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Rachel Corrie

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File:Rachelcorrie07.jpg
Rachel Corrie

Rachel Corrie (April 10, 1979–March 16, 2003) was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) who traveled as an activist to the Gaza Strip during the Al-Aqsa Intifada. She was killed when she tried to obstruct an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Caterpillar D9 bulldozer operating in a residential area of Rafah that the IDF had designated a security zone.

The circumstances of her death are disputed. ISM eyewitnesses say that the driver of the bulldozer deliberately ran over her twice while she was trying to prevent what they say might have been a demolition. The IDF say the bulldozer driver did not see her; that the bulldozer was not engaged in a demolition; that Corrie was interfering with security operations designed to uncover tunnels used by Hamas and other groups for smuggling weapons from Egypt; and that the cause of death was falling debris pushed over by the bulldozer.

Early life

File:RachelFarRight.jpeg
At a Palestinian well

Raised in Olympia, Washington, Corrie was the daughter of Craig Corrie, an insurance executive, and Cindy Corrie, an amateur flautist. She graduated from Capital High School, then attended Evergreen State College.

She first joined the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, then in her senior year joined the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), following which she left Evergreen to initiate a sister city project between Olympia and Rafah, and to participate in ISM-organized demonstrations in Rafah.

Activities in Gaza

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Rachel Corrie burning a hand drawn American flag in protest of U.S. foreign policy

On January 18, 2003, Corrie traveled to the Gaza Strip, where she attended two days of training in non-violent resistance before joining other ISM activists in direct action protests. Through February and March, according to ISM activists and e-mails Corrie sent to her family, she took part in a mock trial of George W. Bush; a demonstration as part of the February 15, 2003 anti-war protest against the war in Iraq, where she burned a paper U.S. flag, after refusing to burn a paper Israeli flag; and helped to occupy the area around local wells, an operation designed to protect the wells and Palestinian workers from the IDF, according to the ISM.

In e-mails to her family, Corrie described what she witnessed and expressed her frustration over it. On March 14, 2003 in an interview with the Middle East Broadcasting network, she 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."

Corrie's death

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ISM photo of Corrie hours before her death, protesting in front of an IDF Caterpillar D9 bulldozer. Photo by Joseph Smith (ISM Handout photo)

The Israeli military frequently used armored bulldozers to demolish buildings and farmland in Rafah, inside what Israel called a "security zone" ("no man's land") near the border with Egypt. The IDF said that the demolitions were intended to uncover explosive devices, and destroy smuggling tunnels and firing positions. Palestinians were sometimes killed in demolition operations, which critics regarded as a form of collective punishment, while proponents saw them as a legitimate and essential measure of self-defense. Some Israeli soldiers were killed while conducting these operations.

On March 16, 2003, Corrie was in a group of seven ISM activists (three British and four Americans) attempting to disrupt the actions of the bulldozers. The IDF later said it was not intending to demolish houses but was clearing debris and shrubbery to expose explosive devices.

One eyewitness account

The following account is from Joseph Smith, an ISM activist from Kansas City, Missouri.

" noticed that two Israeli Army bulldozers and one tank entered onto Palestinian civilian property near the border and demolishing farmland and other already damaged structures. The military machine was severely threatening near-by homes, so the 3 activists went up onto the roof of one home, and then called for others to come.
", I arrived, and one of the three activists in the house joined me on the ground ... e began to disrupt the work of the bulldozers ... At this point, Rachel and the two other activists joined us ... Rachel and a British activist were wearing jackets that were fluorescent orange and had reflective stripping ... , Rachel and two other activists began interfering with the other bulldozer, which was attempting to destroy grass and other plants on what used to be farmland. They stood and sat in its path, and though it would drive very close to them, and even move the earth on which they were sitting, it always stopped in time to avoid injuring them ... , one bulldozer pushed Will, an American activist, up against a pile of barbed wire. Fortunately, the bulldozer stopped and withdrew just in time to avoid injuring him seriously, but we had to dig him out of the rubble, and unhook his clothing from the wire. The tank approached to see if he was ok. One soldier stuck his head out of the tank to see, and he looked quite shocked and dumbfounded, but said nothing ...
File:Corrie-after-crushing.jpg
Corrie immediately after being hurt
", ne bulldozer, serial number 949623, began to work near the house of a physician who is a friend of ours ... Rachel sat down in the pathway of the bulldozer ... continued driving forward headed straight for Rachel. When it got so close that it was moving the earth beneath her, she climbed onto the pile of rubble being pushed by the bulldozer. She got so high onto it that she was at eye-level with the cab of the bulldozer ... Despite this, he continued forward, which pulled her legs into the pile of rubble, and pulled her down out of view of the driver ... We ran towards him, and waved our arms and shouted, one activist with the megaphone. But continued forward, until Rachel was underneath the central section of the bulldozer ... Despite the obviousness of her position, the bulldozer began to reverse, without lifting its blade, and drug the blade over her body again. He continued to reverse until he was on the boarder strip, about 100 meters away, and left her crushed body in the sand. Three activists ran to her and began administering first-responder medical treatment ... She said, "My back is broken!" but nothing else ..."

