{"article":{"id":36719,"heading":"LA Times article on Rachel Corrie's Murder","author":"American Jew Against Sharon's Crimes","created":"2003-03-19 06:00:29","modified":"2003-04-09 05:37:54","last_modified":"Wed, 09 Apr 2003 12:37:54","article":"

JERUSALEM

Israeli Bulldozer Crushes U.S. Activist to Death



By Laura King, Times Staff Writer

While fellow protesters screamed in horror, a 23-year-old college student and activist from Washington state was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer Sunday as her group was trying to block the demolition of Palestinian homes in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, eyewitnesses said.

The Israeli army called her death a \"regrettable accident\" but blamed the protesters for deliberately placing themselves in harm's way -- part of what it said has been a pattern of reckless behavior by foreign activists in the West Bank and Gaza.

The young woman, Rachel Corrie, was one of a group of mainly Americans and Europeans who have staged weeks of demonstrations in the Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza, where the army has destroyed dozens of structures in a volatile border zone that is rocked by near-constant fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen.

Standing in the path of an approaching military bulldozer, Corrie lost her footing as it drew close and was first hit by a massive load of sand and debris being pushed ahead by its blade, then struck by the blade itself, witnesses said.

\"I saw her in front of the bulldozer, and suddenly she disappeared from view,\" said Palestinian physician Samir Masri, whose family had been playing host to a group of protesters that included Corrie. \"I ran out to her and saw her bleeding face, her crushed skull.... I tried to treat her, but everything was broken.\"

Corrie was dead of massive head and chest injuries by the time she arrived at nearby Najar hospital in Rafah, said the hospital's director, Dr. Ali Moussa.

Separately, at least six Palestinians, including a 2-year-old girl, died early today when Israeli tanks and armor pushed into the Nusseirat refugee camp in Gaza, Palestinian doctors said. Two other Palestinians were killed elsewhere in Gaza on Sunday.

Corrie grew up in Olympia, Wash., where she attended school and was frequently seen at peace demonstrations. A college spokesperson said she would have been a senior at Evergreen State College, a small public liberal arts school known for activism in social causes, and had been expected to resume her studies when she returned from the Middle East.

She had told friends and professors she was traveling to the region to be a \"peace witness.\"

\"She was very strong willed in her quiet way, but she wasn't at all self-aggrandizing,\" said Lin Nelson, a professor at Evergreen. \"It meant a lot to her to be part of an effort to observe and witness and influence the world.\"

Nelson said that Corrie, who took an interest in domestic causes such as the plight of local timber towns that had fallen on harsh economic times, \"seemed to have done her homework\" about the situation in the Palestinian territories.

\"When I heard what happened, I was appalled and sickened,\" she said. \"I have such a sense of loss.\"

The Israeli army expressed regret at Corrie's death, but a military spokesman also denounced the protesters, saying that over a period of many months, some activists have consistently taken actions that endangered themselves along with Israeli troops and Palestinian civilians.

The group to which Corrie belonged, the International Solidarity Movement, has held protests at the scene of many trouble spots over the course of nearly 2 1\/2 years of fighting, with its members frequently placing themselves between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers or Jewish settlers. Sunday marked the first time a member of the group has been killed.

\"We are very, very sorry it ended this way,\" said Capt. Jacob Dallal, an army spokesman. \"But we really have to say this is an extremely dangerous and irresponsible form of protest -- it's unsafe for everyone. We're dealing with a combat zone. This is a place where troops are in heavy armor. There's shooting there all the time. This is not a place where a protest can be held in any kind of a safe way.\"

Dallal said bulletproof windows are relatively small and visibility is limited in the type of armored bulldozer that killed Corrie: a super-size model known as the D-9 often used to demolish homes. He said that the Israeli troops, who were clearing ground in search of explosives, had tried to move away from the protesters but that the group followed them.

Witnesses from Corrie's group, who included four Americans and four Europeans, said she was wearing a fluorescent-orange jacket and would have been clearly visible to the bulldozer's driver.

\"She was standing directly in his path -- she just didn't back down,\" said Nick Burrie, of Dundee, Scotland. \"Then she lost her footing, and he just kept right on driving forward.\"

Israeli troops temporarily halted the bulldozing after Corrie was hit but continued other operations in the area later Sunday, a military source said.

Officials at the U.S. Embassy, whose staff in Israel has been sharply reduced in advance of expected war in Iraq, could not be reached for comment.

