A year of silence since Rachel Corrie died

Killed in Israel

Elizabeth Corrie, International Herald Tribune, 3 March 2004

ATLANTA, Georgia Only a year ago, the month of March would have held the same positive associations for me as it has for many – the beginning of the end of winter, the promise of springtime and even summer. This year, and for every year for the rest of my life, the approach of March will mean something else entirely – the anniversary of the brutal death of my cousin, Rachel Corrie.

On March 16, 2003, an Israeli soldier and his commander ran over Rachel with a nine-ton Caterpillar bulldozer while she stood – unarmed, clearly visible in her orange fluorescent jacket – protecting a Palestinian home slated for demolition by the Israeli army.

The death of Rachel Corrie, and the response that her case has – and has not – received, reveal several disturbing, indeed immoral and criminal, truths.

First, Rachel died while attempting to prevent the demolition of a home, a common practice of the Israeli Army’s collective punishment that has left more than 12,000 Palestinians homeless since the beginning of the second uprising in September 2000. This practice violates international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Second, Rachel was run over by a Caterpillar bulldozer, manufactured in the United States and sent to Israel as part of the regular U.S. aid package to Israel, which amounts to $3 billion to $4 billion annually, all of it from U.S. taxpayers. The use of Caterpillar bulldozers to destroy civilian homes, not to mention to run over unarmed human rights activists, violates U.S. law, including the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, which prohibits the use of military aid against civilians.

Third, the self-acquittal of the Israeli army for Rachel’s death and the resistance of the state of Israel to an independent investigation into this case reveals both the Sharon administration’s unwillingness to take responsibility for the death of a U.S. citizen and the Bush administration’s cowardice in allowing another nation to attack U.S. citizens with impunity.

Fourth, Rachel’s death was in fact only the first of several Israeli attacks on foreign citizens in the West Bank and Gaza. Brian Avery, from New Mexico, was shot in the face on April 5; Tom Hurndall, a British citizen, was shot in the head on April 11 and died Jan. 13, and James Miller, another British citizen, was also shot and killed in April. To date, only in Hurndall’s case will the Israeli soldier responsible for the attack face trial, and this is because the British government, after several months, finally responded to the overwhelming evidence presented by the Hurndall family.

As we approach March 16, residents and citizens of the United States should ask themselves how it is that an unarmed U.S. citizen can be killed with impunity by a soldier from an allied nation receiving massive U.S. aid, using a product manufactured in the United States by a U.S. corporation and paid for with U.S. tax dollars. When three Americans were killed, presumably by Palestinians, in an explosion on Oct. 15, 2003, as they traveled through Gaza, the FBI came within 24 hours to investigate the deaths. After one year, neither the FBI nor any other U.S.-led team has done anything to investigate the death of an American killed by an Israeli.

Why the double standard? Perhaps this reveals the most disturbing truth of all.

Elizabeth Corrie is an administrator and teacher in a school in Atlanta.

Rachel Corrie Memorial Web Site

The Jenin Inquiry

[Excerpted from The Jenin Inquiry Report pdf.]

Particularly illustrative of the scale of damage to civilian infrastructure in the camp is an interview with an Israeli soldier who drove one of the armored D-9 Caterpillar bulldozers. The soldier took part in leveling the 17-acre plot at the center of the camp completely and other sections of the camp partially. The interview was given to the Israeli daily Yehidot Ahronot by Mr. Moshe Nissim and was published on 31 May 2002. His statements display an inside account of the nature of the Israeli operation in the Jenin Refugee Camp. Mr. Nissim was not trained to drive the 60-ton machine but after days of badgering his officers was granted three hours of training and sent into the Jenin Refugee Camp. For 75 hours straight he did not emerge once from the bulldozer, sat half-naked and drank whiskey to stay awake, and unabashedly bulldozed civilian homes:

“For three days, I just destroyed and destroyed. I didn’t give a damn about the Palestinians, but I didn’t just ruin with no reason. It was all under orders. Many people were inside houses we started to demolish. . . . I am sure people died inside these houses. . . . I found joy with every house that came down because I knew they didn’t mind dying, but they cared for their homes. If you knocked down a house, you buried 40 or 50 people for generations. . . . [and] if the job [of knocking down a house] was too hard, we would ask for a tank shell. . . . If I am sorry for anything, it is for not tearing the whole camp down. . . . It is true, though, that during the last days we smashed the camp. . . . I had plenty of satisfaction. I really enjoyed it. I had lots of satisfaction in Jenin [Refugee Camp], lots of satisfaction. It was like getting all the 18 years of doing nothing – into three days. . . . As far as I am concerned, I left them with a football stadium, so they can play. This was our gift to the camp.”

(from my e-mail)
Stop Caterpillar from Bulldozing PeaceOne year ago on March 16, a Caterpillar bulldozer crushed American peace activist Rachel Corrie to death, as she stood between it and a Palestinian home. Join with Jewish Voice for Peace and Progressive Portal in commemorating the one year anniversary of her death by taking action, and calling on the Caterpillar Corporation to stop selling bulldozers to the Israeli Army.Take Action: Send a Letter to CAT Dealerships
Click here to send a letter through Progressive Portal, calling on Caterpillar dealerships to hold the company responsible for its practices.

Since 1967, Caterpillar equipment has been used to destroy over 9,000 Palestinian homes, leaving over 50,000 people homeless. Now, for the first time in history, an American corporation is being forced to address its relationship with the Israeli occupation in a shareholder resolution, filed in the Caterpillar Corporation by Sisters of Loretto and the Sisters of Mercy and initiated by Jewish Voice for Peace. The resolution calls on the company to investigate the uses of its equipment to violate human rights, and it will be voted on at the April 14 Caterpillar Shareholder Meeting in Chicago. See the text of the resolution here.

If you know people who own shares in Caterpillar, pass along our message, and tell them to vote YES! on Proposal 5.

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