Alleged contradictions

The IDF produced a video about Corrie's death that includes footage taken from inside the cockpit of a D9. It makes a "credible case," writes Hammer, that "the operators, peering out through narrow, double-glazed, bulletproof windows, their view obscured behind pistons and the giant scooper, might not have seen Corrie kneeling in front of them."

The ISM placed photographs on a website it claimed showed the events leading up to Corrie's death. AP, Reuters, and many Internet discussion pages reported that the photographs showed two (perhaps three) different bulldozers and inconsistent pictures of the sun's movement across the skies. The ISM then changed the site to show a more consistent group of photographs.

Responsibility for Corrie's death

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An armored D9 Bulldozer used by the IDF.

Because the Caterpillar D9 bulldozers have a restricted field of vision with several blind spots, Israeli army regulations normally require that other soldiers assist in directing bulldozer drivers, but the Israeli army commander of the Gaza Strip said in an interview broadcast on Israeli television that, on the day of Corrie's death, soldiers had to stay in their armored vehicles and were not able to direct the bulldozer, or arrest the protesters, because of a potential threat from Palestinian snipers. He also said that Israeli soldiers may have been handling other ISM activists instead of watching over the bulldozer. The ISM activists in the vicinity say they were not being "handled" by soldiers at the time of the incident.

On March 25, 2003, U.S. Representative Brian Baird introduced Resolution 111 in the U.S. Congress calling on the U.S. government to "undertake a full, fair, and expeditious investigation" into Corrie's death. (pdf) The Corrie family continues to call for a U.S. investigation.

Israeli government report

The Israeli government promised a thorough, credible, and transparent investigation. An initial autopsy was performed at the National Center of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv. The Jerusalem Post, quoting an Israeli military spokesman, reported on June 26, 2003 that Corrie had not been run over, and that the driver had not seen her:

"The driver at no point saw or heard Corrie. She was standing behind debris which obstructed the view of the driver and the driver had a very limited field of vision due to the protective cage he was working in.
"The driver and his commanders were interrogated extensively over a long period of time with the use of polygraph tests and video evidence. They had no knowledge that she was standing in the path of the tractor. An autopsy of Corrie's body revealed that the cause of death was from falling debris and not from the tractor physically rolling over her. It was a tragic accident that never should have happened.
"The International Solidarity Movement, to which Corrie belonged, was directly responsible for illegal behavior and conduct in the area of Corrie's death and their actions directly led to this tragedy."

The Israeli army's report, which was seen by the The Guardian, said that Corrie was: "struck as she stood behind a mound of earth that was created by an engineering vehicle operating in the area and she was hidden from the view of the vehicle's operator who continued with his work. Corrie was struck by dirt and a slab of concrete resulting in her death ... The finding of the operational investigations shows that Rachel Corrie was not run over by an engineering vehicle but rather was struck by a hard object, most probably a slab of concrete which was moved or slid down while the mound of earth which she was standing behind was moved," (The Guardian, April 14, 2003).

The Israeli report also states that the army had not, in fact, intended to demolish a house, but was searching for explosives in the border area designated a security zone or "no man's land" by Israel. No houses were demolished on the day of Corrie's death, but one of the houses she believed she was protecting — the home of pharmacist or physician Samid Nasrallah — was damaged six months later when the IDF knocked a hole in one of its walls. The IDF eventually demolished the house in January 2004, according to the charity Rebuilding Alliance, because it stood in the security zone.

A spokesman for the IDF told the Guardian that, while it did not accept responsibility for Corrie's death, it intended to change its operational procedures to avoid similar incidents in the future. The level of command of similar operations would be raised, said the spokesman, and civilians in the area would be dispersed or arrested before operations began. Observers will be deployed and CCTV cameras will be installed on the bulldozers to compensate for blindspots, which may have contributed to Corrie's death.

The IDF gave copies of the report, entitled "The Death of Rachel Corrie," to members of the U.S. Congress in April 2003, and Corrie's family released the document to the media in June 2003, according to the Gannett News Service. However, in March 2004, the family maintained that the entire report had not been released, and that only they and two American staffers at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv had been allowed to view it. The family say they were allowed to look at the report in the Israeli consulate in San Francisco. The ISM rejected the Israeli report stating it was contrary to their members' eyewitness reports, and that the investigation had been far from credible and transparent.