In recent weeks, Corrie had posted accounts of the group's activities on the Internet. The postings painted a picture of an idealistic young woman who believed she was helping to ease the Palestinians' plight.

\"Rafah continues to witness the destruction of homes ... on a daily basis,\" she wrote late last month. Acknowledging that the protests were dangerous, she cited a \"variable factor\" in trying to block home demolitions -- \"whether the driver of a particular tank cares about injuring [protesters] in the process of destroying the welfare of Palestinians living here.\"

Evergreen professor and family friend Peter Bohmer said that Corrie's parents were instrumental in creating an alternative education program in the Olympia public schools and that the desirability of becoming involved in the world was stressed to her from an early age.

\"She grew up with the idea that it wasn't enough to talk about something -- you also had to do something,\" Bohmer said.

Built within a forest alongside Puget Sound, Evergreen was a product of 1960s activism and dispenses with such traditional educational concepts as grades, majors and academic departments. The 4,000-student college's reputation has prompted some conservative legislators to lobby for its closing. Former student Lynda Barry, the cartoonist and author, has described the school as a \"hippie college,\" while the fame of fellow alum Matt Groening, the creator of \"The Simpsons,\" has also contributed to the school's freewheeling reputation.

Corrie, a student of international politics and art, was considered rare among the student body in that she had grown up in Olympia and bridged the divide between lifelong residents and a transient student population.

In a Feb. 14 e-mail to friends, Corrie described one episode in the Palestinian territories in which other activists -- or \"internationalists,\" as she called them -- tried to halt a bulldozing.

\"The internationalists stood in the path of the bulldozer and were physically pushed with the shovel backwards, taking shelter in a house,\" she wrote. \"The bulldozer then proceeded on its course, demolishing one side of the house with the Internationals inside. The driver then dropped a sound grenade out of the cab of the bulldozer, and continued to demolish the house, at which point the activists were able to escape, amid gunfire from the tank.\"

Israel has for many months had a tense relationship with the International Solidarity Movement, whose mainly Western activists have mounted a campaign of protest against a variety of Israeli military activities.

Three of its members were arrested late last year while trying to obstruct the building of a security fence between Israel and the West Bank. Israel says the fence is needed to keep out suicide bombers and other attackers; the protesters charged that Israel was appropriating Palestinian land for it.

Other activists from the group slipped past Israeli soldiers last spring to enter the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem during a monthlong standoff between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen holed up inside.

Israel tried for a time to deny entry to the activists but drew angry protests when it turned away travelers arriving at Ben Gurion International Airport who turned out to be employed by humanitarian organizations, or who were ordinary tourists or pilgrims.

Rafah, on the Egyptian frontier at the southern tip of Gaza, has been the scene of some of the most intense fighting of recent months between Israelis and Palestinians. The border zone is rife with tunnels that Israel says are used to smuggle weapons and explosives from Egypt into Gaza. It says demolition of structures is aimed at destroying the tunnels, securing the border and clearing areas where Palestinian militants take cover.

Palestinians and human rights groups say Rafah is a prime example of excessive Israeli force being used in a crowded civilian area whose impoverished residents have no way to escape the fighting. At least six children have been among the civilians killed in the area in recent months.

Masri, the Palestinian doctor with whose family Corrie had lived, remembered a spirited, athletic young woman who often observed local mores by wearing a head scarf over her blond hair.

\"She was very brave and beautiful, a special friend to me and my family,\" Masri said. \"She only wanted to help us, and she paid with her life.\"

