Activists Want Probe of Rachel Corrie Killing in Israel

Inter Press Service | 3/18/04 | Emad Mekay

[kattracks]

WASHINGTON, Mar 17 (IPS) - Still angered by the death of Rachel Corrie, a U.S peace activist who was run over and crushed to death by an Israeli Army bulldozer, peace campaigners here are urging U.S. legislators to investigate the death of the 23-year-old activist.

Corrie was killed in Rafah, Palestine while trying to stop the demolition of a Palestinian house in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) on Mar. 16, 2003.

The U.S. company Caterpillar Inc, based in Illinois, built the nine-ton bulldozer that ran over Corrie, a college student from Olympia in Washington State. Her death made international headlines.

Dozens of non-governmental groups and peace activists, including Jewish groups and individuals, are taking part in a series of activities to honour her death, including protests outside Caterpillar offices.

They say they are particularly concerned because the bulldozer was made in the United States and sent to Israel as part of the regular U.S. aid package to that country, which amounts to $3-to-$4 billion annually; all of it, point out the activists, U.S. taxpayers' money.

Along with Corrie's family, the activists say using Caterpillar bulldozers to destroy civilian homes--not to mention to run over unarmed human rights activists--also violates U.S. law, including the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, which prohibits the use of military aid against civilians.

Caterpillar, a company with annual sales of more than $22.8 billion, more than half of which comes from overseas business, has been reluctant to divulge how much money it makes from its dealings with Israel.

Caterpillar did not return phone calls from IPS.

More than 30 vigils and educational events marking the one-year anniversary of Corrie's death are taking place in 30 cities in 19 U.S. states. Activists also held a ceremony at the Erez crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Speaking outside the Caterpillar office in Washington D.C., Adam Shapiro, an American Jewish activist who was deported by Israel for his humanitarian work, said the groups want the company to stop selling machinery to the Israeli military.

"Our message to Caterpillar is to stop selling bulldozers to Israel and to demand that the Israeli military cease and desist from using the Caterpillar bulldozers in its occupation of Palestinian land," said Shapiro, a co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) to which Corrie belonged.

"It looks really bad when Caterpillar's bulldozers destroy somebody's home," added Shapiro.

The City of Santa Cruz, California, population 55,633, proclaimed March 16 'Rachel Corrie Day.'

"It is a very sad commentary on the state of political affairs in the United States that our national government has done virtually nothing to find out what happened and to insist that those responsible for her death be held accountable," said Santa Cruz Mayor Scott Kennedy in a statement.

An Israeli army investigation concluded last year that the Israeli driver of the bulldozer did not see Corrie and did not deliberately run over her, despite repeated eyewitness accounts to the contrary.

The contradiction between the Israeli and eyewitness accounts "makes an independent U.S. investigation into Rachel's death even more imperative", said several groups from the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, in a statement.

Amnesty International USA also renewed its call for an independent investigation of her death.

A current resolution in the U.S. Congress urging a probe has only 56 co-sponsors, and needs many more before the body orders a formal investigation.

Earlier this month, Elizabeth Corrie, Rachel's cousin, wrote in the International Herald Tribune that a year of silence has passed since her cousin's death, revealing "immoral and criminal truths."

Rachel Corrie died attempting to prevent the demolition of a home, a common practice under the Israeli Army's ''collective punishment'' code, which has left more than 12,000 Palestinians homeless since the beginning of the second uprising against Israel's occupation of parts of the Palestine territories in September 2000, Elizabeth added.

The demolitions violate international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Elizabeth Corrie said the Bush administration acted with ''cowardice."

"Citizens of the United States should ask themselves how it is that an unarmed U.S. citizen can be killed with impunity by a soldier from an allied nation receiving massive U.S. aid, using a product manufactured in the United States by a U.S. corporation, and paid for with U.S. tax dollars," she wrote.

Peace activists are also angered because Corrie's death was the first in a number of Israeli attacks on foreign citizens and peace activists in the West Bank and Gaza.

The Israeli army has cracked down particularly hard on activists from the International Solidarity Movement, saying they have hampered military operations in the occupied territories.

British citizen Tom Hurndall was shot in the head Apr. 11, 2003 and died Jan. 13, 2004.

