Rachel Corrie... Remember her?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

Rachel's war

This weekend 23-year-old American peace activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by a bulldozer as she tried to prevent the Israeli army destroying homes in the Gaza Strip. In a remarkable series of emails to her family, she explained why she was risking her life

Tuesday March 18, 2003
The Guardian

February 7 2003

Hi friends and family, and others,

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 the children here have ever existed without tank-shell holes in their walls and the towers of an 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.

Nevertheless, 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 of it 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 the fact, of course, 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. When I leave for school or work I can be relatively certain that there will not be a heavily armed soldier waiting halfway between Mud Bay and downtown Olympia at a checkpoint with the power to decide whether I can go about my business, and whether I can get home again when I'm done. As an afterthought to all this rambling, I am in Rafah: a city of about 140,000 people, approximately 60% of whom are refugees - many of whom are twice or three times refugees. 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. And then waving and "What's your name?". 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 agressive - shooting into the houses as we wander away.

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 you will start.

My love to everyone. My love to my mom. My love to smooch. My love to fg and barnhair and sesamees and Lincoln School. My love to Olympia.

Rachel

February 20 2003

Mama,

Now the Israeli army has actually dug up the road to Gaza, and both of the major checkpoints are closed. This means that Palestinians who want to go and register for their next quarter at university can't. People can't get to their jobs and those who are trapped on the other side can't get home; and internationals, who have a meeting tomorrow in the West Bank, won't make it. We could probably make it through if we made serious use of our international white person privilege, but that would also mean some risk of arrest and deportation, even though none of us has done anything illegal.

The Gaza Strip is divided in thirds now. There is some talk about the "reoccupation of Gaza", but I seriously doubt this will happen, because I think it would be a geopolitically stupid move for Israel right now. I think the more likely thing is an increase in smaller below-the-international-outcry-radar incursions and possibly the oft-hinted "population transfer".

I am staying put in Rafah for now, no plans to head north. I still feel like I'm relatively safe and think that my most likely risk in case of a larger-scale incursion is arrest. A move to reoccupy Gaza would generate a much larger outcry than Sharon's assassination-during-peace-negotiations/land grab strategy, which is working very well now to create settlements all over, slowly but surely eliminating any meaningful possibility for Palestinian self-determination. Know that I have a lot of very nice Palestinians looking after me. I have a small flu bug, and got some very nice lemony drinks to cure me. Also, the woman who keeps the key for the well where we still sleep keeps asking me about you. She doesn't speak a bit of English, but she asks about my mom pretty frequently - wants to make sure I'm calling you.

Love to you and Dad and Sarah and Chris and everybody.

Rachel

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,916299,00.html

[EFerrari]

1. I will never forget Rachel.

:kick:

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

3. I break down and cry every time I read her letters...

We're living in dangerous times.

[EFerrari]

8. Yes, we are.

:kick:

[Zhade]

2. I remember how some DUers joked about her murder at the hands of the IDF.

"Pancake princess" was a favorite of the anti-Arab faction here. Sickening.

She was a hero. A small one, but one nontheless.

[smacky44]

18. I do too. But they typical of the evil that luks among us.

[MisterP]

32. and "arrogant"

how dare she feel she should be treated like a human!

[LostinVA]

39. I remember -- shameful n/t

[sgxnk]

4. using the term

using the term "murder" in regards to her death begs the question

she was killed, yes

was she MURDERED

there were investigations conducted.

i don't think she was murdered. and i am wondering what evidence you have that she was

the reports i read were pretty compelling as to her being accidentally killed, not murdered

either way, her death is tragic, but calling it murder doesn't make it so

[uppityperson]

6. accidentally driving over someone you know is there is murder

not being able to see her at the last second, when you know where she was, and you cannot see that she has moved away (you COULD see her then), that is murder. Investigations? pshaw.

[sgxnk]

14. try your black's (law dictionary)

accidentally driving over someone you know is there is NOT murder

that's definitional

please look up the term "murder"

by your claim as to the facts, it was ARGUABLY manslaughter

[EFerrari]

15. Welcome to my ignore list!

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[uppityperson]

22. you know, you might be better off arguing this way on a lawyers forum

since we are a group of pretty normal caring people and this sort of attack is not needed here.

