| American activist killed in Gaza |
According to fairly early reports, American peace activist Rachel Corrie was killed by IDF bulldozer a few hours ago in Gaza. Seems she, along with few other activists, were trying to act as ‘human shields’ when IDF was demolishing some Trees and maybe some buildings. The soldiers evacuated her and another activist several times from the area, sometimes in force and even with tear gas. However, it seems she kept running back to stand in front of the bulldozers. According to another activist, Greg Schnabel, she ran to the bulldozer and then fell down. The bulldozer then ran over her.
From what it sounds (and I’ve read more then 15 different sources), seems there was a real tragedy. Seems the Bulldozer driver didn’t see her with all the mess going on around there and ran over her after she fell down. A terrible accident which I find really frustrating.
This is the fault of 2 sides:
First and ultimately - Rachel herself. Even if you decide to be a dumb ass and push yourself into a conflict zones by force, being evacuated once or twice is enough to make your point that you’re against the whole thing. Fighting the soldiers (who basically PROTECTS you) and running back to the “hot spot” is not only stupid and idiotic, it also yearns for such accidents.
The second side to carry blame is our own soldiers. For crying out laud, you know these guys are provocative and probably a little insane - can’t you get a hold of a couple of people!? Knock them all out if you need, arrest them and jail them, but don’t let them run between your legs when you’re working! For god sake, this whole thing could have been avoided if you were just a little harder on them!
I know the IDF really puts an effort as these activists been doing these kind of ‘human shields’ acts for the past 2 years and non of them got hit till now. This is just a bad accident. so wasteful.
What pisses me off is that this was a really meaningless act. Miss Corrie, you wanted to prove a point here, which I may or may not agree with, but what do you gain in getting killed!? And by accident?! It is just a waste of life, plain and simple. I’m not saying this cause I fear the world reaction on Israel. You know why? Cause there ain’t going to be any serious reaction. This is a lousy time to die for your cause, Rachel. Everybody got their eyes to Iraq right now, no one is going to remember a 24 American student in a couple of days.
You probably hated me for being Israeli, Rachel. Specially one that served and still serve in the army in reserve duty. We may be worlds apart in opinions and life experience. But I still can not avoid feeling a little sorry for your needless death.
Damn it, American and European “peace activists” kids, grow up.
Running in front of too many moving cars will eventually get you killed, no matter what you shout in the process.
Update
According to LittleGreenFootballs, Corrie was quite extremist:
Well, I won’t say I was encouraged by these photos, but then again, I didn’t assume a girl that fights soldiers and run towards a bulldozer to stop it with her body will be a polite, gentle, quiet person. I disagree with her opinions, but I still think its a waste of life. 23 is such an early age and so many things could have changed. pitty.
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Oother comments can be read at my post in the Global Affairs forum.
ok, i am with you, i see what you’re saying…the activists go for a cause that won’t even be noticed, and now she got herself killed…but whover she is and whatever she is, we should at least respect her life while her hands are still warm?
look, I grew up in a democratic country and I was educated to repsect all opinions as long as no criminal offences are being done. Therefore, I’m not even discussing whether or not I agree with her goals, opinions or what she express.
I AM discussing her methods of operation. There are million other ways where she could promote her cause much much better then by throwing herself infront of bulldozers. And I’m thinking about all the other members of her movement as well! If those guys think that IDF will back up and stop demolishing places that used as firing posts on soldiers, just cause a couple of westren kids are against it, they are really wrong. They are not helping thier cause and they sure not going to help ANYONE by getting themselves killed.
I presume some people will go against Israel for "doing this on purpose" (which will be a lie, and I think not even worth of a reaction).
Some people will say things like "She had it coming, that’s what happens when you’re pushing yourself into the fire!", which I can understand where it comes, but cannot support.
This was a young girl killed. And for nothing.
Why make a bigger deal out of her life than that of a Palestinian Arab?
Isn’t that racist?
not racist - that would be saying that the whole world media would be racist! here in the uk, the announcer says "7 palestinians were killed today" and people say what a shame - say that an american girl died in front of a tank and people go "oooooo!" - i hate to say it but the newspapers love it more than another set of palestinians dying.
and civax- to your reply, i was agreeing with you, and under no circumstances AT ALL do i think the soldier in the bulldozer did it on purpose! my cousin and friends are all serving at the moment and they’re just regular guys - why would they go out to cold-bloodedly kill her! i ws merely saying that maybe such a harsh outlook wasn’t suitable just after she died?
Diana - First, you got a point. I feel sorry for innocent Palestinians just the same. However, the HUGE difference is that I know the reality in the territories and I know a real majority of the Palestinians getting killed are pretty far of being ‘innocent’. I had a post about it the other day. Therefore, I find it very hard to dedicate a post to a Palestinian which I have no sympathy for.
