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“Every time we do something, you [Shimon Peres] tell me America will do this and will do that... I want to tell you something very clear: Don’t worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it.”
— Ariel Sharon
Israeli Prime Minister, homicidal psychopath
Knesset, Tel Aviv, October 3, 2001
An American Heroine
Murdered by Israelis
Rachel CorrieRachel Corrie was a courageous, intelligent and beautiful 23-year-old woman from Olympia, Washington. A student at Evergreen College, she would have graduated in the Spring.
On March 16, 2003, an Israeli bulldozer operator intentionally crushed her to death.
And so Rachel Corrie graduated, with the highest honors, from the hardest school of all, life in this suffering world.
The Israeli was driving one of the giant, 60-ton, armored D-9 bulldozers which are made by Caterpillar, the well-known American company — and paid for by your tax dollars, if you’re an American. Rachel was trying to stop him from demolishing the home of an innocent Palestinian man, a doctor, who never did anything to harm Israelis. But that fact is irrelevant to Israelis and their evil supporters in America. Reality is irrelevant to racist Israelis and racist Jewish-American Zionists.
Zionazi at workPsychopathic Israelis have used these American-made, American-financed bulldozers to demolish countless Palestinian homes, sometimes crushing people to death, just like they did to Rachel Corrie. Drunken Israeli bulldozer operators like Moshe Nissim crushed many Palestinian people to death during the Jenin massacre. Two weeks before Rachel’s murder, an Israeli bulldozer operator crushed a 33-year-old Palestinian mother to death in her house. Nuha Sweidan was nine-months pregnant, and she bled to death under the rubble as she cradled her 18-month-old daughter. Her unborn baby also died.
Horrors such as these are absolutely routine for Israelis. Most Israelis have become so callous and inhuman that they think nothing of shooting children and crushing young mothers to death. It’s all in a day’s work for Israelis.
And it all goes unreported in America’s mass-media — because America’s mass-media is Jewish-owned and Jewish-controlled.
For those who are conditioned like Pavlov’s dogs to think that any mention of Jewish media domination is “anti-Semitic”, consider the following statement from a decent and courageous Jewish man who has long spoken out against Israeli state terrorism:
“There are no important media outlets in the U.S. that are not owned or controlled by Jews.”
— Israel Shamir
Russian-Israeli journalist
in his article “Midas Ears”It is because of the unending horrors of Israeli state terrorism that Rachel Corrie was a peace activist with the International Solidarity Movement, trying to stop the demolitions. She and her equally courageous fellow activists from Britain and America used themselves as human shields not only to block house demolitions, but to stop the cruel Israelis from destroying Palestinian water wells.
Rachel and her group made friends with the beautiful Palestinian people in the refugee town of Rafah, in occupied Gaza. Out of real love and admiration for these people, moved by the courage shown even by Palestinian children, the young Americans and Brits were inspired to be courageous themselves. Seeing the Palestinians’ humanity and their determination to survive in the face of endless cruelties and horrors at the hands of homicidal Israelis, Rachel and her fellow peace activists risked their lives many times to protect their friends. They were risking their lives yet again on the day Rachel was brutally murdered.
There were two D-9 bulldozers, one marked with the number 94, serial number 949623, the other marked 95, serial number 949645. The Israeli bulldozer operators were in radio communication with a nearby Israeli tank, and all three were in radio communication with their superiors in the vicious Israeli military. The tank had earlier fired shots into the ground in the direction of Rachel and her friends in an attempt to frighten them away. It didn’t work. Rachel Corrie and her fellow peace activists from the International Solidarity Movement had the courage of combat veterans, and they kept trying to block the massive bulldozers. Their courage and tenacity no doubt embarrassed and angered the cowardly, bullying Israelis.
There is also no doubt that the Israeli bulldozer operator was authorized by radio to run over the American woman — while pretending it was an accident — in order to send a message to all other peace activists.
As Henry Michaels of the World Socialist Web Site writes:
“Two conclusions are inescapable from the evidence produced so far. The first is that Rachel Corrie’s killing was a premeditated act approved by the upper echelons of the Israeli regime — the culmination of a series of confrontations in recent months with International Solidarity Movement (ISM) “human shields.” The second is that the US government is complicit, having rejected repeated requests to intervene on behalf of the volunteers. ... It is inconceivable that an individual Israeli soldier would commit such a crime without prior discussion and approval at the highest official levels, military and civilian.”
The confrontation on March 16th had been going on for two hours. Rachel and the other volunteers had clearly identified themselves as unarmed international peace activists during that whole time. Rachel was wearing a florescent orange-red jacket for unmistakable visibility, as well as using a megaphone to try and communicate with the inhuman Israeli bulldozer operator. She was easily visible to him at all times, there is no question that he purposely ran over her, twice, with intent to murder her. (See photos below.)
The Israeli was approaching the house to demolish it, when Rachel sat down on the ground to block him. He kept coming toward her, digging up earth with the massive bulldozer blade. Yet with a will and spirit much stronger than the evil Israeli hiding in his armored bulldozer, Rachel refused to budge. When the blade pushing the pile of dirt reached her she began to stand up to climb up on the dirt, until she was high enough to be eye-level with the cab of the bulldozer, right in front of the Israeli coward, as visible as she could be. As he continued forward she began to slip down into the moving dirt and get stuck in it as her friends screamed frantically for him to stop. He ignored them and continued moving forward as Rachel sank further, until the Israeli pushed the dirt right over her and buried her while scraping the massive blade over her. He then stopped his bulldozer while she was underneath it, put it in reverse, and kept the steel blade down on the ground as he backed up and dragged it over her a second time.
It was intentional, pre-meditated, cold-blooded murder.
As the Israeli backed his killing-machine away, Rachel’s friends ran to her and dug her out of the dirt. For a short time she was still conscious, gasping for air with blood flowing from a gash on her face, but her body was badly crushed and her skull fractured. They called for a Palestinian ambulance and it arrived quickly. And this time the Israelis didn’t shoot at the ambulance, as they usually do.
