Rachel Corrie

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Rachel Corrie

Rachel Corrie (April 10, 1979 - March 16, 2003) was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) who was run over and killed by an Israeli soldier operated bulldozer while she was protesting Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes in Rafah in the Gaza Strip.

Her death sparked controversy because she was a peaceful protester and a U.S. citizen, and because of the highly politicized nature of the Arab-Israeli conflict; various advocates scrambled to blame it on the IDF, the ISM, the Palestinians, and on Corrie herself.

Background

Raised in Olympia, Washington, U.S.A., Rachel was the daughter of Craig Corrie, an insurance executive, and Cindy Corrie, a school volunteer and flutist. After graduating from Capitol High School, she went on to Evergreen State College, where she studied the arts and international relations. During college years, Corrie joined the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace and participated in various peace and environmental activities. In her senior year she took a leave of absence to participate in ISM organized peaceful demonstrations against the Israeli occupation of Palestine and to initiate a sister city project between her hometown Olympia and the Palestinian city of Rafah.

Activities in Gaza

On January 18, 2003, Corrie travelled to the Gaza Strip, where she attended two days of training in non-violent resistance techniques and philosophy before joining other ISM activists in direct action for peace and against the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Through February and March she participated in a variety of actions including:

• Protesting and disrupting Israeli army demolitions of Palestinian homes by acting as a human shield.

• Protecting Palestinian civilians by placing herself between the Palestinians and the Israeli troops.

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Corrie protecting a Palestinian well

• Protecting Palestinian wells from destruction by the Israeli army, by surrounding the wells as human shields. (see photo, left)

• Denouncing the Bush administration for alleged complicity in crimes against Palestinians.

• Demonstrating against the 2003 invasion of Iraq (as part of the Global pre-war protests), where she burned a paper-drawn US flag (but refused to burn an Israeli flag, stating that as a US citizen she could only bear responsibility for opposing US actions; see photo below.)

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Corrie burning a paper-drawn US flag during a war protest

Corrie stated that she also served as a "human rights observer" of the actions of Israeli troops in the area. She documented the destruction of 25 greenhouses and the digging up of the road to Gaza City by the Israeli army. She also documented that Israeli soldiers fired shots at Rafah Municipal Water Authority workers attempting to rebuild the Canada Well and El Iskan Well, which were bulldozed by the Israeli military on January 30. During her stay, she communicated by e-mail with "Danny," a reserve first sergeant in the Israeli army, who asked her to "document as much as you can and do not embellish anything with creative writing." She also wrote about the smuggling tunnels in Gaza in her report: "Events Surrounding the Deaths of 2 Men in Tunnels beneath the Block O area" (see item 4.)

Corrie met and spoke with local Palestinians and spent several days and nights with Palestinian families in Rafah. In e-mails to her mother, she mentioned watching the cartoon Gummi Bears dubbed in Arabic and helping a Palestinian boy with his English homework. She was also involved in a children's pen pal program between the Gaza Strip and the U.S.

Corrie's death

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Corrie hours before her death.

The Israeli military frequently used armored bulldozers to destroy buildings and farmland in Rafah, along the road near the border with Egypt, claiming that the demolitions were intended to uncover explosive devices and destroy smuggling tunnels. The Israeli military has killed several Palestinian civilians during these demolitions [1]. Many consider these Israeli actions to be a form of collective punishment in violaton of international law.

On March 16, 2003, Corrie was in a group of seven ISM activists (three British and four Americans) attempting to disrupt demolition operations.

Two armored bulldozers, supported by an armored combat engineering vehicle (CEV) and Israeli troops, were either ripping up shrubbery (according to Israeli officials) or demolishing homes (according to the peace activists). Corrie was standing in front of a house where she had stayed previously, owned by Dr. Samir Nasrallah, a Palestinian pharmacist, to prevent its expected demolition. Most other structures in the area had already been demolished by the Israeli army; Nasrallah's family home now stood alone in a sea of sand and debris [2].

