An unusual trial begins in Israel this week that people around the world will be watching closely. It involves the tragic death of a 23-year-old American student named Rachel Corrie. On March 16, 2003, she was crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer.
Corrie was volunteering with the group International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which formed after Israel and the United States rejected a proposal by then-United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson to place international human-rights monitors in the occupied territories. The ISM defines itself as "a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles." Israel was building a large steel wall to separate Rafah from Egypt, and was bulldozing homes and gardens to create a "buffer zone." Corrie and seven other ISM activists responded to a call on that March day to protect the home of the Nasrallah family, which was being threatened with demolition by two of the armored Israeli military bulldozers made by the U.S. company Caterpillar.
Cindy Corrie, Rachel's mother, related what happened:
"The bulldozer proceeded toward Rachel. ... She was in her orange jacket. When it kept coming, she rose on the mound, and the eyewitnesses testified that her head rose above the top of the blade of the bulldozer, so she could clearly be seen, but the bulldozer continued and proceeded over her, and so that it was covering her body. It stopped and then reversed, according to the eyewitness testimonies, without lifting its blade, so backed over her once again.
"Her friends were screaming at the bulldozer drivers through this to stop. They rushed to her, and she said to them, 'I think my back is broken.' And those were her final words."
Shortly after Rachel's death, the Corries met with the Bush State Department. It was there that the idea of a civil lawsuit was first presented, by Secretary of State Colin Powell's own chief of staff, Lawrence B. Wilkerson. Craig Corrie, Rachel's father, recalled: "He said: 'If it was my daughter, I'd sue them. I don't care about money. I wouldn't care about anything. I would sue the state of Israel.'" Ultimately, this is what the Corrie family did.
Just before heading to JFK Airport in New York to attend the trial, Craig Corrie told me about the lawsuit: "We're accusing the state of Israel of either intentionally killing Rachel or of gross negligence in her killing seven years ago." The day after Rachel was killed, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised President George W. Bush a "thorough, credible and transparent investigation." Yet according to a Human Rights Watch report from 2005, Israel's "investigations into Corrie's killing ... fell far short of the transparency, impartiality, and thoroughness required by international law."
The civil trial, Craig Corrie says, is not about the monetary damages, but to discover information, and "like [South African Archbishop] Desmond Tutu talks about, of mending the tear in society." The Corries never speak solely about their daughter, but about the plight of the Palestinians and the Israeli siege of Gaza. According to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions' latest figures, 24,145 houses have been demolished in the occupied territories since 1967, including the United Nations estimate of 4,247 houses demolished during "Operation Cast Lead," the name Israel gave for its military assault on Gaza last year.
Of course, more than houses were destroyed there. More than 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed. The Corries also express concern about the psychological toll exacted on Israeli soldiers. Craig Corrie said, "We lost Rachel, and that hurts every day, but that bulldozer driver lost a lot of his humanity when he crushed Rachel."
The trial begins during the same week that Joe Biden makes his first trip to Israel as vice president. As chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden sought answers on the death of Rachel Corrie during the confirmation of U.S. Ambassador to Israel James Cunningham. Biden knows the pain of losing a daughter. His daughter was killed with his first wife in a car accident in 1972.
The Corries are calling on people around the world to stand with them on March 16, the anniversary of Rachel's death, for truth, accountability and justice, "to raise and highlight many of the critical issues to which Rachel's case is linked."
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Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.
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Amy Goodman is the host of "Democracy Now!," a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 800 stations in North America. She is the author of "Breaking the Sound Barrier," recently released in paperback and now a New York Times best-seller.
© 2010 Amy Goodman
Follow Amy Goodman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/democracynow
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Ms. Corrie flew half way around the world to enter a hot battle zone and put herself in front of a 40,000-lb armored bulldozer. She either did this to protect a shanty house (one side) or, to protect a tunnel whereby Oslo-banne
Whose to blame - rock throwing students - poorly trained weekend warriors (many of whom were students -) - out of touch commanders
Me - as a student, protestor and army reservist - I see it from all sides and to this day there is no clarity.
Though I diagree with her politics and the stance of ISM -
I feel bad for her and her family - but clarity and satisfacti
No ones to blame - yet everyone is to blame!
Times change. Society changes. Winners change. Losers Change. Human nature rarely changes.
The crisis in the Middle East is, first and foremost, a crisis of defective and missing informatio
The Devil is definately NOT in the details. That saying came up relating to mutual solutions being impeaded by detailed informatio
The truth shall set us free.
Nothing you posted proved to me that Israel intentiona
Are you daft? I posted a pic of the actual ship with its actual huge US flag flying from the mast. Are you actually saying you believe not one of the thirty or so fighter pilots, not to mention the recon crews also photograph
from the source DC quoted.
"At approximat
try reading this line one more time...the
on the other hand if you compare Goldstein the person who massacred Palestinia
Remember the Chinese man facing the line of tanks? If he'd been run over, does anyone think it would have been called anything but 'murder'? Would anyone have bought the line 'the driver just didn't see him'? Would anyone have blamed him for his death?
But somehow, what would be crystal clear if it happened in China becomes muddied and murky because it happened in Israel.
(BTW, remember that the Chinese soldier refused to put that man's life in danger, but the Israeli one made a different choice, even though the two of them risked much different consequenc
(BTW, talk to any heavy equipment operator, they'll tell you that if they know people are close to their machinery, and they've lost sight of them, doing anything but STOPPING is considered criminal negligence
http://www
http://www
1. Military action can be taken only against military targets.
2. The use of force must be proportion
3. Soldiers may only use weaponry they were issued by the IDF.
4. Anyone who surrenders cannot be attacked.
5. Only those who are properly trained can interrogat
6. Soldiers must accord dignity and respect to the Palestinia
7. Soldiers must give appropriat
8. Pillaging is absolutely and totally illegal.
9. Soldiers must show proper respect for religious and cultural sites and artifacts.
10. Soldiers must protect internatio
11. Soldiers must report all violations of this code.
All 11 Codes of Military Conduct (with the exception only of No.8) were apparently deliberate
Yet no action is known to have been taken against the men and commanders responsibl
If the Israeli government and its military commanders cannot control the actions of their forces, then not only are the Palestinia
Have you checked it against actual incidents in which, journalist
Israel has a wonderful founding document. Has it been followed in Israeli practice, not so much.
People killed on own land:
Israeli: 584 (54.5%)
Palestinia
People killed on others' land:
Israeli: 487 (45.5%)
Palestinia
http://www
What one thinks of the group she worked with is irrelevant
If a young woman died through an accident or intent. We will never know. Her family is seeking some sort of truth, justice, retributio
I am sorry for all parents who loose their children, especially at the hands of violence, wars, accident.
Please don't stand in front of bulldozers
If driving a bulldozer, please remember your blind spot is in front of the blade. Raise and lower as needed to confirm the coast is clear before proceding.
Additional
http://www
http://en.
There is a tremendous amount of misinforma
I have met the people she died protecting
I agree. Let a court decide.
I just viewed today's program of "Democracy Now" with the Corries & their other daughter. It was very moving, especially how they were able to relate their grief to the wider picture of other families, some British, many Palestinia
I would hope any employee would not have to read in the newspaper or an article like Amy's here that their product is used to destroy the home of even one family in Palestine, yet alone being involved in the death of an American woman. My family extends our sincere condolence