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Rachel Corrie (April 10, 1979–March 16, 2003) was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) who traveled as an activist to the Gaza Strip during the Al-Aqsa Intifada. She was killed when she tried to obstruct an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Caterpillar D9 bulldozer operating in a Palestinian residential area of Rafah, next to the border with Egypt - an area the IDF had designated a security zone and which contains a network of smuggling tunnels connecting Egypt to the Palestinian side of Rafah.
The circumstances of Corrie's death are disputed. ISM eyewitnesses say that the driver of the bulldozer deliberately ran over her twice while she was trying to prevent what they say might have been a house demolition. The IDF say the bulldozer driver did not see her; that the bulldozer was clearing brush and not engaged in a demolition; that Corrie was interfering with security operations designed to uncover the tunnels used by Hamas and other groups for smuggling weapons from Egypt; and that the cause of death was falling debris pushed over by the bulldozer.
Early life
Raised in Olympia, Washington, Corrie was the daughter of Craig Corrie, an insurance executive, and Cindy Corrie, an amateur flautist. She graduated from Capital High School, then attended Evergreen State College. She joined the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, then in her senior year the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), following which she left Evergreen to participate in ISM-organized demonstrations in Rafah.
Activities in Gaza
On January 18, 2003, Corrie traveled to the Gaza Strip, where she attended two days of training in non-violent resistance before joining other ISM activists in direct action protests. Through February and March, according to ISM activists and e-mails Corrie sent to her family, she took part in a mock trial of George W. Bush; a demonstration as part of the February 15, 2003 anti-war protest against the war in Iraq, where she burned a paper U.S. flag; and helped to occupy the area around local wells, an operation designed to protect the wells and Palestinian workers from the IDF, according to the ISM.
In e-mails to her family, Corrie described what she witnessed and expressed her frustration over it. On March 14, 2003 in an interview with the Middle East Broadcasting network, she said: "I feel like I'm witnessing the systematic destruction of a people's ability to survive ... Sometimes I sit down to dinner with people and I realize there is a massive military machine surrounding us, trying to kill the people I'm having dinner with."
Responsibility for Corrie's death
Bulldozer operations
The Israeli military frequently used armored bulldozers to demolish buildings and farmland in Rafah, inside what Israel called a "security zone" ("no man's land") near the border with Egypt. The IDF said that the demolitions were intended to uncover explosive devices, and destroy smuggling tunnels and firing positions. Palestinians and Israeli soldiers were sometimes killed during these demolition operations, which critics regarded as a form of collective punishment, while proponents saw them as a legitimate and essential measure of self-defense.
On March 16, 2003, Corrie was in a group of seven ISM activists (three British and four Americans) attempting to disrupt the actions of the bulldozers. The IDF later said it was not intending to demolish houses but was clearing debris and shrubbery to expose explosive devices.
Two ISM eyewitness accounts
The following account is from Joe Carr, also known as Joseph Smith, an ISM activist from Kansas City, Missouri.
- " noticed that two Israeli Army bulldozers and one tank entered onto Palestinian civilian property near the border and demolishing farmland and other already damaged structures. The military machine was severely threatening near-by homes, so the 3 activists went up onto the roof of one home, and then called for others to come.
- ", I arrived, and one of the three activists in the house joined me on the ground ... e began to disrupt the work of the bulldozers ... At this point, Rachel and the two other activists joined us ... Rachel and a British activist were wearing jackets that were fluorescent orange and had reflective stripping ... , Rachel and two other activists began interfering with the other bulldozer, which was attempting to destroy grass and other plants on what used to be farmland. They stood and sat in its path, and though it would drive very close to them, and even move the earth on which they were sitting, it always stopped in time to avoid injuring them ... , one bulldozer pushed Will, an American activist, up against a pile of barbed wire. Fortunately, the bulldozer stopped and withdrew just in time to avoid injuring him seriously, but we had to dig him out of the rubble, and unhook his clothing from the wire. The tank approached to see if he was ok. One soldier stuck his head out of the tank to see, and he looked quite shocked and dumbfounded, but said nothing ...
