- 16 mrt 2003
Rachel Corrie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK8Z3i3aTq4
9 sep 2010, 15:36 , Respect -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGlqjiXHOic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUoZGnvZwNY -
Maria http://palsolidarity.org/page/60/?s=KILLING
- 16 nov 2006
Rachel Corrie - A Dove_s Last Stand gaza israel rafah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-HUlxl0lZM -
25 apr 2007
Rachel Corrie american conscience
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IatIDytPeQ0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux83iw3MLOo - 17 aug 2007
Rachel Corrie, 23yo American killed by Israli troops
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFWkWib5CTs
A clip from the documentary "occupation 101", a film which details the Israli invasion and occupation of the Palestinian lands. If this story of Rachel Corrie, and activist killed while trying to prevent Palestinian homes from being demolished by Isralis, doesn't touch your heart, you're just not human. This girl is a real American hero, I can't believe I've never heard of this before.
See OneBigTorrent(dot)org for the full film and other informative media. - 12 mrt 2010
Inside Story - Justice for Rachel Corrie?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0cJsAcmCBM
- 26 mrt 2010
Did IDF general cut short probe into U.S. activist Corrie's death?
Rachel Corrie killed by IDF bulldozer in 2003; Ex-GOC Southern Command to Haaretz: I refuse to comment.
The Military Police interrogation of a key suspect in the killing of American human rights activist Rachel Corrie was cut short by a direct order of then GOC Southern, Maj. Gen. Doron Almog, army documents obtained by Haaretz suggest.
The documents come from the Military Police investigation file and were submitted as evidence to the Haifa District Court when a member of the MP investigation team testified in court during the civil lawsuit case Corrie's family has brought against the State of Israel.
The Corries' attorney, Hussein Abu Hussein, confronted the former investigator with a protocol of his questioning of the commander of the D9 Caterpillar bulldozer that drove over the activist. The officer's record states his interrogation of the bulldozer commander came to an unusual end. "It's now 18:12. Maj (res.) K entered the interrogation room and told the witness he must not say anything or write anything, by a direct order from GOC Southern Command. I confirm this occurred and I sign this in my hand," the officer wrote, adding his signature. There the interrogation concluded.
Prior to the intervention the soldier was describing the moment he understood Rachel Corrie had been hurt, insisting he could not see her from the driver's cabin.
Although the bulldozer commander later gave further testimony, Abu Hussein said the Corrie family took the interference of such a senior officer very seriously. "This makes it absolutely clear there was at least an attempt, no matter how effective, to intervene in the investigation," he told Haaretz. "The documents proves it, black on white, that there was an attempt to prevent the bulldozer driver from giving a full testimony on the circumstances in which the deceased was killed."
Abu Hussein also said that this violated a promise by then prime minister Ariel Sharon to then American president George W. Bush to carry out a thorough, in-depth investigation.
Claims about attempts by Almog to influence the investigation were also made at a hearing in the Rishon Letzion Magistrate's Court on March 18, 2003. Military Police approached the court to obtain an autopsy order for Corrie's body, to determine whether she was indeed crushed by the bulldozer or killed by hand-grenades soldiers were alleged to have thrown during the incident.
The court record states that one of the investigating officers said the Military Police had been delayed "by an argument between GOC Southern Command and the military advocate general about whether to investigate and on what charges."
Corrie, 23, whose hometown is Olympia, Washington, was killed in Rafah on March 16, 2003, while standing in front of a bulldozer that was demolishing structures along the Philadelphi route. The IDF claims the 65-ton bulldozer never touched Corrie, while eyewitnesses insist it crushed her deliberately.
Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog told Haaretz that he had no knowledge of the claims and no intention to comment. He said he had no idea what documents were in question or how reliable they were, as seven years have passed since the event. Almog noted that while he did not wish to discuss the details of this particular event, he had never covered up any investigation and a full internal investigation was carried out in his command at the time and submitted to the chief of staff. The IDF spokesperson was not available for comment.
http://fwd4.me/0wi0
- 5 sept 2010
Rachel Corrie's parents could face men who killed her in court
Civil suit into death of US activist crushed to death in Gaza by Israeli bulldozer to hear testimony from vehicle's operators
The family of Rachel Corrie, the American activist crushed to death in Gaza seven years ago, could face the men driving the Israeli bulldozer that killed her in the second stage of their civil suit against the state.
The case, which began in March, reopened at Haifa district court today and will hear Israeli state witness testimony on her death. The 23-year-old had been trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian house in Rafah, in the Gaza strip.
In 2003 an Israeli army investigation into the incident concluded that its troops were not to blame for Corrie's death. Her family says that a full investigation was never carried out.
Representing the Corrie family, Hussein Abu Hussein, a leading human rights lawyer in Israel, said: "It is clear that the army investigation was very far from being sufficient, thorough or impartial."
Today the court heard from one of the military investigators into the case, referred to only by his first name, Oded. He told the court that he did not think it important during the investigation to question Palestinian eyewitnesses to the incident, or the medical team that treated Corrie. Abu Hussein said: "It is amazing that this 20-year-old at that time with no legal background and no experience was responsible for this investigation."
The court was also shown about 12 minutes of Israeli footage from surveillance cameras close to where the incident took place. Hussein said the clip started minutes after the incident, although the cameras it came from are supposed to operate around the clock.
Rachel's father, Craig, said: "Being here is emotionally taxing in ways that are really hard to explain, but we have to do it and have an obligation to the many who cannot. It is not just about Rachel or our family."
The state will present as witnesses the head of the military investigation and the men who were operating the bulldozer that killed Corrie.
Corrie, from Washington, travelled to Gaza during a period of intense conflict between the Israeli military and the Palestinians. Her diaries, in which she describes her experiences in Gaza, were later turned into a play, My Name is Rachel Corrie, which has toured internationally.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/05/rachel-corrie-israel-civil-suit
- 5 sept 2010
Military Police investigators to testify in civil suit by Rachel Corrie's family
The second stage of the civil suit brought by the family of Rachel Corrie against the State of Israel is to open Sunday in the Haifa District Court.
The second stage of the civil suit brought by the family of Rachel Corrie against the State of Israel is to open today in the Haifa District Court.
Corrie, an American peace activist from Olympia, Washington, was crushed to death on March 16, 2003 by an Israel Defense Forces bulldozer as she and associates from the International Solidarity Movement attempted to prevent the demolition of houses in Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
Among the witnesses to appear today, tomorrow and after the holidays, are two Military Police investigators who in March 2003 decided, together with the southern district prosecutor, to close the case. The state will also present an expert witness who will give his opinion as to the bulldozer driver's field of vision.
The state submitted 13 affidavits, including that of the driver who ran down Corrie, his commander and other military officials involved in the case.
Corrie's parents, Craig and Cindy Corrie, who arrived in Israel over the weekend to be present in court, said that to give a chance for the peace process begun in Washington to succeed, truth, justice and responsibility for all the suffering in Israel must be sought, and that they hoped it would be sought in the case of their daughter's death.
The suit states that Corrie was killed intentionally, that Israel is responsible for the negligence of the soldiers and officers in using an armored bulldozer without noticing that there were unarmed civilians present, and that they did not protect Corrie as obligated by the laws of Isael and international law.
The state claims that Corrie's death took place during an armed conflict in a closed military zone and should be considered an act of war, thus absolving soldiers of responsibility under Israeli law. It also claims that Corrie's own negligence had led to her death.
http://fwd4.me/0wi9 - 5 sept 2010
Military police investigator's testimony reveals additional flaws in the investigation into Rachel Corrie's killing
Haifa, Israel On Sunday, September 5, 2010, the civil law suit filed by Rachel Corrie's family against the State of Israel for her unlawful killing in Rafah, Gaza, resumed in the Haifa District Court. In March, the Corrie family called their witnesses to the stand. Today marked the beginning of the State's testimony.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Military police investigator's testimony reveals additional flaws in the investigation into Rachel Corrie's killing.
