Rachel Corrie (April 10, 1979 – March 16, 2003) was an American member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) who traveled to the Gaza Strip during the Second Intifada. She was killed by a Caterpillar D9 armoured bulldozer operated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during a protest against the destruction of Palestinian homes by the IDF in the Gaza Strip.^[1] The details of the events surrounding Corrie's death are disputed; an Israeli military investigation ruled the death was an accident, while the ISM maintains that Corrie was run over deliberately.

Early life

Raised in Olympia, Washington, Corrie was the daughter of Craig Corrie, an insurance executive, and Cindy Corrie, an amateur flautist. The youngest of three children, she is described as "the most idealistic," "with a dreamer's ambition."^[2] She graduated from Capital High School then attended The Evergreen State College (TESC) taking courses in International Studies and Art. She initially joined the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace; then, in her senior year, with one quarter left to complete towards her degree, she joined the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), and traveled to the Middle East to participate in ISM-organized demonstrations in Rafah.^[2]

Friends described her as "athletically slender with blond hair and thoughtful, intelligent eyes", "attractive in a plain-spoken way, the opposite of flashy, not working to call attention to herself. She was reserved in large crowds but intimate one-on-one. She played soccer, gardened and loved the poems of Pablo Neruda." Known as a leader in peace organizations around Olympia for her "quiet doggedness," she was the organizer behind the scenes, with her friend Phan Nguyen describing her as its "heart and soul." Those who knew her best described her as being born with "an altruistic heart." Her cousin, Linda Young, recalls that as a child in elementary school, she was worried about world hunger and talked about how solutions had to be found to feed people who were without. Young attributes this to her being raised in a "creative and generous" family who "viewed itself as citizens of the world rather than simply Americans." Since 1975, the Corries had hosted a number of international stuents and supported exchange programs, and Rachel travelled to Russia on a school exchange program.^[2]

Colin Reese, a close friend who shared an apartment with Corrie for four years before her death, said she had wanted to become a writer and artist. Journals of poems and reflections, and sculptures she was working on were ubiquitous in their apartment. Reese also said she was "not the most punctual or tidy person in the world," but that when it came to peace work, she "would work harder and longer than anybody else."^[2]

Activities in Gaza

On January 18, 2003, Corrie traveled to the Gaza Strip, where she attended two days of training in non-violent resistance^{[citation needed]} and serving as human shields to impede house demolition in the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.^[1] The IDF operation had previously demolished three buildings and several walls in the area.^[3] Through February and March, according to ISM activists and e-mails Corrie sent to her family, she took part in a mock trial of George W. Bush; a demonstration as part of the February 15, 2003 anti-war protest against the war in Iraq, where she burned a paper U.S. flag^[4] and was photographed burning a paper Israeli flag. She helped to occupy the area around local wells, an operation the ISM described as designed to protect the wells and Palestinian workers from the IDF.

In e-mails to her family, Corrie described what she witnessed and expressed her frustration over it. On March 14, 2003 in an interview with the Middle East Broadcasting network, she said: "I feel like I'm witnessing the systematic destruction of a people's ability to survive ... Sometimes I sit down to dinner with people and I realize there is a massive military machine surrounding us, trying to kill the people I'm having dinner with."^[5]

Corrie's death and subsequent controversy

On March 16, 2003, Corrie was in a group of seven ISM activists (three British and four Americans) attempting to disrupt the actions of Israeli bulldozers. After several hours of activity in the combat zone, Corrie sat in the path of a bulldozer, where she was fatally injured. According to an ISM activist, Joseph Smith, Corrie fully expected the bulldozer to stop just in front of her. In June 2003, a military investigation by the Israel Defense Forces Judge Advocate’s Office concluded that the woman’s death was accidental. “The driver at no point saw or heard Corrie,” an army source told the Jerusalem Post. “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.”