- ", ne bulldozer, serial number 949623, began to work near the house of a physician who is a friend of ours ... Rachel sat down in the pathway of the bulldozer ... continued driving forward headed straight for Rachel. When it got so close that it was moving the earth beneath her, she climbed onto the pile of rubble being pushed by the bulldozer. She got so high onto it that she was at eye-level with the cab of the bulldozer ... Despite this, he continued forward, which pulled her legs into the pile of rubble, and pulled her down out of view of the driver ... We ran towards him, and waved our arms and shouted, one activist with the megaphone. But continued forward, until Rachel was underneath the central section of the bulldozer ... Despite the obviousness of her position, the bulldozer began to reverse, without lifting its blade, and drug the blade over her body again. He continued to reverse until he was on the boarder strip, about 100 meters away, and left her crushed body in the sand. Three activists ran to her and began administering first-responder medical treatment ... She said, "My back is broken!" but nothing else ..."
Carr/Smith said elsewhere: "Rachel had two options. When the bulldozer started to dig in the dirt pile, the pile started to move, and she could have rolled sideways quickly or fallen backwards to avoid being hit. But Rachel leaned forward to climb to the top of the dirt pile. The bulldozer's digging drew her downward, and its driver could not see her anymore. So without lifting the scoop, he turned backward and she was already underneath the blade."
ISM activist Tom Dale was standing just yards away from Corrie. He told journalist Joshua Hammer, Jerusalem bureau chief for Newsweek:
- "The bulldozer built up earth in front of it. Its blade was slightly dug into the earth. She began to stand up. The earth was pushed over her feet. She tried to climb on top of the earth, to avoid being overwhelmed. She climbed to the point where her shoulders were above the top lip of the blade. She was standing on this pile of earth. As the bulldozer continued, she lost her footing, and she turned and fell down this pile of earth. Then it seemed like she got her foot caught under the blade. She was helpless, pushed prostrate, and looked absolutely panicked, with her arms out, and the earth was piling itself over her. The bulldozer continued so that the place where she fell down was directly beneath the cockpit. I think she would have been between the treads. The whole took place in about six or seven seconds," (Mother Jones, Sept-Oct 2003).
Visibility
The major points of dispute are whether the bulldozer driver saw Corrie, and whether she died after being hit by the blade or by falling debris, or whether she was crushed under the bulldozer tracks or the blade.
The photographic evidence is unclear. The ISM placed photographs on its website (including the image on the right, which was taken several hours before Corrie's death) that ISM said showed the events leading up to Corrie's death. Reuters published these images in sequence, alongside a photograph of her in front of the bulldozer directly after being injured, thereby giving the impression that the photographs taken several hours before her death had, in fact, been taken immediately before it, and that the bulldozer driver had been able to see her, but had driven over her anyway. When the error was discovered, Reuters and ISM removed the images from their websites, but it was argued that the damage had already been done.
The IDF produced a video about Corrie's death that includes footage taken from inside the cockpit of a D9. It makes a "credible case," Joshua Hammer wrote in Mother Jones that "the operators, peering out through narrow, double-glazed, bulletproof windows, their view obscured behind pistons and the giant scooper, might not have seen Corrie kneeling in front of them."
Because the Caterpillar D9 bulldozers have a restricted field of vision with several blind spots, Israeli army regulations normally require that other soldiers assist in directing bulldozer drivers, but the Israeli army commander of the Gaza Strip said in an interview broadcast on Israeli television that, on the day of Corrie's death, soldiers had to stay in their armored vehicles and were not able to direct the bulldozer, or arrest the protesters, because of a potential threat from Palestinian snipers. He also said that Israeli soldiers may have been handling other ISM activists instead of watching over the bulldozer. The ISM activists in the vicinity say they were not being "handled" by soldiers at the time of the incident.
Israeli government report
The Israeli government promised a thorough, credible, and transparent investigation. An initial autopsy was performed at the National Center of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv. The Jerusalem Post, quoting an Israeli military spokesman, reported on June 26, 2003 that Corrie had not been run over, and that the driver had not seen her:
- "The driver at no point saw or heard Corrie. She was standing behind debris which obstructed the view of the driver and the driver had a very limited field of vision due to the protective cage he was working in.