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Corrie earlier that day

For about two hours, the group of peace activists had been attempting to disrupt the bulldozers by standing in from of them and shouting at the bulldozer operators through a megaphone to stop their acivities. Israeli soldiers used tear gas and fired warning shots to disperse the protesters, who later regrouped.

According to eyewitness acounts, Corrie followed the standard technique of sitting, kneeling or standing on top of the pile of debris in front of the bulldozer. Several times that day, the bulldozers stopped directly at her feet.

Corrie was wearing a high-visibility red reflective jacket. She had been using a megaphone earlier in the day (see photo, left), but not at the time she was killed.

Just before being killed, Corrie knelt on top of a pile of debris, looking at the driver's cabin (with 2 drivers inside.) The bulldozer drove toward her slowly, gathering earth in its scoop. Corrie did not move. As the bulldozer approached her she began to stand up, climbing onto the mound of earth. The bulldozer continued towards her and pushed the pile with Corrie on top, causing her to lose balance and slip down the pile.

Other ISM activists started shouting at the bulldozer drivers to stop, pointing towards Corrie. But the bulldozer continued, pushing Corrie under the plow blade and moving forward until her body was beneath the driver cabin. The bulldozer then stopped, waited for a few seconds, and then reversed direction. The blade was still pressed down and it scraped over Corrie's body a second time (it may have also dragged her along the ground.)

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Corrie immediately after being crushed

Corrie suffered massive injuries from the bulldozer blade. According to the autopsy report, her skull was fractured, ribs shattered and lungs punctured.

The bulldozers and the combat vehicle then withdrew and Corrie was rushed by a Red Crescent ambulance to the local Al-Najar hospital where she died of suffocation due to her injuries (one witness stated that she died while in the ambulance).

Cause of death

An initial autopsy was performed at the Israeli National Center of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv. The Olympian reported that the autopsy report of March 20 concluded that Corrie's "death was caused by pressure on the chest from a mechanical apparatus".

Israel at first denied that she was run over, then claimed that her injuries were caused by falling debris and, finally, that she was injured by a slab of concrete in the debris. The Jerusalem Post article on June 26, 2003 stated that "An autopsy found that the cause of Corrie’s death was falling debris".

Responsibility for Corrie's death

Several eyewitnesses charged that the bulldozer operator crushed Corrie deliberately and called her killing "a war crime." Israel claims that the killing was an accident.

The bulldozers had been in the area for two hours, and were certainly aware of the protesters and their activities. They had seen Corrie and stopped in front of her several times that day. Witness statements by fellow ISM activists indicate that Corrie would have been clearly visible to the drivers while she was standing on top of the pile of rubble in front of the driver. She was wearing a bright red reflective jacket at the time.

However, according to some who claim to have read unpublished reports of the Israeli military and judiciary, the drivers claimed that they never saw or heard Corrie.

Whether other Israeli soldiers from the armored support group saw Corrie and, if so, why they didn't react is unclear because their statements have not been published. Because Caterpillar D9 bulldozers have a restricted field of vision with several blind spots, the Israeli army regulations require other soldiers at the scene to assist in directing the bulldozer driver.

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Armoured bulldozers have limited visibility.

The Israel army commander of Gaza Strip claimed in an interview to the Israeli TV that soldiers had to stay in their armored vehicles and could not direct the bulldozer or arrest the protesters because of a potential threat of Palestinian snipers. He also speculated that Israeli soldiers may have been handling other ISM activists instead of watching over the bulldozer. However, critics point out that soldiers had intervened that day to disperse the activists, and the four ISM activists in the vicinity were not "handled" by soldiers at that time.

