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Rachel Corrie : We Will Never Forget!
The following letter and article has been published in several other places on the web. In hopes that it might educate others to the efforts of this one brave person, and that it might somehow aide in bringing about justice for Rachel Corrie and her cause, it has been reproduced here as well. While certainly it is one of the longer articles here on FolkandFaith.com, it is perhaps one of the most important ones. This young woman died in defense of freedom and justice and for defying Zionist swine. The very least that you can do is read some of what were her last words to to family and to the world. Much appreciation is also given to the original author's of her many tribute's.
Long Live Rachel Corrie's Memory! R.I.P.
Statement from Rachel Corrie's parents
March 16, 2003
We are now in a period of grieving and still finding out the details
behind the death of Rachel in the Gaza Strip.
We have raised all our children to appreciate the beauty of the global
community and family, and are proud that Rachel was able to live her convictions.
Rachel was filled with love and a sense of duty to her fellow man, wherever
they lived. And, she gave her life trying to protect those that are unable
to protect themselves.
Rachel wrote to us from the Gaza Strip, and we would like to release
to the media her experience in her own words at this time.
Thank you.
Craig and Cindy Corrie,
parents of Rachel Corrie
In Rachel Corrie's Own Words:
Excerpts from an e-mail from Rachel Corrie to her family on February
7, 2003.
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--at least regarding Israel.
Nevertheless, I think about the fact that 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
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, of course,
the fact 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. Ostensibly it is still quite difficult for me to be held for
months or years on end without a trial (this because I am a white US citizen,
as opposed to so many others). When I leave for school or work I can be
relatively certain that there will not be a heavily armed soldier waiting
half way between Mud Bay and downtown Olympia at a checkpoint—a soldier
with the power to decide whether I can go about my business, and whether
I can get home again when I'm done. So, if I feel outrage at arriving
and entering briefly and incompletely into the world in which these children
exist, I wonder conversely about how it would be for them to arrive in
my world.
They know that children in the United States don't usually have their
parents shot and they know they sometimes get to see the ocean. But once
you have seen the ocean and lived in a silent place, where water is taken
for granted and not stolen in the night by bulldozers, and once you have
spent an evening when you haven’t wondered if the walls of your home
might suddenly fall inward waking you from your sleep, and once you’ve
met people who have never lost anyone-- once you have experienced the
reality of a world that isn't surrounded by murderous towers, tanks, armed
"settlements" and now a giant metal wall, I wonder if you can
forgive the world for all the years of your childhood spent existing--just
existing--in resistance to the constant stranglehold of the world’s
fourth largest military--backed by the world’s only superpower--in
it’s attempt to erase you from your home. That is something I wonder
about these children. I wonder what would happen if they really knew.
As an afterthought to all this rambling, I am in Rafah, a city of about
140,000 people, approximately 60 percent of whom are refugees--many of
whom are twice or three times refugees. Rafah existed prior to 1948, but
most of the people here are themselves or are descendants of people who
were relocated here from their homes in historic Palestine--now Israel.
Rafah was split in half when the Sinai returned to Egypt. Currently, the
Israeli army is building a fourteen-meter-high wall between Rafah in Palestine
and the border, carving a no-mans land from the houses along the border.
Six hundred and two homes have been completely bulldozed according to
the Rafah Popular Refugee Committee. The number of homes that have been
partially destroyed is greater.
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. Followed by waving and "what's your name?".
There is 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 aggressive,
shooting into the houses as we wander away.
In addition to the constant presence of tanks along the border and in
the western region between Rafah and settlements along the coast, there
are more IDF ("Israeli Defense Force") towers here than I can
count--along the horizon, at the end of streets. Some just army green
metal. Others these strange spiral staircases draped in some kind of netting
to make the activity within anonymous. Some hidden, just beneath the horizon
of buildings. A new one went up the other day in the time it took us to
do laundry and to cross town twice to hang banners. Despite the fact that
some of the areas nearest the border are the original Rafah with families
who have lived on this land for at least a century, only the 1948 camps
in the center of the city are Palestinian controlled areas under Oslo.
But as far as I can tell, there are few if any places that are not within
the sights of some tower or another. Certainly there is no place invulnerable
to apache helicopters or to the cameras of invisible drones we hear buzzing
over the city for hours at a time.
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 they will start.