- "The driver and his commanders were interrogated extensively over a long period of time with the use of polygraph tests and video evidence. They had no knowledge that she was standing in the path of the tractor. An autopsy of Corrie's body revealed that the cause of death was from falling debris and not from the tractor physically rolling over her. It was a tragic accident that never should have happened.
- "The International Solidarity Movement, to which Corrie belonged, was directly responsible for illegal behavior and conduct in the area of Corrie's death and their actions directly led to this tragedy."
The Israeli army's report, which was seen by the The Guardian, said that Corrie was: "struck as she stood behind a mound of earth that was created by an engineering vehicle operating in the area and she was hidden from the view of the vehicle's operator who continued with his work. Corrie was struck by dirt and a slab of concrete resulting in her death ... The finding of the operational investigations shows that Rachel Corrie was not run over by an engineering vehicle but rather was struck by a hard object, most probably a slab of concrete which was moved or slid down while the mound of earth which she was standing behind was moved," (The Guardian, April 14, 2003).
The Israeli report also states that the army had not, in fact, intended to demolish a house, but was searching for explosives in the border area designated a security zone or "no man's land" by Israel. No houses were demolished on the day of Corrie's death, but one of the houses she believed she was protecting — the home of pharmacist or physician Samid Nasrallah — was damaged six months later when the IDF knocked a hole in one of its walls. The IDF eventually demolished the house in January 2004, according to the charity Rebuilding Alliance, because it stood in the security zone.
A spokesman for the IDF told the Guardian that, while it did not accept responsibility for Corrie's death, it intended to change its operational procedures to avoid similar incidents in the future. The level of command of similar operations would be raised, said the spokesman, and civilians in the area would be dispersed or arrested before operations began. Observers will be deployed and CCTV cameras will be installed on the bulldozers to compensate for blindspots, which may have contributed to Corrie's death.
The IDF gave copies of the report, entitled "The Death of Rachel Corrie," to members of the U.S. Congress in April 2003, and Corrie's family released the document to the media in June 2003, according to the Gannett News Service. However, in March 2004, the family maintained that the entire report had not been released, and that only they and two American staffers at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv had been allowed to view it. The family say they were allowed to look at the report in the Israeli consulate in San Francisco. The ISM rejected the Israeli report stating it was contrary to their members' eyewitness reports, and that the investigation had been far from credible and transparent.
Reaction
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Corrie's death sparked controversy and led to international media coverage, in part because she was an American, and in part because of the highly politicized nature of the conflict itself.
Capt. Jacob Dallal, a spokesman for the Israeli army, called Corrie's death a "regrettable accident" and said that she and the other ISM activists were "a group of protesters who were acting very irresponsibly, putting everyone in danger — the Palestinians, themselves and our forces — by intentionally placing themselves in a combat zone."
The University of Maryland, College Park's campus newspaper The Diamondback echoed this view, publishing a cartoon referring to Corrie's "stupidity" for "sitting in front of a bulldozer to protect a gang of terrorists," which led to protests in the newspaper's offices.
Amnesty International USA called for an independent inquiry, with Christine Bustany, their advocacy director for the Middle East, saying that "U.S.-made bulldozers have been 'weaponized' and their transfer to Israel must be suspended." U.S. Representative Brian Baird introduced Resolution 111 in the U.S. Congress on March 25, 2003, calling on the U.S. government to "undertake a full, fair, and expeditious investigation" into Corrie's death. (pdf) The Corrie family also called for a U.S. investigation.
There were claims that her death attracted attention only because she was an American. The Observer wrote that: "On the night of Corrie's death, nine Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, among them a four-year-old girl and a man aged 90. A total of 220 people have died in Rafah since the beginning of the intifada. Palestinians know the death of one American receives more attention than the killing of hundreds of Muslims." A Hamas activist told the newspaper: " death serves me more than it served her. Going in front of the tanks was heroic. Her death will bring more attention than the other 2,000 martyrs."
The same article also recounts the scene as mourners gathered to commemorate Corrie at the spot where she was fatally injured. "The desolate sandy stretch is now strewn with the rubble from the demolition of houses which she could not prevent. As the memorial service got under way, the Israeli army sent its own representative. A tank pulled up beside the mourners and sprayed them with tear gas. A bizarre game of cat-and-mouse began as the peace activists chased the tank around to throw flowers on it, and the Israeli soldiers inside threatened, in return, to run them down."