[sgxnk]

24. i guess

i should just imperiously say "welcome to my ignore list" everytime somebody presents facts in a discussion

i am not a lawyer, btw.

[uppityperson]

25. you should not insult people

ignorant, arrogant, oh what were the things you called me a couple nights ago? Can't remember but they were similar. There are ways to discuss, ways to present facts that are done in a non-inflammatory way. It might be a good idea to learn how to do this.

[sgxnk]

34. fair enough

i know how to do this, but i have been steeped in the internet/usenet "style" for so long

i can be non-inflammatory. kinda boring, but so be it

[Lerkfish]

31. I think the poster was attempting to get you to realize

your style of posting is offputting.

discussion boards are tools to achieve understanding, not weapons to be hurled at people you don't know.

and, actually, now that I've typed that, I realize I'm guilty of that myself from time to time.

[sgxnk]

35. fair enough

we all are.

some more guilty than others :)

[uppityperson]

16. don't bother the "I know the law" crap with me, it was a satiric joke

sardonic perhaps? and don't bother writing the definitions of both because I really don't care and you are missing the point. Perhaps I needed to put "accidentally" in quotes since you didn't get it.

[sgxnk]

26. you think

you think they INTENTIONALLY ran her over (by the way, it is not even conclusive as to whether she was run over, or was crushed by debris)?

INTENTIONALLY?

is that your inference?

[uppityperson]

30. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, really good chance of bein

yes.
I will not argue whether she was killed by the right or left tractor tread, or perhaps the scoopy thing on front, or by the debris the tractor pushed onto her, but yes. And now you will tell me it was not a tractor, why should you talk with someone as stupid, excuse me ignorant, as me who can't tell the difference between a tractor and a whatever the hell it was.

[sgxnk]

33. not at all

i will merely say there is nowhere near enough evidence for me to believe the driver had any intent whatsoever to harm rachel corrie

a key part of this is the fact that these cats have very bad visibility.

usually, when they operate, the employ a spotter on the ground . that policy is there BECAUSE the visibility is so poor with those things

(i have seen photos of them from inside the cockpit and they are heavily armored, and the view is quite obstructed)

on this date ( that rachel was out there), there was NOT a spotter because the IDF had received some intel that there might be a sniper out there that day

there are a lot more factors (many of the proISM parties gave some rather inconsistent statements)

etc.

and there are a lot of subjective factors that imo make murder seem even more unlikely, but those are more speculative

but clearly, the benefit of the doubt goes to the accused in all of these types of incidents

i think with even a cursory look at some of these factors, it is very difficult to come to a conclusion that she was murdered

[uppityperson]

40. congratulations, you can do it, disagree without being disagreeable (?)

forgetting about the oxymoron of that statement, onward. Manners on DU are needed, posters that post inflammatory or attacking posts generally are not able to continue to post for long. It may be boring, but it is the rules and many of us have come to appreciate having a forum with these rules.

Definition of murder is different in different countries around the world you know. And just because what I feel happened may not stand up in a court of law in the USA does not make it invalid or ignorant. Bad visibility means extra care is needed and it seems that didn't happen. Not going to bandy words/definitions, but let me say just that it was wrong, was done purposefully or with not enough caring to avoid.

[magellan]

9. What reports are those?

I've never heard this was anything but murder, regardless of the excuses the IDF made. Please share links to these reports, I'd like to read them.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

10. Where did you see the word "murdered" in the OP

or subsequent posts?

Apologist.

Okay, here's a murder:

The Death of Tom Hurndall



Tom Hurndall moments before joining the nonviolent demonstration where he was shot by an Israeli sniper.
Tom Hurndall was in a coma for nine months after being shot in the head by an Israeli sniper.
He died January 13, 2004.


It is with great sadness that If Americans Knew shares with you the news of the passing away of Tom Hurndall.

Tom, 22, died Tuesday night in a London hospital due to complications with pneumonia. He had spent the past nine months in a vegetative state after being shot in the head by an Israeli sniper on April 11, 2003, while trying to escort children to safety in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestine.

Tom was a member of the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led effort to bring internationals to the Occupied Palestinian Territories to aid the civilian population in non-violent resistance to the occupation.