*

Times staff writer Monte Morin in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"For the mainstream press a decent article; though it still soft-peddles Israeli atrocities.","numcomment":12,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2003\/03\/36719.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":36738,"heading":"War crime?","article":"Wow\r\nEven the "despised" Chinese army wouldn't run over a protester in Tianamen Square.\r\nToo bad the United States didn't want to enforce...........\r\nUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 242 \r\n(Concerning Principles for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Middle East), \r\nS.C. res. 242, U.N. Doc. S\/RES\/242 \r\n(1967).","author":"systemfailure","parent_id":36719,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-19 08:28:45","modified":"2003-03-19 08:28:45","fileurl":""},{"id":36776,"heading":"The difference is...","article":"the Chinese government crushed a peaceful demonstration calling for greater democracy. The Israelis are demolishing the homes of known terrorists. ","author":"truth hurts","parent_id":36719,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-19 14:52:37","modified":"2003-03-19 14:52:37","fileurl":""},{"id":36810,"heading":"No, the difference is...","article":"\r\n...that neither the hundreds of Palestinian children killed every year in this conflict nor the 2-year old girl killed when the Israeli army pushed into a refugee camp in Gaza yesterday were "known terrorists." 'truth hurts': How dare you??\r\n","author":"rlincoln","parent_id":36719,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-19 17:25:10","modified":"2003-03-19 17:25:10","fileurl":""},{"id":38034,"heading":"citizen","article":"It would seem that the Israeli Army has expanded the word "terrorist" to include children, pregnant women, and non-violent peace activists. Honestly, what is the difference between Ariel Sharone and Saddam Hussein? How come these two are governing nations, and people like Rachel Corrie are bleeding and dying, and covered in dirt underneath bull-dozers?","author":"michael creager","parent_id":36719,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-22 05:07:06","modified":"2003-03-22 05:07:06","fileurl":""},{"id":38210,"heading":"another victim of Zionism","article":"Because Rachel Corrie is not a jew, thats why.","author":"Bill","parent_id":36719,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-22 09:37:21","modified":"2003-03-22 09:37:21","fileurl":""},{"id":38282,"heading":"Rev.","article":"No, they weren't terrorists. Not yet...","author":"Scott Foster","parent_id":36719,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-22 15:04:58","modified":"2003-03-22 15:04:58","fileurl":""},{"id":38331,"heading":"Read THIS ARTICLE","article":"You people for "peace" for the Iraqi people are morons. Here's is your proof. And it will ONLY GET BIGGER. Are you starting to feel stupid yet? \r\n\r\n"No Saddam Hussein!" one young man in headscarf told Gurfein. "Bush!" \r\n\r\n\r\nU.S. Marines Rip Down Saddam Portraits \r\n1 hour, 5 minutes ago \r\n\r\nBy ELLEN KNICKMEYER, Associated Press Writer \r\n\r\nMilling crowds of men and boys watched as the Marines attached ropes on the front of their Jeeps to one portrait and then backed up, peeling the Iraqi leader's black-and-white metal image off a frame. Some locals briefly joined Maj. David "Bull" Gurfein in a new cheer. \r\n\r\n\r\n"Iraqis! Iraqis! Iraqis!" Gurfein yelled, pumping his fist in the air. \r\n\r\n\r\n"We wanted to send a message that Saddam is done," said Gurfein, a New York native in the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. "People are scared to show a lot of emotion. That's why we wanted to show them this time we're here, and Saddam is done." \r\n\r\n\r\nThe Marines arrived in Safwan, just across the Kuwait border, after Cobra attack helicopters, attack jets, tanks, 155 mm howitzers and sharpshooters cleared the way along Route 80, the main road into Iraq (news - web sites). \r\n\r\n\r\nSafwan, 375 miles south of Baghdad, is a poor, dirty, wrecked town pocked by shrapnel from the last Gulf war (news - web sites). Iraqi forces in the area sporadically fired mortars and guns for hours Thursday and Friday. Most townspeople hid, although residents brought forth a wounded little girl, her palm bleeding after the new fighting. Another man said his wife was shot in the leg by the Americans. \r\n\r\n\r\nA few men and boys ventured out, putting makeshift white flags on their pickup trucks or waving white T-shirts out truck windows. \r\n\r\n\r\n"Americans very good," Ali Khemy said. "Iraq wants to be free." \r\n\r\n\r\nSome chanted, "Ameriki! Ameriki!" \r\n\r\n\r\nMany others in the starving town