Her photograph has been used in protests, including in Rafah, against Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank. On July 15, 2003, the Chicago Tribune reported that "to the people of Rafah, Rachel Corrie will always remain a very special martyr, their American martyr."
My Name is Rachel Corrie, a play composed from Corrie's journals and e-mails from Gaza and directed by British actor Alan Rickman, opened in London and ran until April 30, 2005, before being revived in October 2005. The play was to be transported to the New York Theatre Workshop, but when it was postponed indefinitely, the English producers denounced the decision as "censorship" and withdrew the show.
Historian Howard Zinn had planned to make a statement at the New York opening that Corrie was part of a long tradition in the United States of "people who crossed into other parts of the world, without the endorsement or protection of the United States government, to express the common bond with victims of injustice in other countries ... Our hope for a future world community rests with such people, like Rachel Corrie, whose lives and deaths will always remind us that all people in all countries deserve the same justice." The play has since been published as a paperback, also entitled My Name is Rachel Corrie.
The widespread media coverage of Corrie's death, and the London play in particular, sparked criticism of what British journalist Tom Gross called "the cult of Rachel Corrie." In an article called "The Forgotten Rachels," published in The Spectator on October 22, 2005, Gross tells the stories of six other women called Rachel, Jewish victims of the Arab-Israeli conflict whose deaths, he wrote, received little, if any, coverage outside Israel. The article prompted a National Review editorial arguing that "Corrie’s death was unfortunate, but more unfortunate is a Western media and cultural establishment that lionizes 'martyrs' for illiberal causes while ignoring the victims those causes create."
Lawsuit
As of March 15, 2005, Corrie's family planned to file a lawsuit against Caterpillar Inc. alleging liability over the death of Corrie and in connection with the equipment used in the home demolitions, which they say is a violation of international law. Claims have already been filed against the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli Defense Ministry.
Alleged attempt to kidnap of Corrie's parents
On January 4, 2006, Samir Nasrallah told news sources that Palestinian gunmen had entered his Rafah home, where Corrie's parents were staying overnight, with the intention of kidnapping them, but abandoned their plans when told who his guests were. The gunmen allegedly wanted to use Americans as bargaining chips to secure the release of Alaa al-Hams, a Palestinian militia leader arrested on suspicion of ordering the kidnap of British human-rights activist Kate Burton and her parents. The ISM released a statement disputing Nasrallah's version of events, and saying that the Corries were not the intended targets.
See also
References
- "Bulldozer accident" no byline, HonestReporting.com, March 20, 2003
- "You may remember Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old American radical who was crushed to death when she jumped in front of an Israeli army bulldozer" no byline, National Review, May 23, 2005
- "Palestinians bulldoze Gaza crossing, enter Egypt", no byline, Associated Press, January 4, 2006
- "Report: Palestinians bulldoze border fence, try to kidnap Corrie parents", no byline, Israelinsider, January 4, 2006
- Bedein, David. "When Reuters Miscaptioned a Photo, They Changed an Accidental Death into a Murder", Israel Resource Review, March 21, 2003
- Corrie, Rachel. "You Just Can't Imagine It", Common Dreams News Center, released March 19, 2003
- Gross, Tom. "The Forgotten Rachels: Anti-Israel propaganda sells out on the London stage", The Spectator, October 22, 2005
- Hammer, Joshua. "The death of Rachel Corrie: martyr, idiot, dedicated, deluded. Why did this American college student crushed by an Israeli bulldozer put her life on the line? And did it matter?", Mother Jones, Sept-Oct 2003
- Jordan, Sandra. "Making of a martyr", The Observer, March 22, 2003
- Overington, Caroline. "Bulldozer maker sued for role in peace activist's death", Sydney Morning Herald, March 17, 2005
- Urquart, Conal. "Israeli report clears troops over US death", The Guardian, April 14, 2003
- Viner, Katherine. "Let me fight my monsters", The Guardian, April 8, 2005
- Weiss, Philip. Too Hot for New York The Nation, March 16, 2006
Further reading
- Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice
- "Rachel's Words"
- RachelCorrie.org
- Articles, Photographs And Writings, Rachel-Corrie.com
- BY TOPIC: Rachel Corrie, The Electronic Intifada
- Memorial website, CriticalConcern.com
- Chas Newkey-Burden's article about My Name Is Rachel Corrie, from Current Viewpoint
- Photo collection from bulldozing incident, IndyBay.org
- "Family of Rachel Corrie Sues Israeli Government and Caterpillar Inc. Two Years After She Was Crushed by Military Bulldozer", no byline, Democracy Now, March 16, 2005
- Rachel's war, no byline, The Guardian, March 18, 2003.
