Rachel Corrie 1979 - 2003, RIP

Justice for the Murder of Rachel Corrie

27 March 2010

Gaza - Seven years ago, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) caterpillar crushed Rachel Corrie, an International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activist, to death in Rafah, in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip. She was wearing a fluorescent vest, screaming through a microphone at the armored vehicle as it bore down upon her as she tried to use her body to defend a Palestinian pharmacist's home. She was on a pile of dirt, and as the bulldozer rumbled forward, she tried to descend from it. She slipped and fell under the vehicle, which ran her over. It seems impossible that the driver did not see her, and eyewitnesses say that he looked directly at Corrie shortly before killing her.

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Last week, I went to a small commemoration at the place where the Israeli Army killed Corrie. There was no trace of the house, just an earthen hillock. The Army had successfully leveled the home later that year. The area where Corrie died is now studded with tents covering the entrances to the tunnels that supply the Gazans with the food, fuel, and consumer goods they rely upon to survive. The World Bank estimates that 80 percent of Gaza's imports come through the tunnels

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The seventh anniversary of Corrie's death, ever poignant for the Corrie family, comes at a time when they may finally be seeing a bit of justice for her murder. Five years ago, they began legal proceedings to try to hold the IDF responsible for killing Corrie. Their civil suit against the Israeli Army is now being tried in an Israeli courtroom. They want at least $300,000 in damages.
The IDF long ago ruled her death an accident, and is trying to have the suit dismissed. -->-->-->