If Rachel Corrie had been a Palestinian woman, Israeli soldiers and snipers would have shot her, her friends, the ambulance driver and anyone else who tried to rescue her. Israeli soldiers are Jewish Nazis, and they have done this countless times before. Because Rachel was an American, however, and the Israeli government wanted it to look like an accident, the ever-present snipers were ordered to hold their fire. This allowed the Palestinians to rush her to Al-Najjar hospital in Rafah. But her fragile body was so badly broken, with skull and chest fractures and internal hemorrhaging, that the doctors could not save her.
Rachel Corrie in Al-Najjar HospitalHer physical body died, but her eternal spirit lives right now.
Afterwards, when her Palestinian friends gathered to mourn her death, sadistic Israeli snipers opened fire on the crowd, murdering one of them. No Westerners were there to be witnesses, so it was back to standard operating procedure for the Israeli Nazis.
They murdered the physical body of yet another innocent Palestinian person, but that person’s eternal spirit lives now too.
And every time the bestial Israelis murder the body of another Palestinian child, or mother or father, they succeed only in making the Palestinian people stronger and more human, while the idiot Israelis — and their Zionist supporters in America — degrade their own souls and become yet more inhuman. They’ve murdered and tortured so many people now, for so many years, that a great many Israelis are as cruel, evil, heartless and soulless as it’s possible to be. They’re completely inhuman monsters toward helpless Palestinian people. They are sadistic Jewish Nazis. They are the very thing they condemn the most vehemently. The bestial hypocrites.
Israelis are perfect idiots. What do they think they’re going to accomplish with all their brutality? Peace for themselves? Their stupidity would be laughable if their cruelty and violence weren’t so nauseating. Do they actually think they can create a paradise in Palestine for themselves through the bloodshed, mass-murder and torture of others? It’ll never happen. The Israelis will never live in peace. Never. They’ve created nothing but a hell for themselves, as well as for the Palestinians. But the Israelis, through their evil, have created a dark hell inside themselves as well. That is the worst hell of all. The deepest and longest lasting.
Israelis are morally insane and mentally delusional, and therefore it’s just a matter of time before their madness manifests in the physical world in the form of their total destruction. Just a matter of time. “Whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad,” said the ancient Greeks. As Israel Shamir has written, the State of Israel is already dead. It has no soul. It’s nothing but a monstrous national zombie, a soulless killing machine, living off massive infusions of cash from American taxpayers like a drug addict lives off drugs.
And as the singer Neil Young has said, every junkie is a setting sun.
Meanwhile, through the crucible of their terrible suffering, the majority of Palestinian people are forging greater inner strength and greater, more beautiful humanity. These are the beautiful qualities that Rachel Corrie loved. As a courageous and decent person herself, she resonated with those qualities in others. In the end the Palestinians will win peace for themselves, inside and outside.
In spite of the danger of Israeli snipers, Rachel’s Palestinian friends risked their lives again to honor her with a formal, public memorial. 1,000 Palestinian people marched through the Rafah refugee town holding a stretcher draped with an American flag to symbolize their American friend. Palestinian farmer Hassan Abu Toa’ma said: “We fly a U.S. flag today to show our support to all American peace lovers — those like Rachel.”
Rafah memorial service for Rachel CorrieIn Gaza City, dozens of Palestinians and foreign activists held a vigil, holding banners saying: “Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is a war criminal.” The Palestinian children Rachel loved during her stay in Rafah filed past her body at the local morgue and said their goodbyes. Death is a very common sight for Palestinian children, but you can never get used to the death of your friends.
At U.N. headquarters in Gaza City, 200 Palestinian people and their foreign friends held another memorial service. Four Palestinian girls placed flowers and a picture of Rachel on an empty coffin, and the mourners observed a moment of silence.
That empty coffin is a good symbol. Only the body, like an empty shell, is dead. Rachel Corrie is not dead. Her soul is alive, and now she’s free.
* * *
The following photos, posted at Electronic Intifada and GoOFF.com, document the incident for the public record. The Israelis and the Jewish-controlled media in America will tell any lie and do anything and everything they can to bury this story and put a favorable spin on it.
No matter what lies the Zionazis tell, however, the photos below speak for themselves. They clearly show that Rachel was well marked, had a megaphone, and posed no threat to the bulldozer driver.
Rachel Corrie confronts the bulldozer driver.
A clearly marked Rachel Corrie, holding a megaphone, confronts an Israeli bulldozer driver attempting to demolish another Palestinian home.
Rafah, Occupied Gaza, March 16, 2003
Other peace activists tend to Rachel after she is fatally injured by the Israeli bulldozer driver.
Rafah, Occupied Gaza, March 16, 2003
Rachel Corrie lies broken and bloodied on the ground, fatally injured by the criminal Israeli bulldozer driver.
Rafah, Occupied Gaza, March 16, 2003
Rachel in Najjar hospital, Rafah, Occupied Gaza. Ha’aretz newspaper reported that Dr. Ali Musa, a doctor at Al-Najjar, stated that the cause of death was “skull and chest fractures”.
(Mohammad Al-Moghair)
Two of Rachel’s friends comfort each other in Najjar hospital, Rafah, Occupied Gaza. Ha’aretz newspaper reported that a second activist was also injured at the same location.
(Mohammad Al-Moghair)
Predictably, the war-criminal Israeli Army is attempting to dishonour Rachel’s memory by claiming she was killed “accidentally” when she “ran in front of the bulldozer”. Eye-witnesses to the murder insist that this is a total lie. See the eyewitness accounts below.
“This is a regrettable accident,” said Israeli Army Captain Jacob Dallal insincerely to Ha’aretz newspaper. “We are dealing with a group of protesters who were acting very irresponsibly, putting everyone in danger.”
Liar. The only thing he regrets is that the heroic peace activists are putting Israel’s deceitful public image in danger.
Electronic Intifada estimates that members of the “responsible” Israeli army and associated Israeli “settler” paramilitary gangs have violently murdered at least 2,181 Palestinian people, including hundreds of children, and injured another 22,218, between September 29, 2000 and March 14, 2003. Others say the numbers of dead and injured are much higher than that.
In addition to the murder of Rachel Corrie by the bulldozer driver, Israeli war criminals have so far shot and killed three other internationals in different incidents during the Al-Aqsa Intifada:
- German doctor Harald Fischer
- Italian cameraman Rafaeli Ciriello
- British United Nations worker Iain Hook
An ISM volunteer holds up Rachel Corrie’s US passport as another peace activist sits in shock, Al-Najjar Hospital, Rafah, Occupied Gaza.