Another (bad) reason - Here in Israel, you hear daily about people got killed - Israelis and Palestinians. As sad as it sounds, at one point or another you become less sensitive about these things. Not to say it doesn’t hurt, but it doesn’t hurt as much as it had before. That’s the worse part of the conflict. In order to survive emotionally you have to become more harsh, more cynical. It’s the only way you can keep on living around here. You feel the pain of the killed, but you distance yourself a little. No other option.
Corrie death was useless cause (a) This wasn’t her fight. She wasn’t part of any side and was not aware of all the issues and history concerning the conflict. (b) Her death came just as the war was about to start, which made most media devote only a small attention to the case. The waves of public opinion or the debate that could have been risen from the event in any other time - just didn’t happen.
Basically, Corrie was a girl that educated in the liberal, democratic US, and came here thinking the way of life, the laws and the mentality she grew upon are international. She was naive and that backed up her feel of fight. That might have been right in any democratic country that is not under threat. But let me remind you that some rights are pushed aside when a fight is happening. Even the US army can shoot American civilians that threat their bases.
From a discussion I am involved in at Japan Today -
I believe at least two of the pictures, the ones that show the same dozer and a foggy day. The one with bright sun is from a published pamphlet, not taken at the time, and the IMS labelled it - not very well, and certainly with the implication it was the same day, but labelled.
Some eyewitnesses say she was kneeling, some that she was lying down, at least one that she was alone (?!?), that she was clearly visible, etc. I compare them with the two pics I can believe and come up with:
1 She left the group to be in front of the dozer
2 Realizing she could not then be seen by the operator she either climbed the pile of dirt the dozer was pushing or jumped onto the blade while it was moving
3 She fell
4 The operator, unaware, moved for a few more seconds until he realized the other protestors were shouting different words, stopped, and reversed
5 Note that the dozer did NOT "run over" her, if she had gone under the tracks her injuries would have been quite different and much more quickly fatal
……..
Ms. Corrie is dead. You may say she was killed. But she was NOT murdered.
The protest group is claiming that Israel is not showing respect by calling it an accident while they call it murder: I think calling it murder is disrespectful to both sides.
As a murder, it would be spectacularly inefficient to wait (one participant said they were there for over two hours) for so much cooperation from a victim, stupid not to take out the witnesses when they also cooperated by going in front of the dozer, truly stupid to do it with photographs being taken, and monumentally idiotic to be alone.
As a victim, just how dumb am I to get in front of the killer’s moving vehicle which I can easily outmaneuver and possibly outrun?
Nope. Accident, with her actions being contributing factors.
I realize that a life was lost here…..BUT she did it to herself. I mean did I really just see an American burning a flag(in whatever since it was, it was still a flag) in the Middle East. She got what she deserved!
Seems opinions now are very one-sided (in both ways).
The ISM members, which I now consider to be quite extreme and radical, shout it was a "murder", while the many people (mostly American, actually, as most Israelis doesn’t even notice this case wit the war around) are going to the other extreme and saying she deserved it.
Since I read quite a lot about the whole thing I can say that while objecting to Corrie’s opinions and actions completely, I still blame it on her naiveness and unbalanced information she was fed the past years. Seems the people back at her home (and I do not mean her parents) are just as radical pro-palestinian/anti-israeli.
What I do regard as totally false accusation is the ‘murder’ one. You got to be really blind and close-minded to say this. But then again, all the radical/extreme groups are. ISM is no exception.
New here, but I must jump in. Please don’t blame this on "unbalanced information he was fed the past years." Her naivness was her own choice, as was choosing to act in a foolish manner. While sure it’s sad she died, she suffered the exact consequences of the act she chose of her free will to undertake.
First, I hope I misunderstood the comment of the person who said that Rachel Corrie got what she deserved since she burned the American flag. Even if you believe the American flag can’t withstand a little symbolic free speech, surely the death penalty is too harsh for burning a flag.
Second, even though I doubt the Israeli soldiers bulldozing houses wanted to kill Rachel Corrie and probably feel horrible that she died, why is it Israeli policy to tear down houses of terrorists? Israel surely has my sympathy when Palestinians set off bombs in public places, killing innocent Israelis. However, when that happens in America, we don’t tear down the house of the criminal’s family, especially without a trial. As an example, McVeigh was executed for the Oklahoma City bombing, but his family’s home wasn’t destroyed.
Surprised you quote "Little Green Footballs" as a source. Just had a look at their weblog and it seems like a pretty crass affair.
