Rachel’s Words

Four years after Rachel Corrie was killed by an Israeli soldier driving a US-made Caterpillar bulldozer, members of the Theatersquad and Palestine Solidarity Committee, along with others from Seattle community, presented sidewalk music and readings of Rachel Corrie’s writings in memory of her death.

Many stood in silent vigil with tears-of-blood masks, holding photographs and silhouettes, remembering not just Rachel but the thousands of Palestinians killed by Israel’s military occupation, including 11 Palestinians who have been killed while participating in nonviolent resistance against Israel’s Annexation Wall.

The bulldozer that crushed Rachel Corrie while she was trying to protect a Palestinian home from illegal demolition was a Caterpillar D-9, made in the USA. Seven eyewitnesses to Rachel’s death have reported she was visible to the bulldozer driver because of her bright orange vest and her high position on the mound of earth in front of him.

Though the Israeli occupation forces, investigating themselves, declared the event an “accident”, the US State Department has said that the investigation was neither transparent nor credible.

Rachel Corrie was working with the International Solidarity Movement to End the Occupation (ISM), a nonviolent Palestinian-led campaign to resist the illegal military occupation that Israel has imposed on the West Bank and Gaza since 1967.

From Indymedia UK

A small but dedicated contingent of Glasgow activists gathered on Friday afternoon in Glasgow city centre to mark the 4th anniversary of the tragic death of American human rights activist Rachel Corrie.

Corrie was killed on the 16th March 2003 by an Israeli army bulldozer while helping to highlight the plight of the oppressed Palestinians and prevent the unlawful demolition of homes in the Gaza strip.

At the time her death caused international outrage, and the purpose of the afternoons’ event was to commemorate her death and offer a moments reflection for both Rachel’s life and the suffering of the Palestinians living under the continuing grip of Israeli occupation.

Around 20 people braved high winds and heavy rain to attend the event, including representatives from the Glasgow Palestine Human Rights Campaign and Scottish Jews for a Just Peace.

Owing to a packed schedule and prior engagements, a brief, whistle-stop appearance at the event by the Ambassador of the Palestinian General Delegation to the UK, Professor Manuel Hassassian of Bethlehem University - who was on a visit to Scotland - failed to materialise.

From the AP

Four people arrested during a protest outside Caterpillar Incorporated’s world headquarters in Peoria have all been released on their own recognizance.

Peoria police say the four arrested for disorderly conduct yesterday afternoon were among about three dozen people who were protesting Caterpillar’s sale of armored bulldozers to Israel. Three of them were from Missouri and one was from Chicago.

The protesters complain that Caterpillar bulldozers sold to the Israeli military have been used to knock down houses along the Gaza Strip. Yesterday was the third anniversary of the death of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American who was killed when she stood in front of a bulldozer being driven by an Israeli soldier to stop him from demolishing a house.

by Gregg Krupa
Published in the Detroit News

About 50 Palestinian-Americans and members of local peace groups demonstrated in front of Michigan CAT today, calling for the halt of the sale of Caterpillar bulldozers to Israel.

The protesters say the D-9 bulldozer, manufactured by Caterpillar, is equipped with armor plating by the Israeli Defense Forces and it has been used to destroy fertile land and 12,000 homes in the Occupied Territories, displacing 70,000 Palestinians in recent years – all in violation of international law and peace agreements.

The protest is part of an international effort to demonstrate against Caterpillar at its factories and outlets. Because of the sales to Israel, the Church of England recently divested itself of stock in the British subsidiary of Caterpillar.

“I think it is really important that corporations be held accountable for their actions, and it is not true that they just sell this machine and what someone uses it for is not their responsibility,” said Mary Thomas of the Palestine Office-Michigan, an organization in Dearborn that advocates for the rights of Palestinians.

“My hope would be that this demonstration would be a clarion call to Caterpillar,” Thomas said. “They are an excellent company. They have done wonderful things. But they’ve made a mistake on this issue.”

By Angelo Bruscas
Published by the Seattle Post Intelligencer

Reading the personal e-mail Rachel Corrie had written before she was killed by an Israeli soldier driving a bulldozer while trying to protect a Palestinian home, about 20 people gathered in Westlake Plaza Thursday night to commemorate the three-year anniversary of her death.

The e-mails were read by different voices, and the words echoed across the plaza: “I really can’t believe that something like this can happen in the world without a bigger outcry about it.”

“Thank God for Seattle,” said Paulette Hopke of the fact that Corrie’s story still makes news locally, citing publicity about the recent Bread and Puppet Theater production of “Daughter Courage,” a play about the 23-year-old Evergreen State College student.

Hopke said she always gets a concerned response from young people who only now are beginning to hear about Corrie’s death and her mission to do something about the Palestinian conflict.

“It really helps with younger people, because where were they three years ago?” she said. “I just talked to a group of four young women who just expressed outrage after hearing about what happened, and sincerely so.”