I also hope you'll come here. We've been wavering between five and six
internationals. The neighborhoods that have asked us for some form of
presence are Yibna, Tel El Sultan, Hi Salam, Brazil, Block J, Zorob, and
Block O. There is also need for constant night-time presence at a well
on the outskirts of Rafah since the Israeli army destroyed the two largest
wells. According to the municipal water office, the wells destroyed last
week provided half of Rafah’s water supply. Many of the communities
have requested internationals to be present at night to attempt to shield
houses from further demolition. After about 10 P.M.. it is very difficult
to move at night because the Israeli army treats anyone in the streets
as resistance and shoots at them. So clearly we are too few.
I continue to believe that my home, Olympia, could gain a lot and offer
a lot by deciding to make a commitment to Rafah in the form of a sister-community
relationship. Some teachers and children's groups have expressed interest
in e-mail exchanges, but this is only the tip of the iceberg of solidarity
work that might be done. Many people want their voices to be heard, and
I think we need to use some of our privilege as internationals to get
those voices heard directly in the US, rather than through the filter
of well-meaning internationals such as myself. I am just beginning to
learn, from what I expect to be a very intense tutelage, about the ability
of people to organize against all odds, and to resist against all odds.
Thanks for the news I've been getting from friends in the US. I just
read a report back from a friend who organized a peace group in Shelton,
Washington, and was able to be part of a delegation to the large January
18th protest in Washington DC. People here watch the media, and they told
me again today that there have been large protests in the United States
and "problems for the government" in the UK. So thanks for allowing
me to not feel like a complete Pollyanna when I tentatively tell people
here that many people in the United States do not support the policies
of our government, and that we are learning from global examples how to
resist.
For more information, please contact the International Solidarity Movement online or call them at +972 2 277 4602.
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 willful 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 realize 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
Statement On The Murder Of Rachel Corrie
Monday, 17 March 2003, 6:00 pm
Press Release: International Solidarity Movement
Statement On The Murder Of Rachel Corrie
In Rafah, Gaza Strip today Rachel Corrie, a 23-year old American woman
from Olympia, Washington, who was a volunteer with the International Solidarity
Movement, was killed by the Israeli Army. Rachel was standing in the path
of the bulldozer as it advanced towards her. When the bulldozer refused
to stop or turn aside she climbed up onto the mound of dirt and rubble
being gathered in front of it wearing a fluorescent jacket to look directly
at the driver who kept on advancing. The bulldozer continued to advance
so that she was pulled under the pile of dirt and rubble. After she had
disappeared from view the driver kept advancing until the bulldozer was
completely on top of her. The driver did not lift the bulldozer blade
and so she was crushed beneath it. Then the driver backed up - effectively
running over her again. The seven other ISM activists taking part in the
action rushed to dig out her body. An ambulance rushed her to Al-Najar
Hospital where she died.
The Israeli Army consistently bulldozes Palestinian homes, particularly
in Rafah, where over 100 homes have been demolished in the last two years.
The International Solidarity Movement - both Palestinian and international
citizens - calls upon the international community to break the silence
around Israel's grotesque human rights abuses. International civilians
are in the Occupied Palestinian Territories attempting to protect Palestinian
human rights and lives precisely because formal international bodies have
refused to take action to do so. Dozens of Palestinian civilians are being
systematically murdered weekly, and today, a beautiful, conscientious
American defender of human rights was killed trying to protect the home
of a Palestinian family.
This murder, along with Israel's continued destruction of Palestinian
homes must be strongly condemned by the United States and the United Nations
and they must insist that Israel abide by international law and UN Resolutions.
The International Solidarity Movement also calls upon the United States
government to conduct its own independent investigation into this incident
and to take responsibility for the manner in which the Israeli government
is using the $2.2 billion in military aid that we grant to Israel per
year. This money and US-made weaponry is daily being used by the Israeli
military to harm innocent civilians. The bulldozer that killed Rachel
Corrie was an American-made Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer.
The murder of Rachel Corrie was clearly NOT an accident. Eyewitnesses
report that the bulldozer driver was able to see Rachel, and that they
were shouting to the driver to stop. The Israeli government and army continue
to blame the victims of violence carried out by the Israeli Army for their
own suffering. Israel must be accountable for this criminal act and all
criminal acts it is carrying out on a daily basis in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories.
The International Solidarity Movement greatly mourns the loss of Rachel
Corrie and extends its heartfelt condolences to her family and friends.
We pledge to continue actively working for the ideals of freedom and justice
that Rachel died for.