- Rachel's war (additional emails), no byline, The Guardian, March 18, 2003.
- Rachel's last mail, no byline, The Guardian, March 20, 2003.
- "Rachel Corrie, continued" no byline, HonestReporting, March 25, 2003
- University of Maryland paper considers new policy after cartoon incites protests, no byline, Student Press Law Center, April 3, 2003
- How Rachel Corrie died (1), Letters to the Editor, The Guardian, May 24, 2003.
- How Rachel Corrie died (2), Letters to the Editor, The Guardian, May 27, 2003.
- "As Unarmed IDF Soldiers Evacuate Settlers, A Look at the Israeli Bulldozing of the Palestinian Home that Killed Rachel Corrie", no byline, Democracy Now, August 17, 2005.
- Theatre gets stagefright over play on Israeli death of activist, no byline, The Sydney Morning Herald, reprinted from The Guardian, March 1, 2006.
- Billington, Michael. My Name is Rachel Corrie, The Guardian, April 14, 2005.
- Borger, Julian. Alan Rickman slams 'censorship' of play about U.S. Gaza activist, The Guardian, February 28, 2006.
- Bragg, Billy. The lonesome death of Rachel Corrie, The Guardian, March 28, 2006. With mp3.
- Chevallot, Isabelle. Four deaths, not one answer, The Guardian, October 20, 2003.
- Clark, Dave. The correspondence of Rachel Corrie, The Guardian, December 29, 2003.
- Corrie, Cindy and Craig. Rachel was bulldozed to death, but her words are a spur to action, The Guardian, October 8, 2005.
- Dale, Tom. "The closest eye witness account on the murder of Rachel Corrie", International Solidarity Movement
- Daniels, Peter. Capitulation to censors: NY theater cancels Rachel Corrie play, World Socialist Web Site, March 3, 2006.
- Dunham, Chris. Remembering Rachel, The Guardian, March 20, 2003.
- Goldenberg, Suzanne. Bulldozer firm sued over Gaza death, The Guardian, March 16, 2005.
- Jordan, Sandra. Making of a martyr, The Observer, March 23, 2003.
- Lash Balint, Judy. "Peace Activists in the Middle East: Out of Their Depth", Jerusalem Diaries, April 3, 2003
- Klein, Naomi. On rescuing Private Lynch and forgetting Rachel Corrie, The Guardian, May 22, 2003.
- McGreal, Chris. Israeli army bulldozer crushes U.S. peace protester in Gaza Strip, The Guardian, March 17, 2003.
- McGreal, Chris. Activist's memorial service disrupted, The Guardian, March 19, 2003.
- Parry, Nigel and El Fassed, Arjan. Photostory: Israeli bulldozer driver murders American peace activist, The Electronic Intifada, March 16, 2003.
- Rickman, Alan (adapter) and Corrie, Rachel. My name is Rachel Corrie. Nick Hern Books, 2006. ISBN 1854598783
- Shattan, Ruhama. "A Tribute to Rachel Corrie, Thanks for showing us what 'peace' really means", Wall Street Journal, March 16, 2004
- Sutherland, John. Rachel Corrie died under a bulldozer for her beliefs and now her reputation is being blogged to death, The Guardian, March 31, 2003.
- Townsend, Mark. Family fears activist's death will never be explained, The Observer, January 30, 2005.
- Townsend, Mark. Diary of an American martyr inspires a young audience in theatre's hit play, The Observer, April 24, 2005.
- Urquhart, Conal. Israeli report clears troops over U.S. death, The Guardian, April 14, 2003.
- Viner, Katherine. Surely Americans will not put up with this censorship, The Guardian, March 1, 2006.
- Ini, Gilead. Idealist Rachel Corrie was misled, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 4, 2006