U.S. national Brian Avery was shot in the face Apr. 5, 2003 and seriously injured, despite the fact he reportedly had his hands up and was wearing a vest that identified him as an international worker.

British journalist James Miller was also shot and killed in April 2003.

The groups contrast the treatment of the injured and slain activists with the killing of three U.S. citizens, presumably by Palestinian gunmen, in an explosion Oct. 15, 2003 as they travelled through Gaza. Within 25 hours, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI (news - web sites)) arrived to investigate their deaths.

"While the U.S. government has assisted in the investigations into cases of U.S. citizens killed by Palestinian armed groups, it has failed to do so in Corrie's case, raising the appearance of a double standard," said AIUSA in a statement.

"After one year, neither the FBI nor any other U.S.-led team has done anything to investigate the death of an American killed by an Israeli," said Elizabeth Corrie. "Why the double standard? Perhaps this reveals the most disturbing truth of all."

Elizabeth Corrie herself has become the subject of hate mail and incitement on right-wing websites. The "Right Thinking" homepage wrote: "one more Corrie, somewhere there is a bulldozer waiting for this girl."

The activists say their congressional resolution is not anti-Israel or anti-Semitic.

"On the contrary, this resolution strengthens the U.S.-Israel relationship by encouraging the two countries to work together to ensure the protection of the lives of American citizens engaged in human rights and humanitarian work," they said in their statement.

"I think her death brought home to a lot of people that the cause that we are working for is serious and takes lives, and is a reminder to us why we have an obligation to keep working for justice and peace," said Josh Ruebner of Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel.

[Mr. Mojo]

Dozens of non-governmental groups and peace activists, including Jewish groups and individuals, are taking part in a series of activities to honour her death, including protests outside Caterpillar offices.

I think I'll honor her death as well. ......by buying some Caterpillar stock on Monday.

[capitan_refugio]

"...somewhere there is a bulldozer waiting for this girl ..."

Splat!

[Psycho_Bunny]

RACHEL: 0

DARWIN: 1

[irishtenor]

Ok, here's the probe... Fact: Caterpillar tractor was moving. Fact: Activist got in the way of said tractor. Fact: Human bodies not meant to go against moving tons of steel. Fact: Two objects cannot be in the same place at the same time. Fact: Somethings got to give. Fact: Something did.

[RonHolzwarth]

Yes, indeed, her death should be investigated.

What was she doing there? Defending terrorists?

Aren't we having a war on terror?

So, she was there, defending terrorists?

Yes, indeed, an investigation is called for, certainly!

[zarf]

The 'Palestinian" boys are the soul brothers of the Al Queda boys.

They are terrorists pure and simple.

Young Ms. Corrie was aiding and abetting terror with her misguided idiocy.

[bc2]

I party agree with the mother. End foreign aid to Israel.

But that opinion comes with strings attached. I'm a libertarian, and I think we should end all public foreign aid. I also think we should stop preventing Israel from really eradicating these terrorist scum.

[Euro-American Scum]

Activists Want Probe of Rachel Corrie Killing in Israel

It's real simple:

Peacenik. . . Caterpiller. . . Pancake.

Any questions?

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

"Our message to Caterpillar is to stop selling bulldozers to Israel and to demand that the Israeli military cease and desist from using the Caterpillar bulldozers in its occupation of Palestinian land," said Shapiro, a co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) to which Corrie belonged. "It looks really bad when Caterpillar's bulldozers destroy somebody's home," added Shapiro.

Ah, cripes.

[bc2]

I party agree with the mother. End foreign aid to Israel.

But that opinion comes with strings attached. I'm a libertarian, and I think we should end all public foreign aid. I also think we should stop preventing Israel from really eradicating these terrorist scum.

[montag813]

Dozens of non-governmental groups and peace activists, including Jewish groups and individuals, are taking part in a series of activities to honour her death

There is no greater enemy of Israel than a self-loathing Jew. Disgusting beyond words.

[beaversmom]

JPPI in the News

"Israeli Activist Promotes Peace"

By McDOWELL CROOK BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD October 17, 2002

In 1996, Joshua Ruebner watched 27 people die outside his apartment in Jerusalem when a Palestinian terrorist walked onto a public bus and blew the packed vehicle to bits.

