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| FRIENDS OF RACHAEL CORRIE TRY TO HELP HER AFTER SHE WAS RUN OVER AND KILLED BY AN ISRAELI BULLDOZER. | |
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On Sunday, US national Rachel Corrie, 23, was buried alive and then crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer as she and a group of seven young American and British human shields from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) stood in the way of IDF tanks as they destroyed homes.
On Monday, Palestinians gathered in a candlelight vigil in Gaza City to commemorate Corrie, holding up signs reading "Rachel Corrie, you are in our hearts."
The IDF promised an investigation into the incident but said her death was not intentional.
Rachel's ISM colleagues, all of whom witnessed the scene, are certain it was a case of murder.
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| UNIDENTIFIED MEMBERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE RUN IN FRONT OF AN ISRAEL ARMY BULLDOZER TRYING TO PREVENT HOUSE DEMOLITION AT RAFAH REFUGEE CAMP IN SOUTHERN GAZA STRIP. | |
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"She was wearing a fluorescent orange jacket and was plainly visible," said Greg Schnabel.
"The bulldozer approached but she stood her ground. Then it pushed up a pile of dirt beneath her feet. She struggled to stay on top of the mound.
"She was raised up to where she was probably looking the bulldozer driver in the eye," Schnabel said, ruling out any possibility the Israeli destruction team could have failed to see her.
"Then she stepped back, the bulldozer continued and sand started covering her legs and buried her up to her waist. She tried to pull herself out but she got sucked under the blade.
"The blade went over her body and the bulldozer stopped when she was underneath. Finally it withdrew, but without lifting the blade, dragging it over her once more," said Schnabel.
A dozen eye-witness accounts of the incident confirmed Schnabel's version of the events.
Then on Monday, witnesses said the IDF obstructed the ambulance carrying Corrie's body.
Corrie was the first foreign peace activist to be slain by the Israeli army since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising.
RACHEL'S LAST EMAILS
Rachel Corrie sent regular emails to her family and friends in the US. Here are some exerpts from her last days, first published in the London daily The Guardian on Tuesday:
"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". (How is Sharon? How is Bush? Bush is crazy. Sharon is crazy.)" - February 7
"I still feel like I'm relatively safe and think that my most likely risk is arrest. Sharon's assassination-during-peace-negotiations/land grab strategy is working very well to create settlements all over, slowly but surely eliminating any possibility for Palestinian self-determination." – February 20
PALESTINIAN WOMEN LOOK AT POSTERS OF AMERICAN RACHEL Corrie DURING A RALLY IN GAZA CITY. THOUSANDS OF POSTERS WITH RACHEL'S PORTRAIT ARE BEING DISTRIBUTED IN GAZA STRIP.
"If any of us had our lives and welfare completely strangled, lived with children in a shrinking place where we knew that soldiers and tanks and bulldozers could come for us at any moment, 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 violent means to protect whatever fragments remained?" - February 27
"I'm witnessing this chronic, insidious genocide and I'm 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 extremist to do. I still want to dance around to Pat Benatar and have boyfriends and make comics for my co-workers. But I also want this to stop. This is not what I asked for when I came into this world." – February 27
"I am amazed at [my Palestinian friends'] strength in being able to defend such a large degree of their humanity – laughter, generosity, family-time - against the incredible horror occurring in their lives and against the constant presence of death. I am also discovering a strength and basic ability for humans to remain human in the direst of circumstances. I think the word is dignity.
I wish you could meet these people. Maybe, hopefully, someday you will." – February 28
Some 30 armored vehicles with bulldozers and infantry forces probed several hundred metres (yards) into the Nusseirat refugee camp near Gaza City. The raid was launched from the Netzarim Jewish settlement, three kilometres (two miles) to the north.
The Israeli units backed up by helicopter gunships met with stiff resistance from Palestinian fighters in the camp, Palestinian security officials said. The slain baby was identified as Hannan El Assar, who was killed by a bullet wound to the head, medics said.
Two other people were crushed under the rubble of a house dynamited by the army as it raided the Nusseirat refugee camp, just south of Gaza City. It was feared more dead could be under the rubble of the El Saatin family house, security officials said, without naming the person killed.
The overnight raid also cost the lives of three other Palestinians, while 15 were wounded.
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