Haifa - On Sunday, September 5, 2010, the civil law suit filed by Rachel Corrie's family against the State of Israel for her unlawful killing in Rafah, Gaza, resumed in the Haifa District Court.
In March, the Corrie family called their witnesses to the stand. Today marked the beginning of
the State's testimony.
Rachel Corrie, an American human rights defender from Olympia, WA, was crushed to death on March 16, 2003, by a Caterpillar D9R military bulldozer. She had been nonviolently demonstrating against the demolitions of Palestinian homes.
-The first state witness, a Military Police investigator known to the court as Oded, was
part of a three-person team that investigated Rachel's killing. Oded corroborated much of
the testimony provided by El'ad, an investigator who testified in March, and added additional details about the inadequacy of the investigation.
-Oded confirmed that a commander of the unit involved in Rachel's killing interrupted the
questioning of the bulldozer operator, telling him that Doron Almog, head of the Israeli military's Southern Command, had ordered that the questioning cease. He also said that, in his experience, interference of this nature from military commanders was not uncommon.
-When asked why he did not challenge the intervention, Oded said that as a junior investigator, it was not his place to do so. He was 20-years-old at the time, with only a high-school education and three-months of training in investigation.
-Corrie's case was the first civilian killing that Oded investigated from beginning to end.
-Like El'ad, Oded stated that neither he nor any other investigator visited the site of the killing.
-Oded said that he did not obtain the video-audio recording from the military surveillance camera which filmed 24/7 until March 23, a week after he began the investigation.
-Oded said he did not request the video-audio recording with radio transmissions of the 2
bulldozer drivers and commanders from the hours leading up to the incident, transmissions which might have provided further context to the killing. Oded stated he did not believe they were relevant, even though Rachel and her friends from the
International Solidarity Movement (ISM) were protesting the bulldozer activity for several hours prior to her death.
-When military police transcribed the radio transmissions, they failed to include an
exchange in Arabic in which one soldier said, Yem mawatu! which in English means, What, Did you kill him?! and another soldier replied, Allah Yerhamo, May God have mercy on him. When asked about the discrepancy, Oded said that he did not understand Arabic and the investigation team did not think it was important. Oded testified that none of the investigators interviewed any of the Palestinian witnesses including medical personnel who examined Rachel immediately following the incident.
When asked why, he said he did not think they could provide any useful information. According to a 2005 Human Rights Watch Report, Israel's military investigative system is not independent, impartial or thorough. The military rarely has brought wrongdoers to justice, and existing practices have exerted little deterrent effect. Furthermore, the report found that the system is opaque, cumbersome, and open to command pressure.
Our family and the US government's long standing position has been that there was never a
thorough, credible and transparent investigation. Today' said Sarah Corrie Simpson, Rachel's sister.
Attending the trial today were the US Consul General, Andrew Parker, and representatives from
Al Haq and Adalah, human rights organizations based respectively in Ramallah and Haifa.
The trial is slated to resume on Monday, September 6 at 9:30 a.m.
For press related inquiries and further information please contact:
Stacy Sullivan
[email protected]
Phone (Israel): 972-52-952-2143
http://bit.ly/9Nkcww
- 6 sept 2010
Israeli military Colonel states, There are no civilians in war zones.
Haifa, Israel Several State witnesses testified in Haifa District Court on Monday, September 6, 2010, in the civil law suit filed by Rachel Corrie's family against the State of Israel for her unlawful killing in Rafah, Gaza.
Rachel Corrie, an American human rights defender from Olympia, WA, was crushed to death on March 16, 2003, by a Caterpillar D9R military bulldozer. She had been nonviolently demonstrating against the demolitions of Palestinian homes.