The last mail exchange between Rachel Corrie and her father is worth reading to get an alternative perspective on the woman
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,917749,00.html
The Guardian published the pictures you show above but there were others too, and I think the portrayal of her as a stupid, naive extremist is unhelpful. Her feelings were at least partly motivated by her empathy for those around her and what she was witnessing on a daily basis.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,916246,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,916885,00.html
David Lauri :
Israeli policy is to demolish houses in 2 cases. If a suicide terrorist has committed a terror attack his house is demolished in order to make Palestinian families prevent members of their family members from doing such actions. This method is worth of discussion, but it works. Many parents of would-be suiciders managed to stop them or in other cases turned them in. So it’s effective.
The other case of house demolition - which is the case in our issue about Rachel Corrie’s death, is that many times terrorists use building still being built (or even houses with families) as a post for sniping and shooting army patrols. On the Egyptian border, such houses (mostly empty of residents) are also use to hide tunnels for smuggling weapons. In the case that Ms Corrie was involved, the army removed a house which used to shoot at army patrols the week before the demolition. I personally see absolutely no reason not to demolish the house in such a case.
luke:
Yes, I check on LGF any now and then. I also check on Islam Online and many other sites. I believe I’m old enough and stable enough to make my own mind about things I read.
I actually have a slightly more problems with formal online sources since they’re usually quite balanced that I sometimes caught off-guard when they’re posting biased info. In addition, my main interests are in comments people leave - these are hardly found in big media sites.
Effective perhaps, but wrong. Israel lowers itself to the level of terrorists by tearing down their families’ homes. Stoop to their level and no wonder people begin to sympathize with the Palestinians and forget about the damage that terrorists (and, by the way, "terrorists" is not equivalent to "all Palestinians") do to Israelis.
>Effective perhaps, but wrong. Israel lowers itself to the level of terrorists by tearing down their families’ homes.
Nothing wrong with it if it doesn’t result in intentional Palestinian deaths. That’s the difference between the Palestinians and the Israelis; the IDF isn’t determined to kill Palestinian civilians, yet Palestinians have no problem with targeting Israeli civilians and killing as many of them as possible.
These pictures show something completely different from what you’ve been told about Rachel Corrie. She does not appear to have been "tear gassed" here. If you want to say she deserved to be killed/murdered that’s one thing. But it does not appear to be an accident. The driver ran over her and backed over her again with his shovel lowered. Although in the U.S., even with these photos and eyewitness accounts there are still plenty of people who think she "deserved what she got". Sickness all around. One idea put out is that her death was meant to back off all the other "human shield" activists in the area. I’m sure the Israeli army couldn’t afford to be seen backing down over the presence of one young girl. I wish they had thought to use their military expertise to arrest her, handcuff her, put her in a car and lock it, instead of running her over. Maybe it was the time constraint- they had a fence to build.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1248.shtml
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/03/21/corrie/index.html
What does it matter if she was an extremeist or not? Do we have more right to kill people just because they have extreme views? Anyway wouldn’t not feeling angry with the US and the Israeli from a palestine point of view be more extreme?
I visited a pro-Israel website (don’t remember the url right now) and they said stuff like she threw herself in front of the bulldozer and tried to dishonour her name. What’s the point of that?
It might very well have been an accident, but a life is lost and people really should know better than showing such disrespect for her, especially in public. If I was in her family, reading such things wouldn’t comfort me.
>Nothing wrong with it if it doesn’t result in intentional Palestinian deaths
Sorry, it’s still wrong. Put the actual terrorists in jail or even execute them if you believe in capital punishment, but tearing down the homes of their families is wrong.
I do sympathize with murdered Israelis and their families, but I simply cannot condone how Israel is treating ordinary Palestinians. Israelis despite the terrorism continue on with their lives and their high standard of living. Palestinians cannot even travel to jobs or school. Such treatment is only going to breed more terrorists.
Israeli’s who think this stuff is ignored because there is a war on should wake up. I live in Australia, a long way a way and I’ve had people who aren’t political in the least bring this up. They also assume that she was killed deliberately, merely based on their impression of Israel. The specific incident won’t be remembered but it adds to a view of Israel that is becoming very widespread, even over here.
David Lauri, are you insane?
"Put the actual terrorists in jail or even execute them if you believe in capital punishment, but tearing down the homes of their families is wrong."
Excuse me, the terrorists you refer to BLEW THEMSELVES UP ALONG WITH THEIR VICTIMS. You can’t jail them, you can’t execute them, because they don’t exist anymore. You can’t convince the actual perpetrator to not do it, because they’re willingly going to their deaths.
What would you propose the Israelis should do? Read the minds of would-be suicide bombers? Destroy all the explosives and chemical precursors for making explosives in the whole world?
