A tribute to Rachel Corrie
And a call for an end to U.S. backing for Israel
(Israel has used a part of America's gift to murder an American. Accordingly, the U.S. Government can no longer benefit Israel without betraying the Americans.)
We love Rachel and you will be in our hearts ...
Rachel Corrie (1979-2003).
A 23-year-old American student at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, took a semester off to be a peace activist, shielding Palestinians from Jewish aggression in Gaza. She was murdered by an Israeli soldier on 16 March 2003.
Before the killing, the IDF soldier had already menaced the activists by using the Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer (serial number 949623) to press huge piles of dirt and rubble against them, pushing Rachel back against a fence on one occasion and pushing another activist (Will) into some coils of razor wire.
In doing this, the bulldozer driver was intimidating the activists by demonstrating his disregard of their safety. "Don't get in my way, or I'll hurt you!" is what he was conveying with his actions.
The peace activists refused to be intimidated, so the Israeli bulldozer driver became murderously resolute. He aimed his bulldozer at Rachel Corrie, who was initially sitting in between the bulldozer and a house belonging to Dr. Samir Nasrallah1, a Palestinian physician. The Jew wanted to knock down the doctor's home. Rachel Corrie was determined to protect that house.
She would either move or she would die, decided the bulldozer driver.
As the bulldozer approached Rachel, she stood up and climbed a pile of dirt that the bulldozer had shoveled up, in order to remain in the driver's direct view. She was the most visible object in the driver's forward direction, since not only was she in plain sight, she was also wearing a high-contrast fluorescent orange jacket.
1The Palestinian doctor's name was given elsewhere as Samir Masri.
She [Rachel] got so high onto it [the mound of dirt] that she was at eye-level with the cab of the bulldozer. Her head and upper torso were above the bulldozer's blade, and the bulldozer driver and co-operator could clearly see her. Despite this, he continued forward, which pulled her legs into the pile of rubble, and pulled her down out of view of the driver. If he'd stopped at this point, he may have only broken her legs, but he continued forward, which pulled her underneath the bulldozer.
We ran towards him, and waved our arms and shouted, one activist with the megaphone. But the bulldozer driver continued forward, until Rachel was underneath the central section of the bulldozer. At this point, it was more than clear that she was nowhere but underneath the bulldozer, there was simply nowhere else she could have been, as she had not appeared on either side of the bulldozer, and could not have stayed in front of it that long without being crushed. 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.
—Joseph Smith, ISM peace activist (American)
The bulldozer drove toward Rachel slowly, gathering earth in its scoop as it went. She knelt there, she did not move. The bulldozer reached her and she began to stand up, climbing onto the mound of earth. She appeared to be looking into the cockpit. The bulldozer continued to push Rachel, so she slipped down the mound of earth, turning as she went. Her faced showed she was panicking and it was clear she was in danger of being overwhelmed.
All the activists were screaming at the bulldozer to stop and gesturing to the crew about Rachel's presence. We were in clear view as Rachel had been, they continued. They pushed Rachel, first beneath the scoop, then beneath the blade, then continued till her body was beneath the cockpit. They waited over her for a few seconds, before reversing. They reversed with the blade pressed down, so it scraped over her body a second time. Every second I believed they would stop but they never did.
—Tom Dale, ISM peace activist (British)
Rachel was standing in front of this home. As the bulldozer approached she stood her ground. Rachel was wearing an orange fluorescent jacket. She was clearly visible to the bulldozer driver as well as to the soldiers in the tank. The bulldozer began to push up the ground from beneath her feet. The pile of earth was mounding up and she tried her best to stay on top of it. As the ground continued to move Rachel went down on her knees. The bulldozer continued to move forward. Rachel began to become buried beneath the dirt. Still it did not stop. Finally, Rachel was beneath the bulldozer. The bulldozer did not even pick up its blade. It ran over her completely and continued to advance. It stopped when she was completely underneath the body of the bulldozer. It then moved backwards over her body. It moved clear of her and backed away. [Statement given to ElectronicIntifada]
Rachel was alone in front of the house as we were trying to get them to stop. She waved for bulldozer to stop and waved. She fell down and the bulldozer kept going. We yelled 'stop, stop', and the bulldozer didn't stop at all. It had completely run over her and then it reversed and ran back over her. [Statement given to the Associated Press]