Smith recounted afterward, "We were horribly surprised. They had been careful not to hurt us. They'd always stopped before."^[6] Corrie was transported to a Palestinian hospital. Accounts vary as to whether she died at the scene, in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, or at the hospital.^[6]

The events surrounding Corrie's death are disputed. ISM eyewitnesses assert that the Israeli soldier driving the bulldozer deliberately ran Corrie over twice while she was acting as a human shield to prevent the demolition of the home of Samir Nasrallah, a local pharmacist.^[7][8] The Israeli Government and the IDF denied that version of events and described Corrie's death as an accident. The official Israeli response stated that Corrie was killed by falling debris pushed over by the bulldozer whose driver did not see her, and that the bulldozer was clearing brush and not engaged in a demolition when Corrie blocked its path, while other reports say the Israeli government charged that the house being demolished contained a tunnel used for smuggling weapons from Egypt.^[9]

The major points of dispute are whether the bulldozer driver saw Corrie, and whether she died after being hit by the blade or by falling debris, or whether she was crushed under the bulldozer tracks or the blade. In an interview the day after Corrie's death, eyewitness Joseph Smith stated, "The driver lost sight of her."^[6] Because the Caterpillar D9 bulldozers have a restricted field of vision with several blind spots, Israeli army regulations normally require that other soldiers assist in directing bulldozer drivers, but the Israeli army commander of the Gaza Strip said in an interview broadcast on Israeli television that, on the day of Corrie's death, soldiers had to stay in their armored vehicles and were not able to direct the bulldozer, or arrest the protesters, because of the threat of Palestinian snipers. He also said that Israeli soldiers may have been handling other ISM activists instead of watching over the bulldozer.^{[citation needed]} In a statement issued the day after Corrie's death, the ISM said that, ``when the bulldozer refused to stop or turn aside she climbed up onto the mound of dirt and rubble being gathered in front of it ... to look directly at the driver who kept on advancing."^[10]

The IDF produced a video about Corrie's death that includes footage taken from inside the cockpit of a D9. It makes a "credible case," Joshua Hammer wrote in Mother Jones, that "the operators, peering out through narrow, double-glazed, bulletproof windows, their view obscured behind pistons and the giant scooper, might not have seen Corrie kneeling in front of them."^[11] The website Israel Behind the News has said that images on the ISM website, and subsequently used by Reuters, give a misleading impression of the incident.^[12]

ISM eyewitness accounts

The following account is from Joe Carr, an ISM activist from Kansas City, Missouri, who used the assumed name of Joseph Smith during his time in Gaza.

"[Between 13:00 and 13:30, activists] noticed that two Israeli Army bulldozers and one tank [had] entered onto Palestinian civilian property near the border and [were] demolishing farmland and other already damaged structures. The military machine was severely threatening near-by homes, so the 3 activists went up onto the roof of one home, and then called for others to come.

"[Between 13:30 and 14:00], I arrived, and one of the three activists at[sic] the house joined me on the ground ... [W]e began to disrupt the work of the bulldozers ... At this point, Rachel and the two other activists joined us ... Rachel and a British activist were wearing jackets that were fluorescent orange and had reflective stripping [sic] ... [Between 14:00 and 15:00], Rachel and two other activists began interfering with the other bulldozer, which was attempting to destroy grass and other plants on what used to be farmland. They stood and sat in its path, and though it would drive very close to them, and even move the earth on which they were sitting, it always stopped in time to avoid injuring them ... [Between 15:00 and 16:00], one bulldozer pushed Will, an American activist, up against a pile of barbed wire. Fortunately, the bulldozer stopped and withdrew just in time to avoid injuring him seriously, but we had to dig him out of the rubble, and unhook his clothing from the wire. The tank approached to see if he was ok. One soldier stuck his head out of the tank to see, and he looked quite shocked and dumbfounded, but said nothing ...

"[Between 16:45 and 17:00], [o]ne bulldozer, serial number 949623, began to work near the house of a physician who is a friend of ours ... Rachel sat down in the pathway of the bulldozer ... [It] continued driving forward headed straight for Rachel. When it got so close that it was moving the earth beneath her, she climbed onto the pile of rubble being pushed by the bulldozer. She got so high onto it that she was at eye-level with the cab of the bulldozer ... Despite this, he continued forward, which pulled her legs into the pile of rubble, and pulled her down out of view of the driver ... We ran towards him, and waved our arms and shouted, one activist with the megaphone. But [he] continued forward, until Rachel was underneath the central section of the bulldozer ... Despite the obviousness of her position, the bulldozer began to reverse, without lifting its blade, and drug [sic] the blade over her body again. He continued to reverse until he was on the boarder [sic] strip, about 100 meters away, and left her crushed body in the sand. Three activists ran to her and began administering first-responder medical treatment ... She said, "My back is broken!" but nothing else ..."^{[citation needed]}

Joe Smith also said: "Rachel had two options. When the bulldozer started to dig in the dirt pile, the pile started to move, and she could have rolled sideways quickly or fallen backwards to avoid being hit. But Rachel leaned forward to climb to the top of the dirt pile. The bulldozer's digging drew her downward, and its driver could not see her anymore. So without lifting the scoop, he turned backward and she was already underneath the blade."^[13]