Give me one viable alternative, right or wrong, that stops these attacks, and results in less people on either side getting killed.
‘It’s wrong’ isn’t a real world argument - ‘It’s wrong, and there’s a better way to do it’ is.
Children are being shot when they go outside, people are killed inside their homes; I spoke with a man who was born in Damascus the other day & he told me about some of the horrors of growing up there. He said some villages and hamlets have walls 27′ high built around them, so there are children growing up never being able to see the skyline. He said if he couldn’t go outside to play, because if he did, soldiers would shoot him. How long can you treat people like that and NOT expect them to feel like they have no other alternative? I’m not saying that ’suicide bombing’ is right-it’s horrible; yet, the Israeli’s are not ‘blameless’ in what is going on. It’s not exactly ‘best practices’ in child rearing. Israel is CREATING angry adults.
Let the children go outside and play without being lobbed with bullets.
From all the reports I have read, the home being demolished was that of a physician who had no militant ties.
"From all the reports I have read, the home being demolished was that of a physician who had no militant ties." - Allison
then why the house used for shooting at Israeli soldiers ?
eyewitness account:
"Joe Smith, age 21, came with his college friend Rachel Corrie this past Sunday, March 16th to Gaza to protest against terrorist home demolitions as part of his activity with the International Solidarity Movement.
Both Joe and Rachel had studied at Evergreen College in Olympia, Washington.
Joe was witness to Rachel’s tragic death late that afternoon, and described what he saw to my colleague, recounting that "she was sitting on a mound of earth in front of the bulldozer. The earth started to move under her when the bulldozer digs in. You have a couple of options you can roll aside-you have to be very quick to get out of the way. You can fall back, but she leaned forward to try to climb up on top. She got pulled down, and the bulldozer lost sight of her.Then, without lifting the blade, he reversed and she was underneath the blade". Joe Smith did not sound accusatory nor vindictive against the IDF bulldozer driver. . . . Smith said that no one was on the spot with a camera before Rachel Corrie was mauled by the bulldozer, and that the picture of Rachel with the megaphone had been taken many hours earlier."
http://incontext.blogmosis.com/archives/006232.html#006232
As for the misconceptions and cliches about Israel and the Palestinians:
http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/myths/mftoc.html
http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~jkatz/palestine.html (Joshua isn’t documented and may be myth, but the rest of the history is all supported by artifacts and documents)
http://palestinefacts.org/
there is a better way to do it
there has to be
Hey, Yusuf? Israel doesn’t give a damn how the world views it because in the eyes of the world, it can do no right. As far as Australia goes, plenty of idiots there as well as here in the Yoo Ess — their names regularly crop up on Tim Blair’s blog.
I just took a look at Allison’s blog. (She’s the dim bulb bewailing the "murder" of Rachel Corrie.) Allison likes to use the word "Palestine" a lot, apparently not realizing there’s no such place, so that pretty much tells you where she’s coming from.
Yehudit, glad to see you here trying to inject some actual information into this debate.
Wow, Ursula. That was profound. Easy to make such a remark when it’s not your people getting continually blown to bits by homicide bombers, isn’t it?
There is a better way - but it will take courage, compassion, wisdom, and patience.
I’m only seeing bravado, hatred, willful ignorance, and short-sighted reactionism.
Reginleif the Valkyrie,
You better inform the UN, so they can update their website and take all references to ‘Palestine’ off.
I’m sure they’d appreciate the information.
http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/vSubject!OpenView&Start=1&Count=1500&Expand=40#40
57/198. The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination
1. Reaffirms the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to their independent State of Palestine;
77th plenary meeting
18 December 2002
"seems there was a real tragedy."
What tragedy? An idiot got herself killed. I consider it a bit of chlorine in the gene pool.
I strongly disagree with your laying any blame on the IDF. They’re doing a dangerous enough job already, why should they be expected to expend any extra effort trying to save the lives of outsiders who have come to the area for the express purpose of aiding the people who are trying to kill Israelis?
>Sorry, it’s still wrong. Put the actual terrorists in jail or even execute them if you believe in capital punishment, but tearing down the homes of their families is wrong.
Whatever it takes, short of genocide is perfectly fine. It’s either that or more Israeli civilians die. That isn’t a difficult choice to make.
>I do sympathize with murdered Israelis and their families, but I simply cannot condone how Israel is treating ordinary Palestinians.
At least them Palestinians are ALIVE. After Israelis receive their "treatment" at the hands of Palestinian terrorists, they are likely to be DEAD.
>Israelis despite the terrorism continue on with their lives and their high standard of living.
So? Their standard of living is their reward for all their efforts. Is that a problem?