One of the witnesses, known to the court as Yossi, was a Colonel in the Engineering Corps. He was responsible for writing operating manuals for military bulldozers and other equipment. He also conducted a simulation of what the bulldozer driver would have been able to see. In his testimony:
* He repeatedly insisted that there are no civilians in a war zone. His assertion disregards the reality in the Palestinian Occupied Territories as well as international humanitarian law, which was created to protect civilians in armed conflict situations.
* Yossi contradicted his own March 2003 testimony, given to military investigators, that the armored personnel carrier (APC) at the incident was intended to protect both soldiers and civilians. Today, he said the APC was there only for the safety of the drivers.
* In his affidavit, Yossi wrote that he conducted a reenactment of the incident. However, he testified today that he did not reenact the scene, but rather filmed a bulldozer of the same model with a bulldozer operator, and another soldier, to get a sense of what the operator at the incident might have seen. He also said he did not view the military's surveillance video of the incident in creating his simulation.
* Yossi claimed that the manual on operating instructions for mechanical engineering equipment in low intensity conflict did not apply to real conflict situations, but rather only in training and administrative activities.
* Yossi stated that the bulldozer driver and commander have the exact same field of vision and that the commander sat at the same level as the driver, contradicting the government%u2019s expert witness, who stated that the commander had a better field of vision because he sat higher.
Another witness for the state, Major Yoram Manchori, testified as an expert witness on the bulldozer's field of vision. He was responsible for purchasing heavy engineering equipment and readying it for military use. In May 2010, he created an animated simulation of what the bulldozer driver and commander's vision might have been.
* Manchori insisted he used in the simulation a bulldozer identical to the one that killed Rachel. However, the bulldozer he used had multiple bars on its windows, whereas the bulldozer that struck Rachel had no bars. Upon being informed of this discrepancy, he claimed that the bars did not impact visibility.
* He conducted his simulation on terrain that was very different than the terrain at the scene.
* He determined the simulated location of the bulldozers based on eyewitness recollections given over 7 years after the incident. He did not cross-check them with eyewitness accounts from the time of the killing, nor did he view the military surveillance video of the incident.
* Manchori testified that the price of a Caterpillar D9R bulldozer is currently $700,000 and the cost of arming it is an additional $200,000 $250,000, figures not previously disclosed. In light of this, it is now known that the cost of mounting a camera, which is often cited as being prohibitively expensive, would be less than 10% of the price of the bulldozer itself.
* Manchori testified that after Rachel's death the Israeli military installed cameras on one bulldozer but due to the high cost, limited increase in field vision and other problems, the installation was discontinued.
* Manchori testified that prior to Corrie's killing, the Israeli military tested the D9R bulldozer field of vision and that he personally had sent three charts of the results to the military investigators in March 2003. In court today, the Corries lawyer requested to obtain a copy of this report, stating that he needed it in order to analyze the bulldozer visibility claims made in the military police investigation of Rachel's killing. The State argued that the report was classified and should not be allowed into evidence, although the Israeli Supreme Court previously ruled that this report was relevant to the case. Judge Gershon upheld the State's argument.
Regarding the multiple references that there are no civilians in war zones, Cindy Corrie, Rachel's mother said, This was startling to our family, and to others in the courtroom. Rafah is a densely populated town. In fact, Rachel was killed defending the home of two Palestinian families-a pharmacist, an accountant, their wives and small children. It was extremely troubling for their existence to be categorically denied.
Court today was attended by representatives from the US Embassy, Human Rights Watch and Adalah, a legal and human rights organization.
The trial is slated to resume in October, when the bulldozer driver, the bulldozer commander, and the head of the military police team that investigated Rachel's killing are expected to testify.
For press related inquiries and further information please contact:
Stacy Sullivan
[email protected]
Phone: +972-52-952-2143
http://bit.ly/bAGIxk
19 mar 2012, 16:47 , Respect -
Maria 6 sept 2010
'General told me to cut short probe of Corrie death'
Former Military Police investigator testifies at hearings on lawsuit filed by deceased International Solidarity Movement activist Rachel Corrie's family.