For photos of the incident, please visit Palestinian Solidarity
Memorial Service Held For Rachel Corrie
March 22, 2003
The Evergreen State College
College Recreation Center gymnasium
3 p.m.
A public memorial service for Evergreen student Rachel Corrie was held on Saturday, March 22, 2003 at 3 p.m. in the College Recreation Center gymnasium at The Evergreen State College, 2700 Evergreen Parkway NW, Olympia.
Corrie, 23, was killed on Sunday, March 16, 2003 by a bulldozer in the Gaza Strip as she sought to stop the demolition of a house.
The memorial ceremony included remembrances of Rachel’s life by family and friends, and musical selections. The service were led by Dr. Thomas L. “Les” Purce, Evergreen president.
Rachel’s photos and writings were available for viewing on a location on the Evergreen campus.
VHS Video Tapes of the Rachel Corrie Memorial service are available for $10. The sale of each tape will contribute $5 to the Rachel Corrie Memorial fund. To get a tape, send a check or money order to:
The Evergreen State College (TESC)
Corrie Video
L1328
Olympia, WA 98505
The Corrie family respectfully requests that donations be made to the following charitable organizations for the support of local, national, and international projects that Rachel believed in:
Rachel Corrie Memorial Fund
c/o The Evergreen State College Foundation
Library Building, Room 3122
The Evergreen State College
2700 Evergreen Parkway NW
Olympia, WA 98505
Rachel Corrie Memorial Fund
The Community Foundation of South Puget Sound
111 Market Street NE, Suite 375
Olympia, WA 98501
For further information on the Community Foundation, visit them at:
thecommunityfoundation.com
The Death of Rachel Corrie
But here in occupied Palestine, that murder is a logical outgrowth of
the system
By Starhawk
Nablus, Palestine March 16, 2003
Today a young woman was killed in Gaza. Young women, but more often young
men, get killed in Gaza and the West Bank every day, and the world pays
no attention. What was different today is that Rachel Corrie was an American,
an activist with the International Solidarity Movement, the group that
I'm here with in occupied Palestine. And her death is a particularly horrifying
example of the cold-blooded dehumanization that characterizes this occupation.
Rachel was trying to stop the demolition of a Palestinian home. According
to the other activists who were with her, she was in dialogue with the
operator of the bulldozer. She was working in the spirit of nonviolence
that is a guiding principle of the ISM, which provides support for Palestinian
civilians and for nonviolent efforts to bring about justice for Palestine.
Rachel climbed up on the bulldozer to talk to the soldier in the cockpit.
She climbed down. She sat in front of the bulldozer. The soldier in control
of the huge machine drove it deliberately over her. He then backed up,
and ran over her again. Rachel was twenty-three years old.
I am trying to fathom the mind that could pull the levers and gun the
motor to crush the life out of her young body. That choice, that deliberate
act of murder that ended her sweet life, seems incomprehensible. But here
in occupied Palestine, that murder is a logical outgrowth of the system
of total dehumanization that controls every aspect of life, that cannot
see the human being in the Palestinian, that claims to be fighting terror
by institutionalizing it. Please register your outrage -- at Rachel's
murder, at the home demolitions that she was trying to stop, at the illegal
occupation that can only be defended by brutalizing a whole people.
Call the Israeli Ministry of Defense
972-3-69-55476
(011-972-3-69-55476 from the US)
and
972-3-69-75220
(011-972-3-69-75-220 from the US)
Fax the Israeli Foreign Office
972-2-53-03506
(011-972-2-53-03506 from the US)
General Director: Phone
972-2-530-7704
(011-972-2-530-7704 from the US)
Call, or demonstrate, or shut down your local Israeli Embassy or your
local Consulate office.
If you are from the US, call or write your Senators and Congressional
Representative.
"Once you have seen the ocean and lived in a silent place, where
water is taken for granted and not stolen in the night by bulldozers,
and spent an evening when you didn't wonder if the walls of your home
might suddenly fall inward waking you from your sleep, and met people
who have never lost anyone-- once you have experienced the reality of
a world that isn't surrounded by murderous towers, tanks, armed "settlements"
and now a giant metal wall, I wonder if you can forgive the world for
all the years of your childhood spent existing--just existing-- in resistance
to the constant stranglehold of the world's fourth largest military apparatus--backed
by the world's only superpower-- in its attempt to erase you from your
home."
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