>Palestinians cannot even travel to jobs or school.
What’s amazing is that Palestinians themselves complain about not being able to go to work. Know where a lot of their jobs are? In Israel.
Ironic, ain’t it?
As for schools, well, aside from the necessities a whole lot of Jew-hating gets taught in their "schools", so I’d say it’s a mixed bag.
> Such treatment is only going to breed more terrorists.
And I hope the IDF kills them all.
"What would you propose the Israelis should do?"
First off, I’d say _anything_ has to be better than the current strategy, which is so obviously ineffective (regardless of its moral worth) to everyone except, I guess, Sharon.
Second, as you point out, if someone is happy to kill themselves, it’s tough to disuade them. Therefore, you have to make them not so happy to kill themselves. Therefore you have to make their lives worth living.
The problem is that all the bulldozing of houses, of ‘metal workshops’, of olive groves, and all the checkpoints, and all the building of settlements and highways for really rich, ethnically different people on land that’s not theirs and is yours, all make life not worth living.
Ekka said.
"There is a better way - but it will take courage, compassion, wisdom, and patience. …"
Ekka,
There was a way that took "courage, compassion, wisdom and patience" it was called Oslo and it ran it’s course from 1993 to 2000. Arafat as the representative of the Palestinian people spat in the face of that process and threw it in the dustbin of history.
For how many years should the Israeli’s be expected to sacrifice their citizens, their fathers, mothers and children on the altar of "courage, compassion, wisdom, and patience. …"?
Unfortunately, a lot of people have sacrificed their lives in this conflict. The Israeli civilianas are unwillingly sacrificed. The suicide/homicide bomber sacrificed their lives voluntarily and with deep devotion. Rachel Corrie’s sacrifice fell somewhere between the two extremes.
All those people had families and value as human beings. It is truly a shame that so many are dying. I feel for all the families who have lost loved ones on all sides.
Umm… "didn’t see her with all the mess going around" — YOU MUST BE HIGH. Look at this picture and tell me the driver could not see her… http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/corrie.html
Israel should stay out of territory that isn’t theirs, and the Zionists should stop exerting pressure on the U.S. to fight its enemies. This will come back to haunt you.
Mr. K:
The picture of Corrie with the megaphone was taken in the morning of that day. The accedent happened around 17:00, which means it DID NOT happen when the picture was taken but HOURS later (in those hourse the IDF solders removed her form the site several times).
According to Joe Smith, a friend of Corrie which was with her at the time:
Rachel "was sitting on a mound of earth in front of the bulldozer. The earth started to move under her when the bulldozer digs in. You have a couple of options you can roll aside — you have to be very quick to get out of the way. You can fall back, but she leaned forward to try to climb up on top. She got pulled down, and the bulldozer lost sight of her …Then, without lifting the blade, he reversed and she was underneath the blade."
However, if you weren’t there, and you already decided that she was "murdered" by IDF solders, you won’t a little thing called the ‘truth’ to stand in your way, do you? You’ll fix your own story other to relay on based reports.
What bothers me as much as the loss of life is the fact that people, many of them those who label themselves leftists, who claim they are concerned for humanitarian reasons, for the loss of innocent life seem to be, more than anything else espousing and rationalizing hatred.. which only fuels more hatred.. thus ensuring that things will only continue to get much worse. Both sides need to take a step back and clean their retrospective houses of hatred and intolerance then come to the table to establish peace.
I don’t believe Ms. Corrie was murdered, I do believe that her death was an unfortunate accident which would have been avoided had the organization she was with had been truly pursuing peace. I have tried to debate similar groups and individuals regarding what I’ve read about the Palestinian constitution (calling for the death of Israel), Arafat’s double speak, even going back to 2000 when there was the conference in Durbin, South Africa on hatred was made a sham by a multitude of nations with deplorable records of hatred and intolerance.. but all you get is more propaganda and then if that doesn’t work, hostility and bullying intended to censor any opposition.
Sorry for going on so long, but all I can say is that those of us truly desiring a real peace process have to stand up to the hypocriy and lies by exposing it en masse.
I will let Rachel talk for herself:
These are her e-mails.
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
February 27 2003
(To her mother)
Love you. Really miss you. I have bad nightmares about tanks and bulldozers outside our house and you and me inside. Sometimes the adrenaline acts as an anesthetic for weeks and then in the evening or at night it just hits me again - a little bit of the reality of the situation. I am really scared for the people here. Yesterday, I watched a father lead his two tiny children, holding his hands, out into the sight of tanks and a sniper tower and bulldozers and Jeeps because he thought his house was going to be exploded. Jenny and I stayed in the house with several women and two small babies. It was our mistake in translation that caused him to think it was his house that was being exploded. In fact, the Israeli army was in the process of detonating an explosive in the ground nearby - one that appears to have been planted by Palestinian resistance.
