Related Information for
MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE
The following is a reprint from the website of the International
Solidarity Movement (of which Rachel Corrie was a member). To find out
more visit their website at www.palsolidarity.org.
BACKGROUND
Rachel Corrie was a 23 year old college student and human rights activist from
Olympia, Washington. On March 16, 2003, she was run over and killed by an
Israeli military bulldozer in Rafah, Gaza, while defending a Palestinian home
from demolition. A gifted writer, Rachel left behind a series of diaries and
emails from an early age which were crafted into a play by Alan Rickman and
Katharine Viner. While the United States government in its annual human rights
report describes Rachel as “a US citizen peace activist” and designates
her as a human rights observer, [2] this is often obscured by the fog of
misinformation surrounding her.
MYTH: Rachel Corrie was accidentally killed by falling
debris.
FACT: According to seven international eyewitnesses,
though she was clearly visible, Rachel Corrie was run over by an Israeli
military bulldozer [3]. The 2005 US State Department human rights report on
Israel and the Occupied Territories states that “on March 16, an Israeli
bulldozer clearing land in Rafah in the Gaza Strip crushed and killed Rachel
Corrie.” [4]
Photos of the event show the tracks of the bulldozer tires running on
either side, and in front and behind the spot where Rachel lay dying in her
friends’ arms [5].
MYTH: The bulldozer driver could not see Rachel.
FACT: Eyewitnesses testified that the bulldozer blade
created a large mound of earth as it advanced, and that Rachel climbed atop
that mound to a level high enough to make eye contact with the bulldozer
driver [6]. Earlier that same afternoon, bulldozers had driven dangerously
close to international activists on the scene but stopped before harming them
[7]. This time, the driver continued forward, pulling Rachel under the blade.
MYTH: The Israeli military conducted a thorough, credible
and transparent investigation into Rachel Corrie’s death.
FACT: On March 17, 2003, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
assured President Bush that the Israeli government would undertake a
“thorough, credible, and transparent investigation” and would report the
results to the United States. On March 19, 2003, Richard Boucher, spokesman
for the State Department, noted: “When we have the death of an American
citizen, we want to see it fully investigated.” [8]
In response to inquiries from the Corrie family regarding the Israeli
Military Police investigation, in a letter dated June 11, 2004, Colin
Powell’s Chief of Staff, Lawrence B. Wilkerson, stated, “Your ultimate
question, however, is a valid one, i.e., whether or not we view that report to
have reflected an investigation that was ‘thorough, credible, and
transparent.’ I can answer your question without equivocation. No, we do not
consider it so.” [9]
Cindy Corrie, Rachel’s mother, wrote in The Boston Globe in 2004 that,
“Despite promises of a transparent investigation, only two American Embassy
staff members in Tel Aviv and my husband and I were allowed to ‘view’ the
full document. While it refers to evidence gathered by the Israeli military
police, no primary evidence is included… For our family, the report raises
questions and fails to reconcile differences between Israeli soldiers who say
they could not see Rachel and seven international eyewitnesses who say she was
clearly visible.” [10]
Independent, third party observers like the Israeli human rights
organizations B’Tselem have strongly criticized Israeli military
investigations of civilian deaths [11]. Human Rights Watch said that most
Israeli investigations “have been a sham” [12]. As a result of pressure by
the British government, Israeli soldiers have been found responsible for the
killings in Rafah of ISM activist Tom Hurndall on April 11, 2003, [13] and
British reporter James Miller on May 3, 2003 [14] despite initial Israeli army
investigations absolving the Israeli military of any responsibility.
MYTH: Rachel Corrie was killed while preventing the
Israeli Army from destroying arms smuggling tunnels used by terrorists.
FACT: Rachel was standing in front of the home of friends
- pharmacist Samir Nasrallah, his brother Khaled Nasrallah, and their wives
and children. The Israeli government has never even accused Samir or
Khaled Nasrallah or their wives or children of links to terrorism. The Israeli
army has never even claimed that the Nasrallah home hid a weapons
smuggling tunnel.
In the seven months after Rachel’s death the Israeli army demolished all
the other homes in the neighborhood, with the exception of the Nasrallahs’
house, not the treatment one would accord a building concealing a weapons
smuggling tunnel. The Nasrallahs finally were forced from their isolated home
on October 17, 2003. It was demolished shortly thereafter [15].
Khaled Nasrallah and his wife and child came to the US in June 2005 to join
Rachel’s parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, for a speaking tour. Reporting on
the tour, the Jewish Journal explained that, “The IDF [sic] did not respond
to a question about whether the Nasrallahs had ever been suspected or accused
of any illegal activities. However, family members were not judged a threat by
U.S. customs officials, who allowed the Nasrallahs to enter this country”
[16]. The US consulate conducts a security check with Israeli intelligence
before granting Palestinians visas. The Israeli Government permitted the
Nasrallahs to travel unescorted to Tel Aviv for the purpose of applying for
U.S. visas, a courtesy unlikely to be granted to those posing any threat.
MYTH: The Israeli army has the right and ample
justification for destroying thousands of Palestinian homes in Rafah.