Mohammad Al-Moghair
Eyewitness Accounts
International Solidarity Movement
http://palsolidarity.org/Electronic Intifada
http://electronicIntifada.net/v2/article1263.shtmlFour of the seven International Solidarity Movement members present during Rachel’s murder have written their recollections of the incident: Tom Dale (UK), Greg Schnabel (US), Richard Purssell (UK), and Joe Smith (US). Greg and Richard’s accounts are more formal. Tom and Joe’s accounts are excerpted from e-mails to friends and families.
Tom Dale Eyewitness Account
Tom Dale is a British Citizen from Lichfield, Birmingham, born 17 August 1984.
“Many of you will have heard varying accounts of the death of Rachel Corrie, maybe others will have heard nothing of it. Regardless, I was 10 metres away when it happened 2 days ago, and this is the way it went.
“We’d been monitoring and occasionally obstructing the 2 bulldozers for about 2 hours when 1 of them turned toward a house we knew to be threatened with demolition. Rachel knelt down in its way. She was 10-20 metres in front of the bulldozer, clearly visible, the only object for many metres, directly in its view. They were in radio contact with a tank that had a profile view of the situation. There is no way she could not have been seen by them in their elevated cabin. They knew where she was, there is no doubt.
“The bulldozer drove toward Rachel slowly, gathering earth in its scoop as it went. She knelt there, she did not move. The bulldozer reached her and she began to stand up, climbing onto the mound of earth. She appeared to be looking into the cockpit. The bulldozer continued to push Rachel, so she slipped down the mound of earth, turning as she went. Her faced showed she was panicking and it was clear she was in danger of being overwhelmed.
“All the activists were screaming at the bulldozer to stop and gesturing to the crew about Rachel’s presence. We were in clear view as Rachel had been, they continued. They pushed Rachel, first beneath the scoop, then beneath the blade, then continued till her body was beneath the cockpit. They waited over her for a few seconds, before reversing. They reversed with the blade pressed down, so it scraped over her body a second time. Every second I believed they would stop but they never did.
“I ran for an ambulance, she was gasping and her face was covered in blood from a gash cutting her face from lip to cheek. She was showing signs of brain hemorrhaging. She died in the ambulance a few minutes later of massive internal injuries. She was a brilliant, bright and amazing person, immensely brave and committed. She is gone and I cannot believe it.
“The group here in Rafah has decided that we will stay here and continue to oppose human rights abuses as best we can. I want to add that more than 10 palestinians have died in the Gaza strip since Rachel.
“Please: forward this message. Boycott Caterpillar. Take direct action against the Caterpillar Corporation — please do not let this be without cost to them. Legally, I shouldn’t ask you to do anything destructive or against the law.
“If you’re wondering about Rachel: her writings, photos of her and statements on her death are available on the website below. More photos: go to yahoo news section, search for photos by “rachel”.
“If you’re wondering about the International Solidarity Movement: www.palsolidarity.org
“If you’re wondering about the bulldozers: They’re American, Caterpillar-made armoured D9 Bulldozers. I estimate the blade is maybe 8 ft high, 15 ft wide and more than 9 tons. They’re purchased from America using the $12billion per annum military aid package that America gives to Israel. [Report on their previous usage, well worth reading — especially if you didn’t believe anyone would be crazy enough to do this].
“If you’re wondering about Rafah: in the southern Gaza Strip, next to the Egyptian border. Apart from suffering in excess from the problems all over Palestine: Israeli manipulation of the water supply, economic strangulation, regular shootings and army operations, Rafah is afflicted by the building of an extra border wall. It has caused hundreds of homes to be destroyed.
“The house in question, that of a doctor, like dozens of others in the area is not set to be demolished because of any supposed link to militants. Only because it lies within 100 metres of the new border wall, currently in construction. Families receive no compensation from Israel, and are frequently given just a few minutes warning in the form of live ammunition being shot through the walls of their house.”
— Tom Dale
18 March 2003
Greg Schnabel Eyewitness Account
Greg Schnabel is a United States citizen from Chicago, IL, USA, born April 26, 1974.
“I, Greg Schnabel, came to Rafah to work with the International Solidarity Movement.
“At approximately 3 p.m. on the afternoon of March 16, 2003 I was with Rachel at a water well in the Tel al Sultan district of Rafah. We received a call from our fellow I.S.M. activists in the Hyy Es Salam district. Our friends informed us that two bulldozers were in that neighborhood threatening to destroy family houses. Rachel and I went to the Hyy Es Salam area to help our friends. The homes that were being threatened by the bulldozers were the homes of families which our group had been sleeping with for the past four months. We had personal relationships with these families and defending their homes from being destroyed was very important to us.
“When Rachel and I arrived on the scene, two bulldozers were clearing the ground near to these homes. There was also a tank Our group began to stand in front of these bulldozers in an attempt to stop them. Generally they did not stop when we stood in front of them, but continued to push the up from underneath our feet and push us away. Several times we had to dive away at the last moment in order to avoid being crushed.
“This continued for about two and a half hours. All the time the bulldozers were approaching closer to the families homes. They made several attempts to evade us and outmaneuver us. At one point, Will from the United States was nearly crushed between the bulldozer and a pile of razor wire. The bulldozer stopped at the last minute in Will’s case. If it had moved any closer he would have been impaled by the razor wire.
“The bulldozers destroyed part of a home which was unoccupied. Members of our group including myself stood inside this home in an attempt to stop them. One bulldozer then moved toward the house of Dr. Samir, one of the families with whom we had relations.
“Rachel was standing in front of this home. As the bulldozer approached she stood her ground. Rachel was wearing an orange fluorescent jacket. She was clearly visible to the bulldozer driver as well as to the soldiers in the tank. The bulldozer began to push up the ground from beneath her feet. The pile of earth was mounding up and she tried her best to stay on top of it. As the ground continued to move Rachel went down on her knees. The bulldozer continued to move forward. Rachel began to become buried beneath the dirt. Still it did not stop. Finally, Rachel was beneath the bulldozer. The bulldozer did not even pick up its blade. It ran over her completely and continued to advance. It stopped when she was completely underneath the body of the bulldozer. It then moved backwards over her body. It moved clear of her and backed away.