This is in the area where Sunday about 150 men were rounded up and contained outside the settlement with gunfire over their heads and around them, while tanks and bulldozers destroyed 25 greenhouses - the livelihoods for 300 people. The explosive was right in front of the greenhouses - right in the point of entry for tanks that might come back again. I was terrified to think that this man felt it was less of a risk to walk out in view of the tanks with his kids than to stay in his house. I was really scared that they were all going to be shot and I tried to stand between them and the tank. This happens every day, but just this father walking out with his two little kids just looking very sad, just happened to get my attention more at this particular moment, probably because I felt it was our translation problems that made him leave.
I thought a lot about what you said on the phone about Palestinian violence not helping the situation. Sixty thousand workers from Rafah worked in Israel two years ago. Now only 600 can go to Israel for jobs. Of these 600, many have moved, because the three checkpoints between here and Ashkelon (the closest city in Israel) make what used to be a 40-minute drive, now a 12-hour or impassible journey. In addition, what Rafah identified in 1999 as sources of economic growth are all completely destroyed - the Gaza international airport (runways demolished, totally closed); the border for trade with Egypt (now with a giant Israeli sniper tower in the middle of the crossing); access to the ocean (completely cut off in the last two years by a checkpoint and the Gush Katif settlement). The count of homes destroyed in Rafah since the beginning of this intifada is up around 600, by and large people with no connection to the resistance but who happen to live along the border. I think it is maybe official now that Rafah is the poorest place in the world. There used to be a middle class here - recently. We also get reports that in the past, Gazan flower shipments to Europe were delayed for two weeks at the Erez crossing for security inspections. You can imagine the value of two-week-old cut flowers in the European market, so that market dried up. And then the bulldozers come and take out people’s vegetable farms and gardens. What is left for people? Tell me if you can think of anything. I can’t.
If any of us had our lives and welfare completely strangled, lived with children in a shrinking place where we knew, because of previous experience, that soldiers and tanks and bulldozers could come for us at any moment and destroy all the greenhouses that we had been cultivating for however long, and did this while some of us were beaten and held captive with 149 other people for several hours - do you think we might try to use somewhat violent means to protect whatever fragments remained? I think about this especially when I see orchards and greenhouses and fruit trees destroyed - just years of care and cultivation. I think about you and how long it takes to make things grow and what a labour of love it is. I really think, in a similar situation, most people would defend themselves as best they could. I think Uncle Craig would. I think probably Grandma would. I think I would.
You asked me about non-violent resistance.
When that explosive detonated yesterday it broke all the windows in the family’s house. I was in the process of being served tea and playing with the two small babies. I’m having a hard time right now. Just feel sick to my stomach a lot from being doted on all the time, very sweetly, by people who are facing doom. I know that from the United States, it all sounds like hyperbole. Honestly, a lot of the time the sheer kindness of the people here, coupled with the overwhelming evidence of the wilful destruction of their lives, makes it seem unreal to me. I really can’t believe that something like this can happen in the world without a bigger outcry about it. It really hurts me, again, like it has hurt me in the past, to witness how awful we can allow the world to be. I felt after talking to you that maybe you didn’t completely believe me. I think it’s actually good if you don’t, because I do believe pretty much above all else in the importance of independent critical thinking. And I also realise that with you I’m much less careful than usual about trying to source every assertion that I make. A lot of the reason for that is I know that you actually do go and do your own research. But it makes me worry about the job I’m doing. All of the situation that I tried to enumerate above - and a lot of other things - constitutes a somewhat gradual - often hidden, but nevertheless massive - removal and destruction of the ability of a particular group of people to survive. This is what I am seeing here. The assassinations, rocket attacks and shooting of children are atrocities - but in focusing on them I’m terrified of missing their context. The vast majority of people here - even if they had the economic means to escape, even if they actually wanted to give up resisting on their land and just leave (which appears to be maybe the less nefarious of Sharon’s possible goals), can’t leave. Because they can’t even get into Israel to apply for visas, and because their destination countries won’t let them in (both our country and Arab countries). So I think when all means of survival is cut off in a pen (Gaza) which people can’t get out of, I think that qualifies as genocide. Even if they could get out, I think it would still qualify as genocide. Maybe you could look up the definition of genocide according to international law. I don’t remember it right now. I’m going to get better at illustrating this, hopefully. I don’t like to use those charged words. I think you know this about me. I really value words. I really try to illustrate and let people draw their own conclusions.