Smith stated in a telephone interview, "The driver lost sight of her and continued forward. Then, without lifting the blade he reversed and Rachel was underneath the mid-section of the dozer, she wasn't run over by the tread."^[6] In yet another statement, Smith also stated that the driver picked Corrie up with a pile of dirt, dumped her on the ground, and ran over her twice.^[10]

ISM activist Tom Dale was standing yards away from Corrie. He told journalist Joshua Hammer, Jerusalem bureau chief for Newsweek:

"The bulldozer built up earth in front of it. Its blade was slightly dug into the earth. She began to stand up. The earth was pushed over her feet. She tried to climb on top of the earth, to avoid being overwhelmed. She climbed to the point where her shoulders were above the top lip of the blade. She was standing on this pile of earth. As the bulldozer continued, she lost her footing, and she turned and fell down this pile of earth. Then it seemed like she got her foot caught under the blade. She was helpless, pushed prostrate, and looked absolutely panicked, with her arms out, and the earth was piling itself over her. The bulldozer continued so that the place where she fell down was directly beneath the cockpit. I think she would have been between the treads. The whole [incident] took place in about six or seven seconds," (Mother Jones, Sept-October 2003).^[11]

An individual giving the name Richard called the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, stating that he witnessed Rachel's death, and stated as follows:^[14]

"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."

Other eyewitness accounts have indicated that Corrie may have been killed at a moment when the driver was looking behind him.--^[15]

Autopsy and early investigation

An autopsy was performed by an Israeli pathologist, Yehudah Hiss, at the National Center of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv, which issued a report on issued on March 20, four days after Corrie's death. It concluded that her death was caused by pressure on the chest "from a mechanical apparatus".^[16] An IDF spokesman stated that the initial investigation revealed that the cause of death was most likely a blow to the head and chest by a blunt object, possibly a chunk of cement dug up by the bulldozer.^[6]

According to a correspondent for Gannett News Service, the IDF document, "The Death of Rachel Corrie" made no mention of the pathologist's conclusion, though, according to Corrie's parents, the entire document has not been released.^[17]

Israeli government report

The Israeli government promised a "thorough, credible, and transparent investigation".

The Jerusalem Post, quoting an Israeli military spokesman, reported on June 26, 2003 that Corrie had not been run over and that the driver had not seen her:

"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.

"The International Solidarity Movement, to which Corrie belonged, was directly responsible for illegal behavior and conduct in the area of Corrie's death and their actions directly led to this tragedy."^[18]

The Israeli army's report, which was seen by the The Guardian, said that 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," (The Guardian, April 14, 2003).^[19]

In later IDF operations, the house was damaged (a hole was knocked in a wall) and was later destroyed. By that time, the Nasrallah family had moved into a different house. It was reported in 2006 that the house that Corrie tried to protect was rebuilt with funds raised by The Rebuilding Alliance.^[20]

A spokesman for the IDF told the Guardian that, while it did not accept responsibility for Corrie's death, it intended to change its operational procedures to avoid similar incidents in the future. The level of command of similar operations would be raised, said the spokesman, and civilians in the area would be dispersed or arrested before operations began. Observers will be deployed and CCTV cameras will be installed on the bulldozers to compensate for blind spots, which may have contributed to Corrie's death.

The IDF gave copies of the report, entitled "The Death of Rachel Corrie," to members of the U.S. Congress in April 2003, and Corrie's family released the document to the media in June 2003, according to the Gannett News Service.^[21] However, in March 2004, the family maintained that the entire report had not been released, and that only they and two American staffers at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv had been allowed to view it. The family say they were allowed to look at the report in the Israeli consulate in San Francisco.^[22] The ISM rejected the Israeli report stating it contradicted their members' eyewitness reports, and that the investigation had been far from credible and transparent.^[23]

Reaction

Corrie's death sparked controversy and led to international media coverage, in part because she was an American, and in part because of the highly politicized nature of the conflict itself.

Capt. Jacob Dallal, a spokesman for the Israeli army, called Corrie's death a "regrettable accident" and said that she and the other ISM activists were "a group of protesters who were acting very irresponsibly, putting everyone in danger — the Palestinians, themselves and our forces — by intentionally placing themselves in a combat zone."

