In honor of Rachel Corrie

Rachel Corrie was killed on this date in 2003 in Palestine.  She was trying to stop the destruction of a Palestinian home by the IDF by acting as a human shield.  They ran over her with a bulldozer and killed her.  She was 23.

Today, her family is working on a civil suit against the IDF and Israel.

Rachel Corrie’s family brings civil suit over human shield’s death in Gaza

The family of the American activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza seven years ago, is to bring a civil suit over her death against the Israeli defence ministry.  The case, which begins on March 10th in Haifa, is seen by her parents as an opportunity to put on public record the events that led to their daughter's death in March 2003.

Four key witnesses – three Britons and an American – who were at the scene in Rafah when Corrie was killed will give evidence.  The four were all with the International Solidarity Movement, the activist group to which Corrie belonged. They have since been denied entry to Israel, and the group's offices in Ramallah have been raided several times in recent weeks by the Israeli military.  Now, under apparent US pressure, the Israeli government has agreed to allow them entry so they can testify.

Rachel wrote this piece when she was ten years old:

We have got to understand that the poor are all around us and we are ignoring them.
We have got to understand that these deaths are preventable.
We have got to understand that people in third world countries think and care and smile and cry just like us.
We have got to understand that they are us. We are them. - 10 year old Rachel Corrie, who was killed by the Occupation Army 13 years later

What an amazing child she was to see this clearly!  She must have had remarkable parents.

From End the Occupation email:

The trial is already generating significant media attention, and the Rachel Corrie Foundation--a member group of the US Campaign--is posting trial updates on their website. Rachel's parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, have issued a call for an International Day of Conscience on March 16, which marks 7 years since Rachel's death. To get action resources and register your March 16 actions and events, click here. One action that the Corrie's request you take is to call the White House and tell them to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.  Special Envoy George Mitchell should be sent to the Gaza Strip the determine the need for humanitarian aid and then the U.S. should directly deliver that aid in contravention of the Israeli blockade.  Call the White House at (202) 456-1111.

This blog post is my way of honoring Rachel and the International Day of Conscience.  And I will be calling the White House today also.

The Rachel Corrie Foundation website is here.

More information on Rachel Corrie is here.

Photo:  Peace activist Rachel Corrie died while protesting in front of a bulldozer trying to destroy a Palestinian home in Rafah in March 2003. Photograph: Denny Sternstein/AP