Anyway, I’m rambling. Just want to write to my Mom and tell her that I’m witnessing this chronic, insidious genocide and I’m really scared, and questioning my fundamental belief in the goodness of human nature. 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 still really want to dance around to Pat Benatar and have boyfriends and make comics for my coworkers. 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 the world you and Dad wanted me to come into when you decided to have me. This is not what I meant when I looked at Capital Lake and said: "This is the wide world and I’m coming to it." I did not mean that I was coming into a world where I could live a comfortable life and possibly, with no effort at all, exist in complete unawareness of my participation in genocide. More big explosions somewhere in the distance outside.
When I come back from Palestine, I probably will have nightmares and constantly feel guilty for not being here, but I can channel that into more work. Coming here is one of the better things I’ve ever done. So when I sound crazy, or if the Israeli military should break with their racist tendency not to injure white people, please pin the reason squarely on the fact that I am in the midst of a genocide which I am also indirectly supporting, and for which my government is largely responsible.
I love you and Dad. Sorry for the diatribe. OK, some strange men next to me just gave me some peas, so I need to eat and thank them.
Rachel
February 28 2003
(To her mother)
Thanks, Mom, for your response to my email. It really helps me to get word from you, and from other people who care about me.
After I wrote to you I went incommunicado from the affinity group for about 10 hours which I spent with a family on the front line in Hi Salam - who fixed me dinner - and have cable TV. The two front rooms of their house are unusable because gunshots have been fired through the walls, so the whole family - three kids and two parents - sleep in the parent’s bedroom. I sleep on the floor next to the youngest daughter, Iman, and we all shared blankets. I helped the son with his English homework a little, and we all watched Pet Semetery, which is a horrifying movie. I think they all thought it was pretty funny how much trouble I had watching it. Friday is the holiday, and when I woke up they were watching Gummy Bears dubbed into Arabic. So I ate breakfast with them and sat there for a while and just enjoyed being in this big puddle of blankets with this family watching what for me seemed like Saturday morning cartoons. Then I walked some way to B’razil, which is where Nidal and Mansur and Grandmother and Rafat and all the rest of the big family that has really wholeheartedly adopted me live. (The other day, by the way, Grandmother gave me a pantomimed lecture in Arabic that involved a lot of blowing and pointing to her black shawl. I got Nidal to tell her that my mother would appreciate knowing that someone here was giving me a lecture about smoking turning my lungs black.) I met their sister-in-law, who is visiting from Nusserat camp, and played with her small baby.
Nidal’s English gets better every day. He’s the one who calls me, "My sister". He started teaching Grandmother how to say, "Hello. How are you?" In English. You can always hear the tanks and bulldozers passing by, but all of these people are genuinely cheerful with each other, and with me. When I am with Palestinian friends I tend to be somewhat less horrified than when I am trying to act in a role of human rights observer, documenter, or direct-action resister. They are a good example of how to be in it for the long haul. I know that the situation gets to them - and may ultimately get them - on all kinds of levels, but I am nevertheless amazed at their strength in being able to defend such a large degree of their humanity - laughter, generosity, family-time - against the incredible horror occurring in their lives and against the constant presence of death. I felt much better after this morning. I spent a lot of time writing about the disappointment of discovering, somewhat first-hand, the degree of evil of which we are still capable. I should at least mention that I am also discovering a degree of strength and of basic ability for humans to remain human in the direst of circumstances - which I also haven’t seen before. I think the word is dignity. I wish you could meet these people. Maybe, hopefully, someday you will.
Rachel
There was a special on Rachel’s death 2 days ago in the Israeli TV, it was part of Ilana Dayan’s program (all kind of serious examination of current issues, a prime time show).
They talked with the 2 people that were in the Bulldozer, with the Company Commander that was in charge of the operation that day and even had the chief commander of the region show up to the show in person for questions. The show also managed to get a hold of a B/W video taken by a near by observation post. Of course, it also featured interviews with ISM members and some of the Palestinians that were in the area at the time.
The result of the research was that apparently the driver and the guy with him didn’t saw Rachel at the exact time. The reason a D-9 Bulldozer must have 2 people inside is cause of the very narrow view angle. The D-9 is supposed to work under fire so it’s heavily armoured and the windows are very small to minimize chances the driver and helper will get hit. The driver have a very small area he can see so there must be another person there to supply another set of eyes.
Second, this area in Rafah is notorious for it’s snipers. Therefore, exiting any vehicle requires a special authorization, which is only given if there are enough armoured APCs or Tanks that can block the view from the buildings in Rafah. There was no such presence in the spot the accident took place so the high commanders did not authorize the solders to exit any of the vehicles (there were 2 - The bulldozer and the Company Commander APC) and go to the ISM people or to Corrie. The only thing they could do is call for a Medical APC to reach the area, which they did, but by the time it came Rachel was already taken by a Palestinian ambulance.