“At this point I and my friends ran to her. She was obviously in terrible condition. Her upper lip had been split open and was bleeding. We called an ambulance immediately and continued to monitor her vital signs. She was breathing but she was losing consciousness rapidly. Within a minute she was no longer able to give us her name or speak. We continued to talk to her encouraging her, breathing with her, and telling her we loved her.
“The ambulance staff came and took her to the hospital. Once there she died within twenty minutes or less.”
— Greg Schnabel
March 16, 2003
Richard Purssell Eyewitness Account
Richard Purssell is a British citizen from Brighton, England. A Construction Worker, he was born on 12 October 1971.
“I am Richard Purssell of the United Kingdom. I am here in Rafah to demonstrate solidarity with the Palestinian people and take non-violent direct action to confront the illegal Israeli occupation. I am making this statement at 11:30 on the night after the incident.
“On 16 March 2003 myself, Rachel Corrie, and Greg were acting as human shields at the well in Tel al Sultan. We received a call at 2.30 from other ISM activists who were working in the Hyy es Salaam area that bulldozers had been spotted. We arrived ten minutes later at the area, which was near both to houses we were protecting and houses which had been destroyed in the previous week. Using a megaphone and banners to identify ourselves as international nonviolent activists we moved forward to confront the bulldozers.
“For two hours we attempted at great risk to ourselves to obstruct and frustrate the bulldozers in their work. One activist from the U.S was trapped underneath barbed wire. The bulldozers seemed to be concentrating on ploughing up the land in front of the buildings whilst making occasional runs at houses. There were two bulldozers one marked 94 serial number 949623 the other 95 serial no. 949645. There was one tank but I do not recall its number. I noted these numbers prior to the incident.
“At approximately 1645 a bulldozer began making a straight run at a house which I now know to belong to a doctor [Samir]. At this point the majority of the group were positioned around a wrecked building. We were all within 70 metres of each other. I was to the left of the ruined building and to the right of Dr. [Samir]’s house. Rachel was approximately 15 metres in front of me.
“The ground was level and the light was good, I had a good view of everything which happened. Rachel was wearing an orange fluorescent jacket with reflective strips (the type worn by construction workers for high visibility and the avoidance of accidents). Rachel stood to confront the bulldozer and it approached her at about five or six miles an hour. The blade on the bulldozer was dipped into the ground and was scooping up soil.
“As the bulldozer came nearer the pile mounted up. Rachel climbed up the pile and at the one stage was looking into the cabin window. There is no way that the driver could not have known she was there. The bulldozer continued driving forwards and Rachel turned round to face in my direction.
“She began to slide down the pile, however as soon as her feet touched the ground for some reason she fell forward. Maybe her foot was caught or the weight of the soil pushed her forward. At this point the panic on her face was obvious.
“We were all shouting, screaming and gesturing by this stage. The earth was totally pushed over her, engulfing her. She was lost to my sight. I noticed that the driver had not lifted the blade. The machine rolled straight over her and continued for a little way. It then reversed over her and retreated about twenty metres. Rachel was left in its tracks, bleeding from her mouth and twisted.
“The tank came over to where she was briefly and then retreated to the border fence with the two bulldozers. At no point did any member of the Israeli forces enquire as to Rachel’s well-being or offer any assistance.
“Eventually we were able to call an ambulance and one arrived shortly. Rachel was taken to hospital in Rafah, where I heard she had died.
“I certify that this is a true account to the best of my recollection.”
— R.J.A. Purssell
16 March 2003
Joe Smith Eyewitness Account
Joe Smith is a United States citizen from Kansas City, MO, USA, born April 25, 1981.
“I have never experienced anything like this in my life. I’ve never had someone close to me die before, let alone be brutally murdered right in front of my eyes. I don’t even know how to react. I went through stages of dumbfounded shock and serious crying fits. I had no chance to be alone at all, I was either surrounded by Palestinians or on the phone with media. I chose the latter. I was doing interviews non-stop starting 30 min. after her death, all the way until midnight, and then starting again at 6am and continuing all day today. I literally would never hang up the phone, just switch to an incoming call on call waiting. When I did finnally get a second to breath, I’d have like 30 missed calls.
“Anyway, it was a bit therapeutic I think, telling the story over and over, and interviews make me feel [as if I was doing something] important [in the aftermath]. All this thing is is a media event now, so we must continue a campaign as hard as possible before the new and bigger tragedy, the Iraq war, begins. The few hours I had off interviews last night between midnight and 4am, was spent organizing today’s events, press conferences, live TV/radio interviews, a demonstration and the begginings of the traditional Palestinian 3-day ceremony. Now we’re preparing for a serious influx of people from the West Bank and Israel, as well as some people from abroad, possibly including her family.
“The stress is really getting to me. I couldn’t sleep for the 2 hours I was allowed because my body won’t relax. My heart is racing and shake a lot, and even have trouble breathing. My jaw is the worst though. It won’t losen to save my life, and it hurts like hell, especially when I chew (when i get time to grab a falafel sandwhich). I’ve never experienced physical stress and tension like this.
“We thought this might happen eventually. We often spoke in the abstract that eventually one of us would get killed, but we always figured they’d shoot us, or it’d be an "accident", like in a house that is missiled or a stray bullet gets an unlucky activist. I never dreamed it’d be like this, the intentional crushing of a human being.
“I do believe it was intentional. I saw it, and I know he saw her, I know he did, and I know he knew she was still under the bulldozer when it backed up without raising its blade. I don’t know if he wanted to kill her, or if he was just focused on doing his work and didn’t care if he killed her or not, I don’t know which is scarier. I don’t feel like telling the whole detailed story right now. I promise that for the record I will tell it in detail, but give me a few days. I just want to quickly dispel a few myths you may have heard in the media. She did not "trip and fall" in front of the bulldozer. She sat down in front of it, well in advance, wearing one of the orange flouro jackets I got in Amsterdam. (By the way, I took the pictures you may have seen of her, standing with the megaphone in front of the bulldozer, and the ones of her friends helping her.)