At a hearing on Monday, a soldier arrested last week in connection with the shooting of Tom Hurndall, has finally been indicted on six charges : Aggravated Assault; two counts of Obstruction of Justice; Incitement to False Testimony; False Testimony; and Improper Conduct. A second soldier has been detained and is expected to be indicted on charges of Obstructing Justice and False Testimony.

As we grieve the death of Tom, let us not forget the ongoing catastrophic situation in Palestine that he was working to end. In fact, since he was shot, 407 Palestinians have been murdered and 1,990 have been injured. As Tom’s mother, Jocelyn, wrote recently in the UK Guardian, “It seems that life is cheap in the occupied territories. Different value attached to life depends on whether the victim happens to be Israeli, international or Palestinian.”

We ask that you write letters to the editor of your local newspaper regarding this incident. If your paper covered it, please thank them and ask them to report more on the plight of the Palestinian people. If your paper did not cover it, admonish them for it and demand to know why they consider Tom’s life, like so many in Palestine, unworthy of mention in their pages. Remember, as always, polite, concise, and to-the-point letters are more likely to be published.

For more information regarding Tom, please visit http://www.tomhurndall.co.uk/.

[theHandpuppet]

21. They didn't, Tom

I guess the poster was so quick to defend the murder of Rachel because that's exactly what it was, not that the word was ever used by the OP.

[blonndee]

23. Here's another: James Miller.

Filmmaker's Gaza death unresolved
By Sarah Lyall The New York Times

Published: June 26, 2006

LONDON Three years ago, in an incident that resonates now with the recent killing of seven members of a Palestinian family on a Gaza beach, a documentary filmmaker was shot and killed in Gaza.

Then, as now, the victims' families blamed the Israeli military, which denied responsibility. A major difference is that the filmmaker, James Miller, was a British citizen, and after some prodding from his family, his government has taken up his cause.

At first, about the only thing not in dispute in the Miller case was that he was dead, shot on May 2, 2003, in an area of the Gaza Strip thick with Israeli soldiers. The Israelis said he was a casualty of war. His colleagues said he had been killed in cold blood.

<snip>

A resolution of sorts came in April at a coroner's inquest here into the death of Miller, 34, an experienced filmmaker looking into the effects of violence on children for HBO. The jury's verdict was that he was murdered.

Full story--an excellent, thorough piece at
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/26/news/miller.php

Another story at http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,948548,00.html

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

28. God, that's tragic. thanks for the links.

[LostinVA]

11. She was murdered -- it was a deliberate killing

That equals murder, unless it was in self defense. It wasn't.

Murder.

[sgxnk]

36. the evidence that she was DELIBERATELY killed

is so thin i had to take out my Ronco Electron Microscope to give it a gander

[LostinVA]

38. Her death resulted from an intentional action

I don't play semantic games where life is concerned. Knock yourself out, though.

Nice smarmy reply. I'm not playing.

Oh, welcome to MY Ignore list. You are offputting, as Lerkfish said.

[uppityperson]

42. many of us are anit-semantic here, aren't we?

clicking on ignore is not good, there is another thing to click that I prefer here, you know? (watching, watching, watching, click click click, onward)

[Tom Joad]

46. anti-semantics? I think all of use semantics. Language

One entry found for semantic.
Main Entry: se·man·tic
Pronunciation: si-'man-tik
Variant(s): also se·man·ti·cal /-ti-k&l/
Function: adjective

1 : of or relating to meaning in language
2 : of or relating to semantics

[uppityperson]

47. yes, I get tired sometimes though of arguing semantics rather than

the problem. And sometimes semantical changes are very much needed. If semantical arguing are not meant to distract from the topic, or are used incorrectly since words vary different places,semantics are good.

[H2O Man]

37. Yes.

It was murder. Nothing but murder.


"What if you knew her
and found her dead on the ground
how can you run
when you know?"
-- Neil Young

[EFerrari]

13. delete

[FtWayneBlue]

41. eyewitness account says murdered.

An eyewitness account of Rachel Corrie's murder from ISM activist Tom in Rafah


http://www.indymedia.org.il/imc/israel/webcast/display.php3?article_id=52796

Many of you will of 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 it's 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.