just patted their stomachs and raised their hands, begging for food. \r\n\r\n\r\nA man identifying himself only as Abdullah welcomed the arrival of the U.S. troops: "Saddam Hussein is no good. Saddam Hussein a butcher." \r\n\r\n\r\nAn old woman shrouded in black — one of the very few women outside — knelt toward the feet of Americans, embracing an American woman. A younger man with her pulled her away, giving her a warning sign by sliding his finger across his throat. \r\n\r\n\r\nIn 1991, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died after prematurely celebrating what they believed was their liberation from Saddam after the Gulf War. Some even pulled down a few pictures of Saddam then — only to be killed by Iraqi forces. \r\n\r\n\r\nGurfein playfully traded pats with a disabled man and turned down a dinner invitation from townspeople. \r\n\r\n\r\n"Friend, friend," he told them in Arabic learned in the first Gulf War. \r\n\r\n\r\n"We stopped in Kuwait that time," he said. "We were all ready to come up there then, and we never did." \r\n\r\n\r\nThe townspeople seemed grateful this time. \r\n\r\n\r\n"No Saddam Hussein!" one young man in headscarf told Gurfein. "Bush!" \r\n\r\n\r\n","author":"Rich","parent_id":36719,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2003-03-22 17:00:44","modified":"2005-08-15 01:16:31","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2003\/03\/reagan.jpg7kqvud.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2003\/03\/reagan.jpg7kqvud.jpg"}},{"id":38352,"heading":"The New X","article":"The New X\r\nby The New X \u2022 Thursday March 20, 2003 Thut 04:33 PM\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nthe fear that Saddam will attack the US with WMD shows how PARANOID americans are. \r\n\r\nthey don't really know why he will attack \r\nthey just know he will \r\n\r\n"we don't know what a nigger is, but we're just gonna hate 'em anyway" \r\n\r\nAMERICAN HYPOCRISY \r\n\r\nTO ANY PRO-WAR ADVOCATE \r\nI DARE YOU TO REPLY TO THIS: \r\n\r\nThe US government supported Saddam during his most murderous years. They supplied him with WMD and the technology to make his own WMD. EVEN THOUGH HE WAS A KNOWN TYRANT. Why? So that he would use them on the Iranians. Even after Halabja in 1988, the US government CONTINUED to support him. \r\n\r\nNow in the year 2003 (whether it is morally just or not), Saddam no longer wishes to play into US global strategy. So he is ALL OF A SUDDEN branded a TYRANT ------ EVEN THOUGH HE WAS A MURDEROUS TYRANT ALL THE YEARS THE US SUPPORTED HIM! \r\n\r\nIsn't it hypocritical that although he was even more murderous back then, he was considered an ALLY and FRIEND OF AMERICA simply because he was killing Iranians (if 5,000 kurds happened to be gassed in a single attack thats no big deal). Now he's still murderous but now the US actually acknowledges that he is a tyrant. Imagine if he was still following US wishes by fighting with Iraq, would the US be calling him a TYRANT? I DON'T THINK SO. \r\n\r\nHYPOCRISY HYPOCRISY HYPOCRISY. \r\n\r\nUntil the US apologizes to the victims of Saddam terror DURING THE YEARS THAT THEY SUPPORTED HIM, this war will only be about US PARANOIA and its attempts at gaining a FALSE sense of security. \r\n\r\n-------------------------------------------------------------------------- \r\n\r\nwar advocates only want to see sand nigger blood being spilled. they try to improve the body count \r\n2,500 Americans (WTC) < 100,000 Sand Niggers. \r\n\r\nSo they can feel better about themselves and feel as if they "won" the overall battle. Their oh so precious American pride was hurt on 9\/11 and now they seek to get it back by killing sand niggers left rite and center \r\n\r\n(basically this is the whole starship troopers scenario)\r\n","author":"The New X","parent_id":36719,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-22 17:29:14","modified":"2013-11-10 23:49:11","fileurl":""},{"id":39480,"heading":"Mr.","article":"Rachel Corrie was NOT a "peace activist" or "humanitarian". She was an anti-American, anti-Semitic supporter of terrorists who murder innocent human beings. Here is information about what really happened:\r\n\r\n\r\nWednesday, March 19, 2003\r\nMAKOR RISHON March 21, 2003: Mis-captioned Reuters photo transforms accidental death into homicide.\r\n\r\nTO BE PUBLISHED MAKOR RISHON, MARCH 21, 2003\r\n(TRANSLATION TO FOLLOW)\r\n(Reuters pix mentioned below can be e-mailed to you upon request\r\nmedia@actcom.co.il)\r\n\r\nDAVID BEDEIN\r\nBUREAU CHIEF\r\nISRAEL RESOURCE NEWS AGENCY\r\nBEIT AGRON INTERNATIONAL PRESS CENTER\r\nJERUSALEM, ISRAEL\r\nwww.israelbehindthenews.com media@actcom.co.il\r\n\r\nMis-captioned Reuters photo transforms accidental death into homicide.