Remembering Rachel
Rachel Corrie, who was killed by a bulldozer in Gaza last week, was remembered by her family and friends back home, Khaled Dawoud, in Washington, was among the mourners
More than 300 people gathered in front of the highly guarded Israeli Embassy in Washington last week to hold a candle-light vigil in tearful remembrance of 23-year-old Rachel Corrie who was killed by the Israeli army in Gaza on 16 March. An Israeli soldier driving a US-made Caterpillar bulldozer disregarded appeals by the young Corrie to halt his destruction of a Palestinian house, and drove over her slight body. The US State Department expressed "regret" over the incident and demanded that Israel investigate. As Corrie's death coincided with US President George Bush's decision to launch a war against Iraq, the incident was hardly covered by the US media, which usually expresses grave concern over any American citizen killed abroad.
Rachel was one of more than 100 American members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) that also counts hundreds of Europeans among its activists. The group has been very active in the occupied territories since Israel's take over of the entire West Bank a year ago in the operation known as "Defensive Shield". Members effectively act as "human shields" in attempts to protect Palestinian civilians and their hospitals. They also distribute essential goods and try to obstruct Israel's routine demolitions of Palestinian homes.
Rachel's parents were among those who gathered in front of the Israeli Embassy on 18 March for the vigil. "When Rachel last came home, she showed me a book with pictures of Palestinian children killed since the beginning of the [Al-Aqsa] Intifada. Yesterday, I was promised that her picture would be added to the book," Cindy Corrie, Rachel's mother, said through tears. While shaking hands with mourners and trying to appear strong, Corrie recalled the stories her daughter had told her about Palestine and how difficult it was for people to live under constant siege and occupation. "She was very touched by how families there tried to support each other in such difficult times. The people there were really good to her." She added that once when Rachel was sitting next to an elderly Palestinian woman while trying to protect her house, the woman tried to dissuade her from smoking a cigarette. "I would like to find that woman and tell her that Rachel's mother did not want her to smoke either," she said.
When told by the reporter that he worked for an Egyptian paper, Corrie had another story to tell. "Oh, you are from Egypt," she told Al-Ahram Weekly. "Rachel used to go to a town near the border with Egypt, and she told us how she used to wave and speak with Egyptians on the other side."
Asked what Rachel told her in their last telephone conversation, the mother said that her daughter was very concerned about the impact a US war on Iraq might have on Palestinians. "She wanted to be there when war happened. We asked her to return, but she refused, because the people in the occupied territories were really worried. We were very concerned about Rachel and we wanted to protect her, but we couldn't discourage her," Corrie said. "She was a happy person who filled our lives with joy."
On 19 March, a number of Rachel's friends, ISM activists and members of a pro-Palestinian group, SUSTAIN (Stop US Tax-Funded Aid to Israel Now) staged a protest in front of the office of the Caterpillar Corporation in Washington DC. The company that sells bulldozers worldwide has been an target for SUSTAIN activists for alleged "complicity in the murder of Palestinians". Mammoth bulldozers especially made for Israel, Caterpillar D-9, are often used by occupation forces to destroy Palestinian houses. It was a D-9 that killed Corrie in Gaza.
A number of protesters tried to meet company executives to give them a letter of protest and ask them to stop selling bulldozers to Israel. However, security guards at the company refused to let them in. Undaunted, activists covered the building entrance with pictures of Corrie and D-9 bulldozers destroying Palestinian homes.