Amnesty International USA called for an independent inquiry, with Christine Bustany, their advocacy director for the Middle East, saying that "U.S.-made bulldozers have been 'weaponized' and their transfer to Israel must be suspended."^[24] U.S. Representative Brian Baird introduced House Concurrent Resolution 111 in the U.S. Congress on March 25, 2003, calling on the U.S. government to "undertake a full, fair, and expeditious investigation" into Corrie's death. The House of Representatives took no action on the resolution.^[25] The Corrie family joined Representative Baird in calling for a U.S. investigation.^[26] Baird, though reelected in 2004 and again in 2006, has not reintroduced the resolution in the Congress.

Human Rights Watch, a group which has repeatedly criticized Israeli actions in the West Bank and Gaza, on a web page devoted to a number of non-natives of the area who have been killed by IDF action, questioned the quality of the investigation, stating that its own communication with Palestinian and ISM individuals involved "indicates that the impartiality and professionalism of the Israeli investigation into Corrie’s death are highly questionable".^[27]

Yasser Arafat offered his condolences and gave the blessings of the Palestinian people to Corrie.^[10]

There were reports that because she was an American, her death attracted the kind of attention that the deaths of Palestinians fail to garner. The Observer wrote that: "On the night of Corrie's death, nine Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, among them a four-year-old girl and a man aged 90. A total of 220 people have died in Rafah since the beginning of the intifada. Palestinians know the death of one American receives more attention than the killing of hundreds of Muslims." A Hamas activist told the newspaper: "[Corrie's] death serves me more than it served her. Going in front of the tanks was heroic. Her death will bring more attention than the other 2,000 martyrs."^[28]

The same article also contains this account:

"The desolate sandy stretch is now strewn with the rubble from the demolition of houses which she could not prevent. As the memorial service got under way, the Israeli army sent its own representative. A tank pulled up beside the mourners and sprayed them with tear gas. A bizarre game of cat-and-mouse began as the peace activists chased the tank around to throw flowers on it, and the Israeli soldiers inside threatened, in return, to run them down."^[28]

Her photograph has been used in protests, including in Rafah, against Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank. On July 15, 2003, the Chicago Tribune reported that "to the people of Rafah, Rachel Corrie will always remain a very special martyr, their American martyr."

The University of Maryland, College Park's campus newspaper The Diamondback published a cartoon defining "stupidity" as "sitting in front of a bulldozer to protect a gang of terrorists." After the group Palestine Media Watch published the email addresses and phone number of Diamondback editors, urging readers to contact the newspaper to secure an apology,^[29] thousands of e-mails and hundreds of phone calls were received by the paper in protest. Describing the cartoon as "indecent and anti-American," over 60 student protesters staged a sit-in at the newspaper's offices (with 10 staying overnight), demanding that the paper apologize and "publish an article honoring Corrie's life".^[30] The newspaper refused to apologize, citing the First Amendment. Noted editor in chief Jay Parsons, "The decision was about freedom of speech, and that made the decision easy."^[31]

Artistic tributes

In 2004, Alaska composer Philip Munger composed a cantata about Corrie, called "The Skies are Weeping," the fifth movement of which, taking the perspective of a bulldozer driver, was entitled "I Had No Mercy". The work was scheduled for performance at the University of Alaska Anchorage, where Munger, who says he is "sympathetic to the Palestinians", teaches. However, following protests organized by an Anchorage rabbi who described the work as bordering on anti-Semitic and said it "romanticized terrorism"^[32], the performance was cancelled^[33].

My Name is Rachel Corrie, a play composed from Corrie's journals and e-mails from Gaza and directed by British actor Alan Rickman, was presented in London in early 2005. It was later revived in October 2005. The play was to be transported to the New York Theatre Workshop, but when it was postponed indefinitely, the English producers denounced the decision as "censorship" and withdrew the show.^[34][35] It finally opened Off-Broadway on October 15, 2006, for an initial run of 48 performances.^[36] The play has since been published as a paperback, also entitled My Name is Rachel Corrie.

The widespread media coverage of Corrie's death, and the London play in particular, sparked criticism of what British journalist Tom Gross called "the cult of Rachel Corrie." In an article called "The Forgotten Rachels," published in The Spectator on October 22, 2005, Gross tells the stories of six other women called Rachel, Jewish victims of the Arab-Israeli conflict whose deaths, he wrote, received little, if any, coverage outside Israel.^[37] Gross went on to argue that "Partly thanks to the efforts of Corrie and her fellow activists, the flow of explosives from Egypt into Gaza continued – and were later used to kill children in southern Israel." The article prompted a National Review editorial arguing that "Corrie’s death was unfortunate, but more unfortunate is a Western media and cultural establishment that lionizes 'martyrs' for illiberal causes while ignoring the victims those causes create."^[38]

Australian playwright Ben Ellis wrote Blindingly Obvious Facts, a 10-minute play comprised of verbatim excerpts of right-wing blogs discussing Corrie's death. It was performed as part of the 2007 Melbourne season of the Short and Sweet short play competition. Sydney composer Lawrence Williams mixed a recorded version of Ellis' play for the play's Sydney Short and Sweet production in early 2008. One of the voice-actors in Sydney was the radical playwright Van Badham.