\r\n\r\nJoe Smith, age 21, came with his college friend Rachel Corrie this past\r\nSunday, March 16th to Gaza to protest against terrorist home demolitions as\r\npart of his activity with the International Solidarity Movement.\r\n\r\nBoth Joe and Rachel had studied at Evergreen College in Olympia, Washington.\r\n\r\nJoe was witness to Rachel's tragic death late that afternoon, and\r\ndescribed what he saw to my colleague , recounting that "she was sitting on\r\na mound of earth in front of the bulldozer. The earth started to move under\r\nher when the bulldozer digs in. You have a couple of options you can roll\r\naside-you have to be very quick to get out of the way. You can fall back,\r\nbut she leaned forward to try to climb up on top. She got pulled down, and\r\nthe bulldozer lost sight of her.Then, without lifting the blade, he\r\nreversed and she was underneath the blade". Joe Smith did not sound\r\naccusatory nor vindictive against the IDF bulldozer driver.\r\n\r\nSo why did the world have a different impression of what had happened?\r\n\r\nWell, a picture is worth a thousand words.\r\n\r\nThe picture distributed by the Reuters News Agency showed Rachel Corrie\r\nstanding in front of the Bulldozer with a megaphone. That is the picture\r\nthat appeared on page three of the New York Times on March 17, 2003\r\n\r\nThe Reuters caption stated what the picture said that this picture was\r\ntaken before Rachel Corrie was crushed by this bulldozer, giving the reader the distinct impression that Rachel Corrie had been standing with a\r\nmegaphone in clear sight of the bulldozer.\r\n\r\nThat would have made this act some kind of homicide.\r\n\r\nThe next photo distributed by Reuters showed Rachel lying in front of the\r\nbulldozer.\r\n\r\nAnd then I began to notice something.\r\n\r\nThe lighting of the Gaza sky was different in both pictures of what were\r\nsupposed to be sequential shots. The landscape in each picture was\r\ndifferent.\r\n\r\nI checked with Reuters to find out about the discrepancy of the picture\r\nsequence.. The Reuters photo editor said, however, that , these were NOT\r\ntheir pictures. They were sent by the International Solidarity Movement.\r\nIndeed, these pictures did appear on the ISM web site ... The Reuters photo editor assured me, however, that\r\nthe pix were clearly labeled as ISM pictures. A check with the Reuters web\r\nsite showed that they were labeled as Reuters pix.\r\n\r\nA call back to Joe Smith about the sequence of the pix revealed another\r\nunknown fact. Smith said that no one was on the spot with a camera before\r\nRachel Corrie was mauled by the bulldozer, and that the picture of Rachel\r\nwith the megaphone had been taken many hours earlier...\r\n\r\nI placed a call to Tim Heritage, bureau chief of Reuters, and asked him\r\nabout Reuters policy in using pictures from political groups that might\r\nmanipulate the media...\r\n\r\nI gave him a heads up about the fact that Reuters had\r\nissued the photo of Rachel Corrie standing alongside the bulldozer with a\r\nmegaphone.\r\n\r\nHeritage said that he would look into the matter and asked for a call back.\r\nI called back an hour later. Heritage was not available. However, all of\r\nthe Rachel Corrie\/bulldozer pix had been wiped off of the Reuters web site.\r\n\r\nYet the damage was done.\r\n\r\nThe indelible image of a mauled "peace activist standing with a megaphone"\r\nwill not leave people's minds for many years to come.\r\n","author":"Steve","parent_id":36719,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-24 18:07:34","modified":"2003-03-24 18:07:34","fileurl":""},{"id":45825,"heading":"Mr","article":"I don't know what Joe Smith said to you, but I know what he said in the following article:\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.ccmep.org\/2003_articles\/Palestine\/032003_the_moments_before.htm","author":"Andras Rosner","parent_id":36719,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-04-04 20:50:59","modified":"2003-04-04 20:50:59","fileurl":""},{"id":45829,"heading":"Simple","article":"Where did the pictures of Rachel burning home-made American flags go?\r\n\r\nWhy were they removed from www.palsolidarity.org ?\r\n\r\nSainthood committee meeting soon?","author":"Simple Simon","parent_id":36719,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-04-04 20:55:43","modified":"2003-04-04 20:55:43","fileurl":""},{"id":47231,"heading":"Bill is anti-Semitic","article":"I wonder what Zionism or the fact Corrie wasn't Jewish have to do with anything. . . sounds like good old-fashioned Jew-hatred cloaked in criticsm of Israel.","author":"Ariel","parent_id":36719,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-04-09 05:37:54","modified":"2003-04-09 05:37:54","fileurl":""}]}