A former Military Police investigator told the Haifa District Court on Sunday that the head of Southern Command, whose name he did not know at the time, ordered him to cut short an investigation hearing into the death of International Solidarity Movement activist Rachel Corrie in Rafah seven years ago.
Maj.-Gen. Doron Almog led the IDF's Southern Command at the time.
The investigator, who was identified only as Oded, was testifying on the first day of the second round of hearings on a lawsuit filed by the Corrie family, charging that the government deliberately killed Corrie or was guilty of negligence in her death. Corrie was struck and killed by an army bulldozer on March 17, 2003.
The government maintains that Corrie should not have been in a war zone and that the bulldozer operator did not see her and did not know he had struck her.
According to a representative of the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice who attended Sunday's hearing, the Corrie family's lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein, asked Oded why he had not complained about the alleged interference by Almog.
Oded replied that at the time he was a junior and inexperienced soldier who had undergone a three-month training course and had only investigated one previous case of alleged wrongful death.
The foundation representative claimed that Almog had frequently meddled in the investigation.
But according to the state, Almog ordered the investigation to be halted on one particular day, and only because of a dispute as to which body should be investigating the incident.
Oded himself said the order came toward the end of the questioning and did not cause harm. The Military Police later resumed and completed its investigation.
According to the Corrie Foundation representative, Oded also testified that the film from the surveillance cameras that operated in the area where Corrie was killed did not reach the investigators until a week later, and that he did not know what had happened to it in the interim.
The state maintains that the film makes it clear that the cameras were not directed at the site of the killing at the moment it happened, and that only after word came that someone might have been hit were the cameras switched around in a search for the whereabouts of the bulldozer.
There were also transcripts of the radio transmissions between the crew of the bulldozer and other military personnel in the area, including the two-man crew of the other bulldozer operating in the area and the operational headquarters of the unit they belonged to.
According to the Corrie Foundation representative, Oded said there was a short communication in Arabic. The Corrie family believes it was a conversation between the soldiers of the two bulldozers that had not been transcribed and translated and that, according to the representative, the investigating team had believed was not relevant.
The Corrie Foundation spokeswoman said the translation of the conversation revealed that one of the members of the second bulldozer crew asked the first: Did you kill him? The first crew allegedly replied, May God have mercy on his soul.
This was supposedly proof that the bulldozer operator knew immediately he had killed Corrie.
However, the state argues that the Arabic conversation was not part of the IDF transmission.
The words had apparently been spoken by one or two Beduin and were garbled. The state also said the operator of the bulldozer that struck Corrie did not speak Arabic.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=187216
19 mar 2012, 16:47 , Respect -
Maria 7 sept 2010
Israel's evidence questioned as Corrie trial resumes
Testimonies resumed in the ongoing civil suit lodged by Rachel Corrie's family against the State of Israel in Haifa's District Court this week, as the state's defense team called three witnesses to the stand.
On 16 March 2003, Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American activist with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was crushed and killed by an Israeli soldier operating an armored, modified Caterpillar D9-R bulldozer. Corrie was attempting to nonviolently block the vehicle from destroying the home of a Palestinian family in Rafah in the south of the occupied Gaza Strip.
The Corries' civil lawsuit charges Israel with criminal negligence and the intentional killing of their daughter, as well as a failure of due regard to the presence of unarmed and nonviolent civilians by operators of a military vehicle and their commanders. Last March, the Corries' witness testimonies were first heard in court.
US Consul General Andrew Parker and members of Palestinian human rights groups Al-Haq and Adalah, along with the Corries' friends and family, attended the trials on 5 and 6 September.
State attorneys and their witnesses insisted that the Israeli military bulldozer operators should be absolved of responsibility and liability under Israeli and international law in Corrie's killing, claiming that her death took place inside a "closed military zone" during an "act of war."
At the time, the Israeli military was in the process of razing hundreds of Palestinian homes and agricultural land to create its so-called buffer zone where more recently Palestinian farmers and laborers have been shot while tending to their crops or scavenging for scrap metal. The United Nations Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says the area currently amasses nearly 35 percent of land inside the Gaza Strip, according to a recent report ("Between the fence and a hard place," August 2010).