Activism of Corrie's parents

Since their daughter's death, Corrie's parents, Cindy and Craig, have spent much of their time trying to "promote peace and raise awareness about the plight of Palestinians," and continue her work.^[39][40] The Corries' have worked to set up foundations, launch projects in memory of their daughter, and advance investigation into the incident, approaching the US Congress and the courts.^[41]

The Nasrallahs, the Palestinian family whose home Rachel was trying to stop from being destroyed, joined the Corries on a cross-country tour in the United States in June 2005. The aim of the trip was to raise funds to rebuild the Nasrallah's home, and other homes destroyed in Rafah with the cooperation with the Rebuilding Alliance. The 22-city, 7 state tour made stops in Iowa and Oakland among others, and received local media coverage.^[39][42][43]

Lawsuits

Corrie's family and several Palestinians filed a lawsuit against Caterpillar Inc. alleging liability under various Federal statutes over the death of Corrie in connection with the bulldozers, alleging Caterpillar supplied them to the Israelis despite having notice they would be used to further "a policy plaintiffs contend violates international law." The case was dismissed by a Federal judge in November 2005 for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, citing, among other things, the political question doctrine. The judge found, alternatively, that the plaintiffs' claims failed on the merits.^[44]

The ruling was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. On September 17, 2007, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal on political question grounds, and did not reach the merits of the suit. The Court found that as the bulldozers were paid for by the U.S. Government as part of its aid to Israel, that the Judicial Branch could not rule on the merits of the case without ruling on whether or not the government's financing of such bulldozers was appropriate, a matter it felt was not entrusted to the Judicial Branch.^[45]

Claims were previously filed against the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli Defense Ministry.^[46]

Visits to the region

Corries' parents have been frequent visitors to the region since their daughter's death.^[47][48] One of their immediate goals after Rachel was killed, was to go to Rafah to see the place where it happened, meet her colleagues in the ISM and the Palestinians with whom she developed a connection during her stay there, and also to visit Israel.^[41] Towards the end of their first visit to the region in September 2003, they issued a press release explaining the reason for their visit and what they had learned. The press release concluded with an appeal, in the form of an excerpt from Rachel's letters to her mother that read, "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 an extremist thing to do anymore. I still really want to dance around to Pat Benetar and have boyfriends and make comics for my coworkers. But I also want this to stop."^[49]

Possible kidnapping attempt

During a visit in January 2006, two Palestinians, one armed, entered the home of Samir Nasrallah, whose former home Rachel Corrie had been trying to protect when she was killed.^[47] Corrie's parents were staying overnight there, and it was reported that the gunmen had tried to kidnap them,^[50][51] but had abandoned their plans when told who his guests were.^[47] According to Nasrallah, the gunmen were seeking Americans as bargaining chips to secure the release of Alaa al-Hams, a Palestinian militia leader arrested by Palestine intelligence on suspicion of ordering the abduction of British human-rights activist Kate Burton and her parents.^[52][50][53]

In response, the ISM issued a statement denying that the Corries were the targets of an intended kidnapping.^[54] The Jerusalem Post reported Craig Corrie as saying: "there was never a threat made against us and the gun was never pointed at anyone." According to the Post, Craig Corrie said that when he entered the room and saw the man with the gun, he feared it might be a kidnapping attempt, but that the situation was never described to him that way by his host. Corrie added that the media accounts over-dramatized the incident.^[55]

Memorial events

Cindy Corrie was invited to deliver a speech at Olympia State College, on what would have been Rachel Corrie's graduation day, had she not been crushed to death.^[56]

In 2008, Corrie's parents commemorated the fifth anniversay of her death at an event held in the West Bank town of Nablus. About 150 Palestinians and foreigners joined them to dedicate a memorial to Rachel on one of the city's streets. Cindy Corrie told those gathered of her daughter's belief that Palestine could be a "source of hope for people struggling all over the world."^[48]