“He clearly saw her, and continued to drive until she was forced onto the top of the dirt he was pushing, elevating her so much that she was at eye level with the bulldozer’s cab, he could see right into her eyes. He continued forward, pulling her underneath the dirt, and out of his vision. He continued forward, crushing her underneath the weight of the blade. He continued forward, until she was well underneath the bulldozer. It was then quite clear that she was nowhere but underneath him, but he proceded to back up, without lifting the blade, crushing her again.
“I beleive that it was the combination of these two crushings that caused her death. She was defending the house of a physician. We’ve all stayed in the house, we know that there are no weapons of any kind there. Just a middle aged doctor and his lovely family. They want to demolish it because it happens to lie near the border, and they’re systematically demolishing all the houses near the border. It has nothing to do with retaliatory or preventative operations. They were not searching for tunnels or bombs either. We know what this looks like, they do it a lot. It involves armored drills and bomb dogs and shooting at the ground, none of which was present here.
“Its just a further example of the Israeli military’s blatent lies. There was never any gunfire from any Palestinians, the only gunfire came from the tank, when it shot at the ground a few times in order to scare us. But even this was extremely minimal. The Palestinian that was killed was in a totally seperate area of Rafah, and was killed by blanket fire into the area, not in a gun battle. It is quite unfortunate that his death probably wouldn’t even be reported anywhere if it weren’t for [what happened to] Rachel. The Palestinians have been incredible. They are quite used to this, as thousands of their people have died. Indeed I now know how every Palestinian family feels, as many of them have lost multiple freinds and family to this occupation.
“Their support has been invaluable however, they’ve gone to full lengths to give her a proper demonstration and ceremony, like they give every other Shahid (martyr). They’ve made a nice poster of her as well, which will be posted in all of the places she has been, and there’s ganna be a big march and demonstration this afternoon. We’re planning actions for the comming days as well. We’re planning to occupy the murder sight, and line the whole area with flowers, and erect a nice visible memorial as well. I don’t know what this means for us now.
“It could go one of two ways. It could make us more effective, because now they know that we are not going to move, and that we will risk our safety to oppose them. Thus they will be forced to be more careful, and withdraw sooner. Or, it could mean that they know longer care, and will willfully kill and injur us without hesitation. This would render us useless as human shields, and our work would be impossible. So we’ll have to see.
“I know we’ll be much more careful, and have long talks about tactics, and with what people are still comfortable. I have a lot of thinking and considering to do. But we’re not leaving, that’s for sure. We’re dedicated to staying here, especially with the Iraq war and risk of full invasion of Gaza. If any of you heard anything else and have questions, I’d gladly respond to them.
[...] “I’m sure you’ll keep me in your thoughts, I need all the energy I can get as I deal with this trauma. My close freinds and family have been wonderful, and havn’t freaked out on me like I thought they would. But I share their concern. Ok, I must go the press conference. Below is an article by my professor from Evergreen, its a fabulous analysis of Sharon’s occupation and his attacks on innocent civilians.” (article was part of email)
— Joe Smith
March 17, 2003
Israeli forces fired teargas and stun grenades in an attempt to break up a memorial service for Rachel
Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
Wednesday, March 19, 2003
The Guardian
http://www.GoOFF.com/NM/templates/Breaking_News.asp?articleid=443&zoneid=2Israeli forces fired teargas and stun grenades yesterday in an attempt to break up a memorial service for Rachel Corrie, the American peace activist killed by an army bulldozer in Gaza on Sunday.
Witnesses including several dozen foreigners and Palestinian supporters say Israeli armoured vehicles tried to disperse the gathering at the spot in Rafah refugee camp where Ms Corrie was crushed to death.
The 23 year-old activist with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was trying to prevent the destruction of Palestinian homes by the Israelis when she was hit by the bulldozer.
Joe Smith, a young activist from Kansas City, said about 100 people were gathered to lay carnations and erect a small memorial when the first armoured personnel carrier appeared.
“They started firing teargas and blowing smoke, then they fired sound grenades. After a while it got hectic so we sat down. Then the tank came over and shot in the air,” he said. “It scared a lot of Palestinians, especially the shooting made a lot of them run and the teargas freaked people out. But most of us stayed.”
Another witness said the army failed to break up the service.
“People were laying carnations at the spot where Rachel was killed when a tank came and fired teargas right on them. Then a core group of the peace activists took an ISM cloth banner to the fence and pinned it up.
“The tank chased after them trying to stop them with teargas but the wind was against the army,” she said.
Tensions rose further when a convoy of vehicles, including the bulldozer that killed Ms Corrie, passed the area.
Statement from Rachel Corrie’s parents
March 16, 2003
“We are now in a period of grieving and still finding out the details behind the death of Rachel in the Gaza Strip.
“We have raised all our children to appreciate the beauty of the global community and family, and are proud that Rachel was able to live her convictions.
“Rachel was filled with love and a sense of duty to her fellow man, wherever they lived. And, she gave her life trying to protect those that are unable to protect themselves.
“Rachel wrote to us from the Gaza Strip, and we would like to release to the media her experience in her own words at this time.
“Thank you.”
Craig and Cindy Corrie
parents of Rachel Corrie
In Her Own Words
Excerpts from an email Rachel Corrie sent to her parents on February 7, 2003:
I have been in Palestine for two weeks and one hour now, and I still have very few words to describe what I see.
It is most difficult for me to think about what's going on here when I sit down to write back to the United States -- something about the virtual portal into luxury. I don't know if many of occupying army surveying them constantly from the near horizons.
I think, although I'm not entirely sure, that even the smallest of these children understand that life is not like this everywhere.
An eight-year-old was shot and killed by an Israeli tank two days before I got here, and many of the children murmur his name to me, "Ali" -- or point at the posters of him on the walls.
The children also love to get me to practice my limited Arabic by asking me "Kaif Sharon?" "Kaif Bush?" and they laugh when I say "Bush Majnoon" "Sharon Majnoon" back in my limited Arabic. (How is Sharon? How is Bush? Bush is crazy. Sharon is crazy.) Of course this isn't quite what I believe, and some of the adults who have the English correct me: Bush mish Majnoon ... Bush is a businessman. Today I tried to learn to say "Bush is a tool", but I don't think it translated quite right. But anyway, there are eight-year-olds here much more aware of the workings of the global power structure than I was just a few years ago -- at least regarding Israel.