Hussein Abu Hussein, the Corries' lawyer, told The Electronic Intifada that the family is determined to understand exactly what happened when Rachel was killed. "But the more that we hear the testimonies of the state, the more that the family and I discover that Israel continues to lie step by step," Abu Hussein said.
"We get the impression that the investigation -- from the beginning -- was never thorough nor impartial, and was not done by experts," he added.
On 5 September, the first defense witness -- who at the time was a 20-year-old sergeant charged with leading internal investigations following the killing, known to the court as "Oded" -- confirmed that a senior commander ordered the interruption of the investigations.
Earlier this year, Israeli daily Haaretz reported that it obtained classified military documents that revealed that Oded's superior, Major General Doron Almog, who was head of Southern Command at the time of Rachel Corrie's death, demanded that the investigations cease ("Did IDF general cut short probe into US activist Corrie's death?" 26 March 2010).
In court, Oded stated that he did not question Maj. Almog's intervention. He also testified that as an investigator, he never interviewed any of the ISM activists nor Palestinian eyewitnesses, including the paramedics and doctors who treated Corrie immediately after she was crushed.
In addition, the witness admitted that he did not request the army's video or radio transmissions -- which were shown to the court during his testimony -- during his limited investigations.
"It was his first experience dealing with the case of a killing," Abu Hussein said. "He had never been involved in any deep investigations. He did not visit the scene of the crime, and did not confiscate the [video and audio] tapes immediately. And when he finally acquired the tapes, he said he didn't recognize the voices on the tape."
In the military's official transcript of the audio recordings taken after Rachel Corrie's killing, there were several important details left out. Abu Hussein said that these omissions -- clearly heard in the original audio recording -- means that there is evidence of negligence.
"There were two Arabic speakers on the tape," he told The Electronic Intifada. "The first voice asks, 'Did you kill him?' and the second voice replies 'May God have mercy on his soul.' So you have crucial evidence about the killing -- and there is no response."
Oded told Abu Hussein in court that he didn't think those parts of the audio recordings were "important."
The next day, the state attorneys brought two more witnesses to testify inside the courtroom, including a military training officer known as "Yossi," who stated that "during war, there are no civilians." Abu Hussein said that Yossi wrote a war protocol manual and asserted that the four-meter-high armored bulldozers with limited visibility should operate while civilians are present.
Abu Hussein remarked that when the trials resume in October and November, the Corrie family might have a chance to hear from the operator of the bulldozer who killed their daughter, but that it is not yet confirmed. "It would give them an opportunity to see the criminals who cooperated in this crime," he said.
http://bit.ly/bK5L9O
19 mar 2012, 16:47 , Respect -
Maria 8 sept 2010
During war there are no civilians
Rachel Corrie's plight symbolised the ruthless policy of Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes in the social psyche of millions of people outside of the West Bank and Gaza Strip
Sitting in on the Rachel Corrie trial alarmingly reveals an open Israeli policy of indiscrimination towards civilians.
"During war there are no civilians," that’s what “Yossi,” an Israeli military (IDF) training unit leader simply stated during a round of questioning on day two of the Rachel Corrie trials, held in Haifa’s District Court earlier this week. “When you write a [protocol] manual, that manual is for war,” he added.
For the human rights activists and friends and family of Rachel Corrie sitting in the courtroom, this open admission of an Israeli policy of indiscrimination towards civilians -- Palestinian or foreign -- created an audible gasp.
Yet, put into context, this policy comes as no surprise. The Israeli military’s track record of insouciance towards the killings of Palestinians, from the 1948 massacre of Deir Yassin in Jerusalem to the 2008-2009 attacks on Gaza that killed upwards of 1400 men, women and children, has illustrated that not only is this an entrenched operational framework but rarely has it been challenged until recently.
