12 years ago today, the amazingly bright light of a young American Hero named Rachel Corrie (April 10, 1979 – March 16, 2003) was extinguished in a state-sponsored murder that reverberated around the world; well, everywhere except in Washington D.C. where her murder by a rogue state was ignored because her actions on behalf of Team People did NOT fit the shameful agenda of those who shamefully slither at the lowest depths of filthy mud at Foggy Bottom.
Yes, an American Citizen was murdered by another state and completely ignored by the U.S. Government.
“Rachel Corrie, hero death or glory do you even know her name? She sacrificed then gave up her life in the battle of home bulldozers” Johnny Punish, The Occupation
Rachel was a young bright-eyed American peace activist who aimed to change the world. She was murdered by an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) armored bulldozer in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
She had come to Gaza as part of her senior-year college assignment to connect her hometown with Rafah in a sister cities project. While there, she engaged with other International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activists in efforts to prevent the Israeli army’s demolition of Palestinian houses whose policy was collective punishment of the indigenous peoples bulldozing thousands of homes of men, women, and children.
Less than two months after her arrival, on March 16, 2003, Corrie was murdered during an Israeli military operation after a three-hour confrontation between Israeli soldiers operating two bulldozers and eight ISM activists.
Of course, the Israeli government disputes what actually happened. However, actual witnesses on the ground said the Israeli soldier operating the bulldozer deliberately ran over Corrie because she refused to get out of the way protecting the home of a local family.
In 2005 Corrie’s parents filed a civil lawsuit against the state of Israel. The lawsuit charged Israel with not conducting a full and credible investigation into the case and with responsibility for her death, contending that she had either been intentionally killed or that the soldiers had acted with reckless neglect. They sued for a symbolic one US dollar in damages.
On cue, in August 2012, an Israeli court rejected their suit and upheld the results of the 2003 military investigation, ruling that the Israeli government was not responsible for Corrie’s death.
An appeal against the August 2012 ruling was heard on May 21, 2014. As expected and on cue, on February 14, 2015, Israel’s supreme court rejected the appeal. Nobody on Team People expected the Israeli government to take responsibility because in doing so it would have to indict every home bulldozer action and more; it would have to indict its whole colonial expansion and occupation against the indigenous peoples; something that would destroy the whole flawed and racist idea of their 20th century Euro-Settler state that discounts the indigenous peoples.
So yes, 12 years ago today, Rachel Corrie walked in the same non-violent footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. She is us and we are her! While her murderers go down in history with the likes of Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot, and Augusto Pinochet, Rachel’s spirit lives on forever above the clouds while the light of the stars continues to shine on her with amazing grace!
Today, please take a moment of silence for Rachel.
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