The Israeli government had promised a "thorough, credible, and transparent investigation." Later, however, Israel declared the killing a "regrettable accident" and blamed it on Corrie and ISM activists, but refused to release investigation reports or any other information, even to the U.S.. Israel allowed only two American embassy staffers to read selected parts. [3] Commenting on the report, US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission in Tel Aviv Richard LeBaron said that "there are several inconsistencies worthy of note." [4]

The ISM rejected the Israeli report stating it was contrary to eyewitness reports. Tom Wallace, an ISM spokesman, said that the Israel’s investigation had been far from credible and transparent. [5]

On March 25, 2003, U.S. Representative Brian Baird introduced a bill, "H.R. 111", in the U.S. Congress calling on the U.S. government to "undertake a full, fair, and expeditious investigation into the death of Rachel Corrie." [6] The bill, however, has languished there and has little chance of passage. [7]

The Corrie family continues to call for a U.S. investigation into Rachel's death. [8]

Reactions to Corrie's death

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Palestinian memorial

Capt. Jacob Dallal, a spokesman for the Israeli army, called the incident a "regrettable accident," but said Corrie and the other ISM activists were "a group of protesters who were acting very irresponsibly, putting everyone in danger - the Palestinians, themselves and our forces - by intentionally placing themselves in a combat zone."

On March 17, Amnesty International USA condemned the death and called for an independent inquiry. Christine Bustany, their Advocacy Director for the Middle East, said that "US-made bulldozers have been 'weaponized' and their transfer to Israel must be suspended". Her death has been condemned as the murder of a US civilian by many of Corrie's supporters who have contrasted US government silence over Corrie's death to condemnation of the killing of three US diplomats, allegedly by The Popular Resistance Committees, a Palestinian militant faction, in 2003. Her picture continues to be used in protests against Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank.

On March 18, there was a memorial service at the place where Corrie died, attended by between 40 and 100 people, including Samir Masri. The service was interrupted by an Israeli APC which fired tear gas and concussion grenades. A Palestinian couple (Salah and Rania Noureddine) named their newborn child Rachel Corrie saying that their daughter would be "a symbol for them and all honest people in the Arab world."

Peace vigil in Olympia

On April 25, 15 people, including British citizens Asif Hanif and Omar Khan Sharif, met at an ISM apartment in Rafah, Gaza and then proceeded to the site of Corrie's death, where they placed a flower. Five days later Hanif and Sharif carried out a suicide bombing of the Mike's Place restaurant in Tel Aviv, killing three civilians. The Israeli government then imposed new restrictions on ISM activities based upon the presence of the two bombers at the Corrie memorial.

In Rafah and elsewhere in the Palestinian territories, portrait posters of Corrie were plastered to walls, with accompanying slogans such as "Rachel did not die. She lives in our hearts." She is one of the few non-Arabs to be treated in this way. On 15 July 2003, the Chicago Tribune reported that "to the people of Rafah, Rachel Corrie will always remain a very special martyr, their American martyr".

An official investigation of the event by IDF in mid April found that Corrie and other ISM members had engaged in "illegal, irresponsible and dangerous" behavior, and that Israeli forces were not at fault. The IDF said that it intends to implement changes to avoid future accidents, including arresting activists or forcing them to disperse, and installing video cameras on bulldozers to cover blindspots. This report has not been made public. Corrie's parents were permitted to read it, but not to receive a copy. The description of the conclusions of the report in this article are therefore based on secondary sources.

External links and references

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In Gaza

Israeli reports

Here are some reports with quotes from the various Israeli reports into Corrie's death (the reports themselves have not been made public):

• Israeli report clears troops over US death - from UK's The Guardian
• Accounts of Corrie's death still conflict - from The Olympian, June 14, 2003

Commentary and link lists

• Rachel Corrie Memorial Website - list of links to opinions, articles, etc - one of a few such sites.
• Rachel Corrie and ISM Links - from landofisrael.info
• Statements and Eyewitness Reports - list of links from an "In memoriam" site.
• No Cameras weblog - An Olympia resident writes about her death: [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14]