Nevertheless, I think about the fact that no amount of reading, attendance at conferences, documentary viewing and word of mouth could have prepared me for the reality of the situation here.
You just can't imagine it unless you see it, and even then you are always well aware that your experience is not at all the reality: what with the difficulties the Israeli Army would face if they shot an unarmed US citizen, and with the fact that I have money to buy water when the army destroys wells, and, of course, the fact that I have the option of leaving.
Nobody in my family has been shot, driving in their car, by a rocket launcher from a tower at the end of a major street in my hometown. I have a home. I am allowed to go see the ocean.
Ostensibly it is still quite difficult for me to be held for months or years on end without a trial (this because I am a white US citizen, as opposed to so many others).
When I leave for school or work I can be relatively certain that there will not be a heavily armed soldier waiting half way between Mud Bay and downtown Olympia at a checkpoint -- a soldier with the power to decide whether I can go about my business, and whether I can get home again when I'm done.
So, if I feel outrage at arriving and entering briefly and incompletely into the world in which these children exist, I wonder conversely about how it would be for them to arrive in my world.
They know that children in the United States don't usually have their parents shot and they know they sometimes get to see the ocean. But once you have seen the ocean and lived in a silent place, where water is taken for granted and not stolen in the night by bulldozers, and once you have spent an evening when you haven't wondered if the walls of your home might suddenly fall inward waking you from your sleep, and once you've met people who have never lost anyone -- once you have experienced the reality of a world that isn't surrounded by murderous towers, tanks, armed "settlements" and now a giant metal wall, I wonder if you can forgive the world for all the years of your childhood spent existing -- just existing -- in resistance to the constant stranglehold of the world's fourth largest military -- backed by the world's only superpower -- in it's attempt to erase you from your home.
That is something I wonder about these children. I wonder what would happen if they really knew.
As an afterthought to all this rambling, I am in Rafah, a city of about 140,000 people, approximately 60 percent of whom are refugees -- many of whom are twice or three times refugees. Rafah existed prior to 1948, but most of the people here are themselves or are descendants of people who were relocated here from their homes in historic Palestine -- now Israel. Rafah was split in half when the Sinai returned to Egypt. Currently, the Israeli army is building a fourteen-meter-high wall between Rafah in Palestine and the border, carving a no-mans land from the houses along the border. Six hundred and two homes have been completely bulldozed according to the Rafah Popular Refugee Committee. The number of homes that have been partially destroyed is greater.
Today as I walked on top of the rubble where homes once stood, Egyptian soldiers called to me from the other side of the border, "Go! Go!" because a tank was coming. Followed by waving and "what's your name?".
There is something disturbing about this friendly curiosity. It reminded me of how much, to some degree, we are all kids curious about other kids: Egyptian kids shouting at strange women wandering into the path of tanks. Palestinian kids shot from the tanks when they peak out from behind walls to see what's going on. International kids standing in front of tanks with banners. Israeli kids in the tanks anonymously, occasionally shouting -- and also occasionally waving -- many forced to be here, many just aggressive, shooting into the houses as we wander away.
In addition to the constant presence of tanks along the border and in the western region between Rafah and settlements along the coast, there are more IDF towers here than I can count -- along the horizon, at the end of streets. Some just army green metal. Others these strange spiral staircases draped in some kind of netting to make the activity within anonymous. Some hidden, just beneath the horizon of buildings.
A new tower went up the other day in the time it took us to do laundry and to cross town twice to hang banners. Despite the fact that some of the areas nearest the border are the original Rafah with families who have lived on this land for at least a century, only the 1948 camps in the center of the city are Palestinian-controlled areas under Oslo. But as far as I can tell, there are few if any places that are not within the sights of some tower or another. Certainly there is no place invulnerable to Apache helicopters, or to the cameras of invisible drones we hear buzzing over the city for hours at a time.
I've been having trouble accessing news about the outside world here, but I hear an escalation of war on Iraq is inevitable. There is a great deal of concern here about the "reoccupation of Gaza". Gaza is reoccupied every day to various extents, but I think the fear is that the tanks will enter all the streets and remain here, instead of entering some of the streets and then withdrawing after some hours or days to observe and shoot from the edges of the communities. If people aren't already thinking about the consequences of this war for the people of the entire region, then I hope they will start.
also hope you'll come here. We've been wavering between five and six internationals. The neighborhoods that have asked us for some form of presence are Yibna, Tel El Sultan, Hi Salam, Brazil, Block J, Zorob, and Block O.
There is also need for constant night-time presence at a well on the outskirts of Rafah, since the Israeli army destroyed the two largest wells. According to the municipal water office the wells destroyed last week provided half of Rafah's water supply. Many of the communities have requested internationals to be present at night to attempt to shield houses from further demolition.
After about ten p.m. it is very difficult to move at night because the Israeli army treats anyone in the streets as resistance and shoots at them. So clearly we are too few.
I continue to believe that my home, Olympia, could gain a lot and offer a lot by deciding to make a commitment to Rafah in the form of a sister-community relationship. Some teachers and children's groups have expressed interest in e-mail exchanges, but this is only the tip of the iceberg of solidarity work that might be done.
Many people want their voices to be heard, and I think we need to use some of our privilege as internationals to get those voices heard directly in the US, rather than through the filter of well-meaning internationals such as myself.
I am just beginning to learn, from what I expect to be a very intense tutelage, about the ability of people to organize against all odds, and to resist against all odds.
Press conference statement
of Rachel Corrie’s parentsMarch 19, 2003
On March 19, Craig and Cindy Corrie, parents of murdered peace activist Rachel Corrie, held a press conference on the terrace of Cannon House, one of the three buildings of the US House of Representatives in Washington D.C. Rep. Brian Baird (Rachel’s representative), Rep. Jim McDermott, and Rep. Adam Smith were present, all Democrats from Washington State. The following text is the statement Rachel’s parents made at the press conference. Text courtesy of Partners for Peace.
“Our daughter Rachel, a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement in the Occupied Territories, died Sunday in the Gaza Strip while courageously trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home.