"It was like watching a scene from hell. Body parts all over, the smell of charred flesh ... it was just disgusting," he said.

Ruebner, a Jew in college at the time and who was slightly injured, said he could have allowed that emotion to create a bias against Palestinians, which has happened to many Israelis who have witnessed such events.

He decided to push for more understanding of the Palestinian position.

After his graduation, and after working for a brief time for the U.S. government in Washington as a foreign relations consultant, he quit and co-founded Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel, a Washington-based organization of American Jews who support justice and peace.

Ruebner spoke at the UAB Alumni Auditorium on Wednesday, his topic "A Jewish Perspective on a Just Peace in Palestine and Israel." He also spoke with members of Or Hadash, a Jewish humanitarian congregation, at a private home, before his UAB talk.

He acknowledged that few in the Jewish community are sympathetic to his views, but said that is changing.

"This is a growing movement within American Judaism," he said Wednesday before his talk. "Jews are standing up and saying what Israel is doing to the Palestinian people is unconscionable.

"This is revolutionary for our community because we have been very insular and we've been protective of the reputations of our brothers and sisters in Israel.

"But now you have thousands of activists around the country who are saying that this oppression of the Palestinian people needs to end, and end now."

Ashfaq Taufique, president of the Birmingham Islamic Society, who is involved with the Muslim Students' Association and Birmingham for Justice, the two groups that sponsored the event, said he hopes people will listen to Ruebner, even though his opinion is not widespread.

"It's not very popular right now, but at the same time it is an important voice," he said.

Ruebner's organization wants to see not only the end of Israeli military occupations, but the establishment of a Palestinian state, where "Palestinians are living side by side in peace with Israel," he said.

But until the military occupation ends, no progress will be made, he said.

"Palestinians can't go to work, go shopping or go to school without the permission of Israeli soldiers. This is a very degrading situation that has been going on for 35 years now," he said.

Suicide bombings are a result of the repressive conditions Palestinians live in, he said.

Such an environment creates the extremists who bomb people, he said.

"I think the whole situation is sad, that a Palestinian teenager sees no future to his or her own life, that this (suicide bombing) is the only productive way to end it," he said.

"I think that phenomenon will vanish once Palestinians are allowed to achieve their freedom and live in dignity. I don't see any reason a Palestinian would want to attack an Israeli once he had achieved those freedoms."

Ruebner said he has high hopes for the group's — and the cause's —future.

"This is the next big civil rights movement in America," he said. "

[montag813]

Speaking outside the Caterpillar office in Washington D.C., Adam Shapiro, an American Jewish activist who was deported by Israel for his humanitarian work, said the groups want the company to stop selling machinery to the Israeli military

ADAM SHAPIRO IS NOT A "JEW". HE LIVES IN RAMALLAH WITH HIS MUSLIM WIFE. HE IS AN ENEMY OF ISRAEL AND THE UNITED STATES.

[tubavil]

"After one year, neither the FBI nor any other U.S.-led team has done anything to investigate the death of an American killed by an Israeli," said Elizabeth Corrie. "Why the double standard? Perhaps this reveals the most disturbing truth of all."

Gee, Ms. Bitch, where could Rachel have gotten her hatred of the US and Israel?

[RightOnline]

She died from that often-incureable disease commonly referred to as "Dumbass". It can often prove fatal, as we saw in this instance.

[montag813]

Rachel Corrie died attempting to prevent the demolition of a home, a common practice under the Israeli Army's ''collective punishment'' code, which has left more than 12,000 Palestinians homeless

More deceptive reporting. They are "homeless" because a member of their family murdered Israelis as a suicide bomber, or gunman. They are hardly innocents being persecuted.

[putupjob]

Maybe we need a government commission to determine if it can be fatal if someone decides to get in front of a bulldozer.

Maybe we should have one of the warnings posted on a bulldozer that a bulldozer could be hazardous to your health. That should do it.

[Slings and Arrows]

Ping! Lot of St. Pancake threads these past few days.

[beaversmom]

Why don't they report the number of Israelis that are familymemberless?