Why You Should Remember Rachel Corrie

The widespread Islamic reaction to a Danish cartoonists’ depiction of the prophet Mohammed shocked us all. Our Western sensibilities were appalled that embassies could be bombed and journalists threatened. This was a moment when Islam’s anti-secular doctrine collided with the West’s ideal of free speech. But is our shock reserved only for the machinations of the predominant religion of the Middle East?

In March 2006, a play based on the diaries and emails of American college student Rachel Corrie was scheduled to open at the New York Theatre Workshop. However, the theatre’s backers decided that, because of its political content, the play was to be “postponed indefinitely”. According to the workshop’s artistic director, the play was pulled due to the protestations from numerous Jewish groups. Phillip Weiss, an American journalist who covers foreign policy in the Middle East, commented, “How can the West condemn the Islamic world for not accepting Mohammed cartoons, when a Western writer who speaks out on behalf of Palestinians is silenced?”

So who is Rachel Corrie and why would her diaries cause the Jewish community to become, in the words of theatre’s artistic director, so “very defensive and edgy”?

In 2002, Israeli tanks and bulldozers began their illegal destruction of the Gaza Strip town Rafah. With complete disregard of international law and UN condemnation, the IDF bulldozed more than 2,500 Palestinian homes, causing 16,000 to become homeless.  Of course, Israel, as usual, claimed it was a security operation to create a buffer zone along its border with Egypt.  However, a 135-page UN report claims security considerations are secondary to Israel’s desire for a large clear border to “facilitate long-term control over the Gaza Strip.”

“The pattern of destruction strongly suggests that Israeli forces demolished homes wholesale, regardless of whether they posed a specific threat”, the report said. It added the findings were based on tours of the area and satellite imagery.

As with all UN violations committed by Israel, however, comes a deafening silence from the U.S. Well, that is, not counting one American student, Rachel Corrie. On March 16, 2003, IDF armored Caterpillar bulldozers were engaged in Palestinian house demolition. Standing in their way were International Solidarity Movement (ISM) protestors, equipped with little more than fluorescent colored clothing and megaphones. On this day, one of those demonstrators was Rachel Corrie. Kneeling in front of a local Palestinian’s home, thus deploying herself as a human shield, the IDF bulldozer ran over her, crushing her slight frame, before reversing (allegedly, intentionally) back over her lifeless remains.

But this from a military spokesperson, quoted in the Jerusalem Post on June 26, 2003:

“The driver at no point saw or heard Corrie. She was standing behind debris which obstructed the view of the driver and the driver had a very limited field of vision due to the protective cage he was working in… The driver and his commanders were interrogated extensively over a long period of time with the use of polygraph tests and video evidence. They had no knowledge that she was standing in the path of the tractor. An autopsy of Corrie’s body revealed that the cause of death was from falling debris and not from the tractor physically rolling over her. It was a tragic accident that never should have happened.”

Similarly, the UK Guardian quoted an IDF report:

“The army was searching for explosives in the border zone when Corrie was “struck as she stood behind a mound of earth that was created by an engineering vehicle operating in the area and she was hidden from the view of the vehicle’s operator who continued with his work. Corrie was struck by dirt and a slab of concrete resulting in her death … The finding of the operational investigations shows that Rachel Corrie was not run over by an engineering vehicle but rather was struck by a hard object, most probably a slab of concrete which was moved or slid down while the mound of earth which she was standing behind was moved,”

Hidden behind a wall. Killed by the flotsam and jetsam of flying debris. All seems purely accidental and innocent doesn’t it? But what of the actual eyewitness reports? Below is the sworn affidavit of eyewitness Richard Purssell:

“As the bulldozer reached the place where Rachel was standing, she began as many of us did on the day to climb the pile of earth. She reached the top and at this point she must have been clearly visible to the driver, especially as she was still wearing the high visibility jacket ["orange fluorescent”.. with reflective strips"]. She turned and faced in my direction and began to come back down the pile. The bulldozer continued to move forward at [5-6 mph]. As her feet hit the ground I saw a panicked expression on her face… The pile of earth engulfed her and she was hidden from my view.”

Another who stated in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz corroborates Purssell’s testimony:

“There’s no way he didn’t see her, since she was practically looking into the cabin. At one stage, he turned around toward the building. The bulldozer kept moving, and she slipped and fell off the plow. But the bulldozer kept moving, the shovel above her. I guess it was about 10 or 15 meters that it dragged her and for some reason didn’t stop. We shouted like crazy to the driver through loudspeakers that he should stop, but he just kept going and didn’t lift the shovel. Then it stopped and backed up. We ran to Rachel. She was still breathing.”

Numerous other testimonies report similar.  But what of the autopsy? Of which Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised President Bush a “thorough, credible, and transparent investigation”. A court order decreed that a U.S embassy official be present at the autopsy, but no American representative attended. This issue was raised in the hearing of the civil suit against the Israeli government, of which Weiss was present and reported the following:

“I felt a lot of sadness and anger sitting there next to Rachel’s parents as we hear that their wishes in regard to their daughter’s body were violated.  Their daughter’s body and the investigation of her death were being manipulated by the Israeli military that had every reason to hide or even distort the findings.   Cindy told me that it was only recently that she found out that an American representative was not present at the autopsy. Despite the fact that the Corrie’s request for the presence of a representative of the American government were included as part of the court order, not only didn’t the military make sure that these conditions were fulfilled, the court didn’t either.  The court order specified that a copy of the autopsy report was to be sent to the court and this condition was also violated.”

Israel is an important ally to the US, our cultural ties will remain ever strong, but our shame is not calling this for what it is, state sponsored murder. Rachel Corrie was not an enemy combatant, she was standing up against a nation state in the act of violating international laws (the same reason we invaded Iraq), but her act of bravery is recorded as little more than a whisper. In fact, US Representative Brian Baird introduced House Concurrent Resolution 111 in the US Congress on March 25, 2003, calling on the US government to “undertake a full, fair, and expeditious investigation” into Corrie’s death. The House of Representatives took no action on the resolution. The all-powerful Jewish lobby strikes again, even if without a spoken threat.

Why don’t we all know her name? Why was the play withdrawn from the theatre without a single utter of outcry?  Make no mistake; it’s not only Islam that silences its objectors, although Islamists do so worryingly, it’s also those societies that are only to quick to point the finger who suppress freedom and truth. 

CJ Werleman

Author ‘God Hates You. Hate Him Back’ (Making Sense of the Bible)

www.GodHatesYou.net