“Our loss is immense, but we are buoyed by the outpouring of support and love that we’ve received from around the world. We understand that Rachel is being remembered in many places in many beautiful ways, and we are grateful. We are comforted and heartened by the compassionate expressions of love that we have received from both Palestinian and Israeli people. We will forever remember and be thankful for Rachel’s ISM and Palestinian friends who cared for her and who held her for us as she died.
“We are speaking out today because of Rachel’s fears about the impact of a war with Iraq on the people in the Occupied Territories. She reported to us that her Palestinian friends were afraid that with all eyes on Iraq, the Israeli Defense Forces would escalate activity in the Occupied Territories. Rachel wanted to be in Gaza if that happened.
“In the last six weeks, Rachel became our eyes and ears for Rafah, a city at the southern tip of Gaza. Now that she’s no longer there, we are asking members of Congress and, truly, all the world to watch and listen.
“One week ago I came rather timidly to members of Rachel’s delegation in Congress, expressing my concerns for the safety of those in the International Solidarity Movement. A piece of me wonders if I had spoken louder or sooner, if this week’s tragedy might have been averted. So today I am speaking up in memory of my daughter and on behalf of all her friends in Gaza.
“We are greatly concerned for the non-violent internationals volunteering in the Occupied Territories. We ask that members of Congress call upon the Israeli government to cease harassment of these individuals and, specifically, to cease firing upon them when they are engaged in protecting the Palestinian water supply, protecting Palestinian homes from illegal demolitions, and retrieving bodies of murdered Palestinians for return to their families all events Rachel witnessed.
“In my last phone conversation with Rachel, she expressed that when we fail to support and protect the Internationals who resist nonviolently, we also undercut the non-violent initiatives of the Palestinians. We are, therefore, asking our members of Congress to demand that the American Embassy in Tel Aviv, when called upon for assistance, provide all reasonable support to non-violent, American volunteers in the Occupied Territories, as well as support to other internationals as appropriate.
“We are asking members of Congress to bring the U.S. government’s attention back to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and to recognize that the occupation of the Palestinian territories is an overwhelming and continuous act of collective violence against the Palestinian people. We ask that military aid to Israel be commensurate with its efforts to end its occupation of the Palestinian Territories and to adhere to the rules of international law.
“Rachel would not want her death to overshadow that of others. In barely glancing at headlines since word came of Rachel’s death, I note that many have died this week in the Occupied Territories one a four-year-old child. I would like to be able to hold the mother of that child and to have her hold me.
“Yesterday, I looked at a publication entitled "Who Will Save the Children?" with photos of children who have died since September 2000 in Israel and in the Occupied Territories. I understand that the next publication will be dedicated to Rachel and will include her photograph.
“I want the mothers of these children to know that I have looked at the beaming faces of each of their babies and that I know how much the world has lost with the passing of each one of them.
“In one of her e-mails Rachel wrote:
Today as I walked on top of the rubble where homes once stood, Egyptian soldiers called to me from the other side of the border, "Go! Go!" because a tank was coming. Followed by waving and "what's your name?" There is something disturbing about this friendly curiosity. It reminded me of how much, to some degree, we are all kids curious about other kids: Egyptian kids shouting at strange women wandering into the path of tanks. Palestinian kids shot from the tanks when they peek out from behind walls to see what's going on. International kids standing in front of tanks with banners. Israeli kids in the tanks anonymously, occasionally shouting - and also occasionally waving -- many forced to be here, many just aggressive, shooting into the houses as we wander away.“How I wish that the young man in the bulldozer that killed Rachel could have just stopped, hopped out, and talked to her. He would have met a beautiful soul.
“In another e-mail, Rachel wrote:
This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop. I don't think it's an extremist thing to do anymore. I really want to dance around to Pat Benatar and have boyfriends and make comics for my co-workers. But I also want this to stop. Disbelief and horror is what I feel. Disappointment. I am disappointed that this is the base reality of our world and that we, in fact, participate in it. This is not at all what I asked for when I came into this world. This is not at all what the people here asked for when they came into this world. This is not what they are asking for now. This is not the world you and Dad wanted me to come into when you decided to have me.“Rachel’s brutal death illustrates dramatically the madness of war.”
Craig and Cindy Corrie
March 19, 2003
Related sites
Boycott Israel Campaign
http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-israel.html
“People of good conscience have chosen to boycott israeli products and companies supporting the zionist entity. ... We have carried out extensive research to identify the guilty companies. All our findings are provided here.”
SUSTAIN:
Stop US Tax-funded Aid to Israel Now
http://www.sustaincampaign.org/“SUSTAIN is a non-hierarchical, grassroots organization committed to supporting and sustaining the Palestinian movement for justice, human rights and self-determination.
“The United States government supports Israeli violations of Palestinian national and human rights militarily, economically, and ideologically. The most tangible form of this support is the massive tax-funded aid that goes to Israel. We are committed to building a campaign against US military and economic aid to Israel so that US tax-dollars do not support the abuse of human rights.”
DukeDivest
End Military Ties to Israel
http://www.dukedivest.org/index2.html“DukeDivest is a group of concerned students, faculty, staff and alumni calling upon Duke University to end all military ties to the state of Israel. This requires Duke to DIVEST from companies that do military business with Israel.
“We understand the enormous role the United States plays in this conflict, providing diplomatic, military, and financial support to Israel’s brutal occupation of Palestinian lands. We recognize our responsibility as members of the university community to use our influence to promote a just peace for Israelis and Palestinians. Standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for self-determination, we believe that divestment is an effective means of non-violent resistance that can pressure the Israeli government to comply with international law.”
Reports from Rafah - Palestine
http://rafah.virtualactivism.org/“Welcome. My name is Mohammed, I’m a student and I live in Rafah. On this website, I present photos and reports about my home town. About our life, our community, the home demolitions, homeless families, the children in our camp... About the tragedies that happen here every day.”
International Solidarity Movement
http://www.palsolidarity.org/“The International Solidarity Movement is a Palestinian-led movement of Palestinian and International activists working to raise awareness of the struggle for Palestinian freedom and an end to Israeli occupation. We utilize nonviolent, direct-action methods of resistance to confront and challenge illegal Israeli occupation forces and policies.”