It also turned out the bulldozer was not suppose to destroy any houses at this exact time, it was doing "hisuf" (’exposing’). It means it digs out land and dirt and then spread it, maging a flat area. It is used to discover booby-traps that Palestinians plant against tanks and APCs. It wasn’t on a mission at the time to destroy any houses. Rachel (and the rest of the ISM guys) were just picking the wrong time to fight.
As I said before, I feel sorry for this pointless, unnecessary death. But if you’re going to a place where there is shooting, you can’t moan if you get shot. It’s part of the risks, people, and you accept that in coming here and posting yourself in the middle.
Please remember you can only do that cause Israel is a democratic, reasonable, western country. If it were Palestinians (or any other Arab countries) you were trying to stop, you’d be crushed without even a blink, not to mention any news coverage.
civax or whatever your name is,
I have to say I’ve read a lot of one-sided, stupid and ignorant prose at this site, some of which are published by yourself. How can you just dismiss this death as "her own fault." You who claim to have "grown up in a democracy" are resorting to cheap, blame-the-victim rhetoric like Saddam, Hitler and Sharon use. You twist the concept of "personal responsibility" to blame Rachel, when it is much stronger argument against the IDF. That bulldozer driver was either a criminal or just stupid hence negligent, no two ways about it. In this country (USA,) there would be no question as to whose fault it was, not even a question. But I guess you live in a "democracy" so things are probably different.
Collective punishment, like bulldozing the homes of "suspect terrorists"… injuring their families and making them homeless… shutting off water and power to a whole community and generally punishing those who have resisted persuation to become suicide bombers themselves is CRIMINAL. And it hasn’t gotten you and your country ONE OUNCE of security. On the contrary, it’s making it worst for you. All this while your "peace loving" government continues building settlements on religious grounds.
"ironic ain’t it?"
I’m one of the young peace protestors you made fun of earlier in your post. I’m saddened to see that even a death like this doesn’t make you think twice about what your country is doing to an entire people… which is perhaps the essence of "close mindedness." It’s no wonder you don’t understand us. You’re not even trying.
you are an ashole. I cant believe you would go through the hassle of finding "extremist" pictures of a promising young intellectually independent person who had the courage to stand up against what is one of the biggest humanitarian crisies in the world. the likud party is digging it’s grave right next to the palestinian’s. and you may be the problem. why dont you work to stablelize your own radicle ideologies before you dig up shit on a peaceful daughter, yea, that’s right she had a family like you do. Shit, i can now understand the root of the problem, it is not Isreali’s or Palestinian’s or "western peace activists", it is you and your inability to work towards a viable solution starting with the destruction of the fascist likud party, ceasation of settlement policies, and easing of closures. oh, and one more thing, if you dont want to end up six feet deep lying next to your palestinian brothers, dont build that fucking wall!
Rachel was a good soul, if you cant see that she cared for her fellow man then maybe you cant do the same. its foggy logic, but then so is your deduction of this tragedy and the tragedies that the people of the fertile cresent have faced and will continue to face untill you, you do something about it. that is all rachel was trying to do…guess what, the whole world saw it and there will be changes. I am a proud jewish american, you are my pon…lets cut some funding and watch your economy fall to the size of the palestinians (-20mil/day) and your military you so proudly served in turn to rust.
peace out asshole!
stupid is as stupid does
Yes, now we all see what you ISM guys truely are! In addition to shielding terrorists you also provide cover for terrorists to explode in a israeli tourists bar!
On your website you teach how to lie to get into Israel!
Anyway, Haaretz says Israel will not allow the coming and staying of these activists anymore (there was no legal way to stop them since, well, in contrast to all the arab countries - inculiding the palestinians! - Israel is a DEMOCRACY).
Other links to check:
Guardian: Bombers posed as peace activists
Haaretz: Bomb silences jazz session at Mike’s Place
The Independent: The trail of death that led from Britain to Israel
The Stranger: Was this house worth her life?
Yourish:Terrorist supporting "activists" finally being banned from Israel
Little Green Footballs: Brit Bombers Contacted ISM
Official Parody READY.PS Poster
Arafat Meets the Corries
Shalom and peace. I usually support the peace activity in Palestine. Give bomb and tanks to civil people is a terrorism activity. I believe if Israel GOV don`t wanna get any attacking bomb, but at the same time they let their soldiers kill women and children in Gaza and Palestine. May ALLAAH give peace in Middle East. O ALLAAH save them. amiin amiin amiin