Please: forward this message.

[Tom Joad]

48. The IDF conducted an investigation. The IDF was accused.

There was never permitted a full, fair, independent investigation. Even the State Department was not satisfied with the IDF findings. Yet never pushed the issue.

[uppityperson]

5. k&r for Rachel

[TAPat]

7. K&R

[panader0]

12. Heavy stuff .the e-mails are so compelling

[patrice]

17. Yes.

I will never forget any of this. Rachel Corrie is a Light in Darkness.

[WinkyDink]

20. Yes, I remember. But it seems one is expected to

remember only what Israel does wrong or without mercy.

I remember Pan Am 103 and the Syracuse U. students, also. And Leon Klinghoffer. And Dora Bloch. And Kiryat Shimona. And Danny Pearl. And the Munich Olympic athletes. I'll use them as symbolic and representative of the Palestinian mind-set:
"The Palestine Prize for Culture named after Mahmoud Hamshari is to be granted this year to Abu Daoud, mastermind of the 1972 massacre of Olympic athletes in Munich, the prize committee announced.

Abu Daoud will receive the prize, amounting to 10,000 French francs, for his book, "Palestine: From Jerusalem to Munich", in which he describes how he planned and implemented the killing of 11 Israeli athletes at Munich."

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

27. To me, WinkyDink, the difference lies in the fact that Israel is a

Powerful nation with the responsibilities that should be assumed by a nation. Unfortunately, it seems to me that the majority terrorists that do these heinous acts like you mention are not what one could call a country, but they do hide among the citizenry and strike like cowards. For us or Israel to react the way we have in the name of fighting terror is tantamount to nuking the Southeast to stop the spread of fire ants.

There's no justification for terrorists taking lives, and there is less justification for a country like the US or Israel to react in the ways we both have.

Israel is just as guilty as we are in the destruction of so many innocent lives.

[Tom Joad]

49. What has Palestine got to do with Danny Pearl???

[oberliner]

51. What does Rachel Corrie have to do with Anne Frank? nt

[Tom Joad]

52. I didn't put that up there. Still waiting for an answer.

The killing of Danny Pearl, who worked for the rabidly pro-war newspaper Wall Street Journal, was a tragedy, and was front page news for weeks. He died in Pakistan. The connection?

[H2O Man]

29. Yes.

Sure do.

[uppityperson]

43. Into I/P and no one can find it now, good job mods, truly I mean it

better than locking it.

[Tom Joad]

45. Can't stand an open debate, some folks. Gotta make sure it stays

hidden.

[Tom Joad]

44. The work of the International Solidarity Movement continues. Don't mourn.

organize!

http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/

Over 2 dozen activists from all over the world are now participating in Freedom Summer. Confronting extremist settlers in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron (where Palestinian children are attacked routinely as they walk to school).

ISM activists are also working under Palestinian leadership to the wall in the West Bank village of Bil'lin. The completion of the apartheid wall here will separate farmers from their crops. It will, in the end, destroy this community. That is why every week, Palestinians and their international friends, along with justice-loving Israelis, gather in nonviolent protest to this monstrosity.

More is happening.
So rather than just mourn Rachel, organize to support this vital work. Consider volunteering yourself. Or at least contribute.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/donations/

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

50. Thanks for the links.... Wow, I've never been in the I/P forum before.

[Tom Joad]

53. There is room for more than one Joad, here.

[midnight]

54. Bless you Rachel.

[Lithos]

55. Locking per I/P guidelines

Do not embed graphics or photographs of any kind into your messages. Maps or statistical graphs are okay.
New threads must be based on a recently-published news item or op-ed piece. They may not be based on editorial cartoons or photographs. Citations and references should include a link to the original source. Exceptions will be allowed if, based on prior approval, the moderators feel a thread is appropriate.
All threads must be based on material originally published no more than 3 weeks ago. The "clock" does not restart if an article is republished. Exceptions will be allowed, if based on prior approval, the moderators feel a thread is appropriate.

Lithos
DU Moderator

Side Note: DU policy allowing some discussion of recent events in Lebanon outside of the I/P forum does not provide any basis for side bar discussions such as these which have been conducted numerous times and whose responses are now cliched.