FACT: Respected, independent third parties state that
Israel’s large-scale home demolitions in Rafah are not justified and violate
international law. In October, 2004 Human Rights Watch said that, “Over the
past four years, the Israeli military has demolished over 2,500 Palestinian
houses in the occupied Gaza Strip. Nearly two-thirds of these homes were in
Rafah… Sixteen thousand people - more than ten percent of Rafah’s
population – have lost their homes, most of them refugees, many of whom were
dispossessed for a second or third time… The pattern of destruction strongly
suggests that Israeli forces demolished homes wholesale, regardless of whether
they posed a specific threat, in violation of international law.” [17] The
Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem [18] as well as Amnesty
International [19] concur.
Human Rights Watch concludes that, “the IDF [sic] has failed to explain
why non-destructive means for detecting and neutralizing tunnels employed in
places like the Mexico-United States border and the Korean demilitarized zone
(DMZ) cannot be used along the Rafah border. Moreover, it has at times dealt
with tunnels in a puzzlingly ineffective manner that is inconsistent with the
supposed gravity of this longstanding threat” [20].
MYTH: Rachel was a naïve young woman who was exploited by
the International Solidarity Movement, an extremist group that supports
terrorism. Rachel did not understand the context she was in or the dangers she
was facing.
FACT: One article that has fostered this myth and others
is “The Death of Rachel Corrie” by Joshua Hammer, published in Mother
Jones [21]. However, Phan Nguyen proved that Hammer’s article was littered
with errors, and that important parts were culled from right-wing websites
with little credibility [22].
In her writing [23] and a videotaped interview [24] from Rafah, Rachel
Corrie lucidly depicted the daily events in the lives of ordinary Palestinians
in Rafah. Rachel’s accounts of destruction in Rafah generally correspond
with the descriptions and conclusions of respected third party organizations
like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
Rachel traveled to Rafah with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM),
a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of
Palestinian land using non-violent, direct-action methods and principles [25].
ISM works with Palestinian communities that are undertaking nonviolent direct
action. The ISM’s positions on Israel/Palestine correspond with
international law [26].
The mandatory two day ISM training in Palestine that Rachel attended
included intensive non-violence training, and discussion of the real
possibility that the ISM trainees might be seriously wounded or killed [27].
During their training, all ISM volunteers, including Rachel, sign a form
saying that “I realize I could be detained, imprisoned, taken hostage,
injured or even killed.” An October 17, 2003 Seattle Times article reported,
“She knew the risks of going, her friends said… from the beginning, the
danger is never undersold, say those who have gone through the ISM
training.” [28]. In 2002, nine ISM volunteers performing peaceful activities
were seriously injured by Israeli settlers [29] and soldiers [30].
[1] See www.mynameisrachelcorrie.com
[2] Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices- 2005, Israel and the Occupied Territories,
United States Department of State, March 8, 2006
[3] Seeking
Answers from Israel, Cindy Corrie, The Boston Globe, March 18, 2004
[4] Country Reports on Human Rights Practices- 2005, Israel and the
Occupied Territories
[5] See photos
posted, for example here.
[6] Israel:
Failure to Probe Civilian Casualties Fuels Impunity, Human Rights Watch, June
22, 2005
[7] Eyewitness
account of U.S. citizen Gregory Schnabel given March 19, 2003 to attorney Raji
Sourani of Palestinian Center for Human Rights
[8] Daily
Press Briefing, U.S. Department of State, Richard Boucher, Spokesman,
Washington, DC, March 19, 2003
[9] June
11, 2004 letter to the Corries from Lawrence Wilkerson, Chief of Staff , US
Department of State, included in record of March 17, 2005 hearing of House
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations,
pg. 45.
[10] Seeking Answers from Israel, Cindy Corrie
[11] Whitewash
and Failure to Investigate the Killing of Civilians in the Occupied
Territories, B’Tselem, June 27, 2005
[12] Israel:
Failure to Probe Civilian Casualties Fuels Impunity, Human Rights Watch, June
22, 2005
[13] Israel:
Failure to Probe Civilian Casualties Fuels Impunity, Human Rights Watch, June
22, 2005
[14] Briton
Shot by Israelis was Murdered, says Inquest Jury, Vikram Dodd, The Guardian,
April 7, 2006
[15] Two
Families’ Dreams Were Not Demolished, Howard Blume, June 24, 2005, The
Jewish Journal
[16] Two Families’ Dreams Were Not Demolished
[17] Razing
Rafah: Mass Home Demolitions in the Gaza Strip, Human Rights Watch, October
18, 2004
[18] Demolition
for Alleged Military Purposes, B’Tselem
[19] Under
the rubble: House demolition and destruction of land and property, Amnesty
International, May 18, 2004
[20] Razing Rafah: Mass Home Demolitions in the Gaza Strip
[21] The
Death of Rachel Corrie, Joshua Hammer, Mother Jones, September/October, 2003
[22] Mother
Jones Smears Rachel Corrie, Phan Nguyen, September 20, 2003. See the
ISM website for a new version with updated links.
[23] Rachel’s
War, The Guardian, May 18, 2003
[24] www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3JI-axaRF4&mode=related&search=
[25] See
“About ISM” on the ISM website.
[26] See “About
ISM” and “Frequently
Asked Questions” on the ISM website.
[27] For information on ISM’s training see: www.palsolidarity.org/main/join/training/
[28] Israeli bulldozer kills activist from Olympia ; Student had a life —
and death — beyond belief, Florangela Davila, The Seattle Times, March 17,
2003
[29] 68
year old American Mary Hughes-Thompson’s Account of their beating by
settlers
[30] Palestinians Getting Human Shields, Juan Gonzalez, 2 April 2002, New
York Daily News
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