Israel, particularly weaponized Caterpillar bulldozers.   http://www.amnestyusa.org/node/75392

Rachel was born in Olympia, Washington, the youngest of three children of Craig Corrie, an insurance executive, and his wife Cindy--just plain middle class Americans. 

By fifth grade Rachel's character and personality were already shining through.  A YouTube video of a speech she gave at that time showed the same selfless, caring philosophy that led her to join the International Solidarity Movement as they attempted to make a difference—to make the world notice and realize what the American media glosses over or ignores entirely.

This photo shows screen shots of the fifth grade speech and a video of an interview done two days before her death.  It was taken from http://www.salem-news.com/articles/march172010/corrie-school-tk.php , the website of Salem News (Salem, Oregon).  Both videos are incredibly powerful and are embedded at the end of this post.

Rachel’s parents have made great efforts to pursue legal avenues to get justice for their daughter’s death.  They started the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice (http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/rachel) to continue her work.  The Corrie family has also made her emails from Gaza public in hopes that her sacrifice will inspire others—and it has. 

The Evergreen State College, which Rachel was attending, now has a Rachel Corrie Memorial Scholarship.  There are at least 3 YouTube videos with songs celebrating her life.  A play “My Name is Rachel Corrie” has been produced in many countries, and is available from Amazon ( http://www.amazon.com/My-Name-Rachel-Corrie/dp/1559362960 ), as is the book Let Me Stand Alone: The Journals of Rachel Corrie (http://www.amazon.com/Let-Me-Stand-Alone-Journals/dp/0393065715).

No, Rachel, you are not forgotten.