AN AMERICAN VOLUNTEER COMES TO HELP: RACHEL CORRIE

Listen to an Introduction from Citizen Paul

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The Good American

Rachel Corrie 1979-2003

An American Casualty of Palestinian Home Demolition

Rachel Corrie arrived in Palestine in January of 2003 to volunteer with International Solidarity Movement as a peace activist. On March 16, she was fatally crushed by an Israeli Military bulldozer as she tried to prevent the demolition of a Palestinia pharmacist’s home. She was 23 years old.

I learned about this incident in April 2004 when my staff served on a Tikkun Teach-In to Congress about the Geneva Accord with Joe Carr. Joe, a young International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activist from Kansas City, was with Rachel on the day she died. He took the picture of her standing with a megaphone in front of the bulldozer (below). Richard Puscell, another ISM activist, took the picture showing Rachel’s friends helping her after she was run over twice by the bulldozer.

Joe’s gut-wrenching account of what happened, as told in his journal makes it clear that Rachel’s death was not an accident. Initially a congressman suggested that the Corrie family hold a press conference. The death of an American citizen in Gaza was front-page news, yet now, five years later, there has been no success with investigations into this event or lawsuits against the Israeli military.

Rachel tries to stop the Israeli demolition of a Palestinian doctor's home.

NOTE: The Israeli Government now denies this obvious murder of an innocent and valiant young volunteer.

Excerpts From Joe Carr’s 03/17/03 Journal
The Day After Rachel’s Death

Rachel Corrie “…We thought this might happen eventually. We often spoke in the abstract that eventually one of us would get killed but we always figured they’d shoot us, or it’d be an ‘accident,’ like in a house that is missiled or a stray bullet would hit an unlucky activist. I never dreamed it’d be like this, the intentional crushing of a human being. I do believe it was intentional. I saw it, and I know he saw her, I know he did, and I know he knew she was still under the bulldozer when it backed up without raising the blade. I don’t know if he wanted to kill her, or if he was just focused on doing his work and didn’t care if he killed her or not, I don’t know which is scarier…

“She did not ‘trip and fall’ in front of the bulldozer. She sat down in front of it, well in advance, wearing one of the orange flouro jackets I got in Amsterdam. … He clearly saw her, and continued to drive until she was forced onto the top of the dirt he was pushing, elevating her so much that she was at eye level with the bulldozer’s cab, he could see right into her eyes. He continued forward, pulling her underneath the dirt, and out of his vision. He continued forward, crushing her underneath the weight of the blade. He continued forward, until she was well underneath the bulldozer. It was then quite clear that she was nowhere but underneath him, but he proceeded to back up without lifting the blade, crushing her again. I believe that it was the combination of these two crushings that caused her death….”