Colorado Campaign for Middle East Peace
http://www.ccmep.org/Media-censored information and photos documenting the efforts of private American citizens to protect the Palestinian people and protest Israeli state terrorism — within Israel itself.
Palestine Independent Media Center
http://jerusalem.indymedia.org/“The Independent Media Center - Palestine, was founded to record and explore the current practices of the Israeli occupation and the real background to the conflict. For the first time this will be a truly free forum for the Palestinian people who choose to participate. The unique characters in our voluntary group come from many parts of Palestine but the majority are refugees from areas now occupied by Israel.”
Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
http://al-awda.org/“Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, is a broad-based, non-partisan, global, democratic association of grassroots activists and organizational representatives. Our objective is to educate the international community to fulfill its legal and moral obligations vis-à-vis the Palestinian people. Al-Awda develops, coordinates, supports and guides, as needed, global and local grassroots initiatives for action related to Palestinian rights. Our advocacy includes the right of Palestinians to return to their homeland, and to full restitution of all their confiscated and destroyed property in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International law and implementation of United Nations Resolutions which uphold these rights.”
Partners for Peace
http://partnersforpeace.org/“Partners for Peace is a non-profit organization which for over ten years has sought to educate the American public about key issues in the quest for peace and justice in the Middle East.
“Our major projects include intervention on behalf of U.S. citizens detained in Israel, organizing the ‘Jerusalem Women Speak: Three Women, Three Faiths, One Shared City’ speaking tour, and advocacy with the media.”
Rachel Corrie: a victim of Israeli policy and US complicity
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/mar2003/corr-m19.shtml“The more the circumstances surrounding the murder of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old American student killed by an Israeli military bulldozer March 16, become known, the clearer it is that the Israeli government bears direct political and legal responsibility, and that the Bush administration is its political accomplice in her death.
“Corrie, an extraordinary young woman, was deliberately crushed to death for trying to prevent the demolition of Palestinian homes in the refugee town of Rafah, in southern Gaza.”
Israeli military kills US student
Sharon regime implicated in premeditated murder
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/mar2003/isr1-m18.shtml“The killing of Corrie is murder by any definition of the word. Such criminal methods are standard fare for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in their dealings with the Palestinian population in the occupied territories. Such wanton and homicidal violence has become so routine that the daily killing of innocents goes largely unnoticed by the Western media. Far more than the officially reported 2,200 Palestinians have been killed in the course of the current Intifada.”
The Massacre
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/infograph/west%20bank/index.htmThis page is a gallery of photos taken in Palestine, which give you a hint of what life is like there. Despite the title of the page, it doesn’t show the most gruesome crimes committed by Israeli soldiers and “settler” gangs. But the photos are valuable for showing the devastation of the towns and the humanity of the Palestinian people. Also the inhumanity and stupidity of the Israeli soldiers. Particularly the one where the Israeli soldier jerk is pointing his rifle at a little Palestinian boy and making him cry.
“We fear that the gravest abuses against the Palestinian population are taking place behind closed doors as humanitarian agencies and the media are being barred access to most of the Occupied Territories.”
— Amnesty International
Indict Ariel Sharon
Justice for the Victims of Sabra & Shatila
http://indictsharon.net/“IndictSharon.net is the website of the International Campaign for Justice for the Victims of Sabra & Shatila, offering news on the case lodged in Belgium against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other Israelis and Lebanese responsible for the massacre, killing, rape and disappearance of civilians that took place in Beirut between 16 and 18 September 1982 in the camps of Sabra and Shatila and the surrounding area.”
Palestine Section : Massacres that world conscience ignored, savagery that surpasses nazis
http://www.ummah.com/inewsletter/massacres/palestine/Horrifying photographs of Israeli atrocities. Israeli soldiers truly are Jewish Nazis. You will have no doubt about it when you actually see what they have done to people.
Palestine Chronicle
News and Commentary from Palestine, the Middle East, and Beyond...
http://palestinechronicle.com/“Palestine Chronicle is an independent internet magazine, dedicated to addressing issues and offering perspectives rarely seen in mainstream western media. These issues include the plight and welfare of Palestinian refugees, as well as other displaced and oppressed people around the world.”
Palestine Media Watch
http://www.pmwatch.org/pmw/index.asp“The purpose of Palestine Media Watch is to fight anti-Palestinian bias in the US media and to call for giving Palestinian views greater room for expression.
“Palestine Media Watch is a grass-roots media watch group established on October 5, 2000 to help fight US media bias against Palestinians via direct action: writing letters and making phone calls. Our strength is in the commitment of our dedicated members — our gadflies — who day after day, through their informed letters to newspapers, work for a more balanced, more humane, and more informed portrayal of the Middle East conflict.”
The Electronic Intifada
http://electronicintifada.net/new.html“A resource for countering myth, distortion and spin from the Israeli media war machine.”
“The Electronic Intifada project...aims to focus on just one aspect of the struggle, the war in the media for a representation of the Palestinian point of view.”
This site also provides a running total the Palestinian men, women and children who have been murdered and injured by the Israeli “Defense” Forces.
Related pages
Zionism is Jewish Naziism: A Photo Essay on Israeli State Terrorism
American/Israeli Terrorism of the Palestinian People
A description of the sadistic nature and scope of Israeli state terrorism, with related sites for more information.
Israel’s State Terrorism
by Dr. Lev Grinberg
Albert Einstein Condemns Israeli Nazis
The Israeli Connection To 9-11
Ariel Sharon: The Jewish Hitler
Return of the Terrorist: The Crimes of Ariel Sharon
Bibliography:
Racist Zionism: Israeli Apartheid
Western State Terrorism
Alexander George, editor; essays by Noam Chomsky, Edward S. Herman, Gerry O’Sullivan and othersThe infamous quote by Yitzhak Shamir, at the top of this page, is given in Western State Terrorism, chapter 2: International Terrorism: Image and Reality, by Noam Chomsky, section 6, and note 36. See chapter sections 4 through 8 for heavily-censored (in America) information on the historical realities of Israeli state terrorism.
The Jenin Massacre:
Massacre at Jenin: “I now know the smell of death...”
Eyewitness Jenin: Evidence of a Massacre
The Israelis are Guilty of Mass Murder in Jenin
Human Rights Watch report excerpts
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