International reaction and memorials

Peace vigil in Olympia

Corrie's death sparked controversy and led to international media coverage, in part because she was an American, and in part because of the highly politicized nature of the conflict itself.

Capt. Jacob Dallal, a spokesman for the Israeli army, called Corrie's death a "regrettable accident" and said that she 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."

The Observer wrote that: "On the night of Corrie's death, nine Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, among them a four-year-old girl and a man aged 90. A total of 220 people have died in Rafah since the beginning of the intifada. Palestinians know the death of one American receives more attention than the killing of hundreds of Muslims." A Hamas activist told the newspaper: " death serves me more than it served her. Going in front of the tanks was heroic. Her death will bring more attention than the other 2,000 martyrs."

ISM activist Joseph Smith, who was present when Corrie died, said "The spirit that she died for is worth a life. This idea of resistance, this spirit of resisting this brutal occupying force, is worth anything. And many, many, many Palestinians give their lives for it all the time. So the life of one international, I feel, is more than worth the spirit of resisting oppression."

Amnesty International USA condemned the death and called for an independent inquiry. Christine Bustany, their advocacy director for the Middle East, said that "U.S.-made bulldozers have been 'weaponized' and their transfer to Israel must be suspended."

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A Palestinian memorial

The ISM held a gathering at Olympia's downtown Percival Landing on the day of her death. Two days later, there was a service at the spot where she died, attended by between 40 and 100 people. The event was interrupted by an Israeli armored vehicle which fired tear gas and concussion grenades.

In March 2003 the University of Maryland, College Park's campus newspaper The Diamondback published a cartoon about Corrie which led to protests in the newspaper's offices and a campus-wide and world-wide reaction.

Corrie's photograph has been used in protests, including in Rafah, against Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank. On July 15, 2003, the Chicago Tribune reported that "to the people of Rafah, Rachel Corrie will always remain a very special martyr, their American martyr."

My Name is Rachel Corrie, a play composed from Corrie's journals and e-mails from Gaza and directed by British actor Alan Rickman, opened in London and ran until April 30, 2005. The play was subsequently revived at the same venue in October 2005. Following its success the play was to be transported to the New York Theatre Workshop. However, on February 27, 2006, it became clear the play was to be postponed indefinitely, which was seen as censorship.

The widespread media coverage of Corrie's death, and the London play in particular, sparked criticism of what British journalist Tom Gross called "the cult of Rachel Corrie." In an article called "The Forgotten Rachels," published in The Spectator on October 22, 2005, Gross tells the stories of six other women called Rachel, Jewish victims of the Arab-Israeli conflict whose deaths, he wrote, received little, if any, coverage outside Israel. The article prompted a National Review editorial arguing that "Corrie’s death was unfortunate, but more unfortunate is a Western media and cultural establishment that lionizes 'martyrs' for illiberal causes while ignoring the victims those causes create."

Historian Howard Zinn said Rachel Corrie is part of a long tradition in the United States "of people who crossed into other parts of the world, without the endorsement or protection of the United States government, to express the common bond with victims of injustice in other countries. I'm thinking of those Americans who went to Spain to join the struggle against Franco's Fascism, of Leo Linder, who lost his life in Nicaragua, trying to help the Sandinista revolutionaries rebuild their war-torn country, of the nuns who went to El Salvador to help the poor in that country, and were murdered by death squads, of the people in Voices in the Wilderness, who challenged official policy and brought food and medicine to the people of Iraq. Our hope for a future world community rests with such people, like Rachel Corrie, whose lives and deaths will always remind us that all people in all countries deserve the same justice." ] ]

Lawsuit

As of March 15, 2005, Corrie's family planned to file a lawsuit against Caterpillar Inc. alleging liability over the death of Corrie and in connection with the equipment used in the home demolitions, which they say is a violation of international law. Claims have already been filed against the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli Defense Ministry.

Attempted kidnap of Corrie's parents

On January 4, 2006, Samir Nasrallah told news sources that Palestinian gunmen had entered his Rafah home, where Corrie's parents were staying overnight, with the intention of kidnapping them, but abandoned their plans when told who his guests were. The gunmen allegedly wanted to use Americans as bargaining chips to secure the release of Alaa al-Hams, a Palestinian militia leader arrested on suspicion of ordering the kidnap of British human-rights activist Kate Burton and her parents. The ISM released a statement disputing Nasrallah's version of events, and saying that the Corries were not the intended targets.

See also:

References

Further reading

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