Rachel Corrie, the young American peace activist from Olympia, Washington, was crushed to death by a Caterpillar D9-R bulldozer, as she and other members of the nonviolent International Solidarity Movement attempted to protect a Palestinian home from imminent demolition on March 16, 2003 in Rafah, Gaza Strip. Corrie has since become a symbol of Palestinian solidarity as her family continues to fight for justice in her name.
Her parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, filed a civil lawsuit against the State of Israel for Rachel’s unlawful killing -- what they allege was an intentional act -- and this round of testimonies called by the State’s defense team follows the Corries’ witness testimonies last March. The Corries’ lawsuit charges the State with recklessness and a failure to take appropriate measures to protect human life, actions that violate both Israeli and international laws.
Witnesses insisted that the bulldozer driver couldn’t see Rachel Corrie from his perch. The State attorneys called three witnesses to the stand on Sunday and Monday to prove that the killing was unintentional and took place in an area designated as a “closed military zone.” Falling under the definition of an Act of War, their argument sought to absolve the soldiers of liability under Israeli law.
The Rachel Corrie trials focus on one incident, one moment, one death, one family’s grief. However it’s important to include the context within which the Israeli military operated on that day in March of 2003 in order to properly understand the gravity of the trial and the reverberations seven and a half years later.
Yossi, the military training leader, described the area where Corrie was killed as an “active war zone.” The State’s defense argues the same. Yet what was happening in Rafah that was so important to Corrie that she confronted a 4-meter high armored bulldozer in the first place?
According to statistics from Human Rights Watch, Israel had been expanding its so-called “buffer zone” at the southern Gaza border after the breakout of the second Palestinian intifada in late 2000. “By late 2002,” reports HRW, “after the destruction of several hundred houses in Rafah, the IDF began building an eight meter high metal wall along the border.”
The area that Israel designates as its buffer zone has since enveloped nearly 35% of agricultural land, according to an August 2010 report published by the United Nation’s Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). OCHA says that this policy has affected 113,000 Palestinians inside the Gaza strip over the last ten years as their farms, homes, and villages were intentionally erased from the map.
Rachel Corrie’s nonviolent action -- standing in front of the bulldozer in direct confrontation to this project -- cost her her life.
The home Rachel Corrie died trying to protect was razed, along with hundreds of others. The Gaza Strip remains a sealed ghetto. And countless Palestinian families have not seen justice waged in their favor after the deaths of their loved ones.
In 2005, an arrest warrant was issued against Major General Doron Almog -- a senior soldier in charge of Israel’s Southern Command -- by a British court related to the destruction of 59 homes in Rafah in
2002 under his authority. He was warned before boarding a flight to the UK that he could be arrested upon arrival, and canceled his trip.
Related to the Rachel Corrie case, Maj. Almog gave a direct order to the team of internal investigators to cut the investigations short, according to Israeli army documents obtained by Israeli daily Haaretz.
This indicates that the impunity of Israeli soldiers and policy-makers can -- and will -- be challenged in a court of law. And when the trials continue next month, the Corries will be back in the courtroom in anticipation of a long-sought justice for their daughter.
http://fwd4.me/0whz...Read more 19 mar 2012, 16:47 , Respect -
Maria 9 sept 2010
Supporter holding a sign in Hebrew outside Haifa's courthouse.
Cindy, Sarah, and Craig Corrie in the Haifa District Court for the second round of hearings in their civil suit against the Israeli government.
In a small courtroom in Haifa's District Court, a colonel in the Israeli engineering corps who wrote a manual for the bulldozer units that razed the Rafah Refugee Camp in 2003 offered his opinion on the killing of the American activist Rachel Corrie.
There are no civilians during wartime, Yossi declared under oath.
Yossi made his remarkable statement under withering cross examination by Hussein Abu Hussein, the lawyer for the family of Corrie, who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in Rafah on March 17, 2003. In the back of the courtroom were Rachel's parents, Craig and Cindy, and her sister, Sarah, back in Israel for the second round of hearings in their civil suit against the state of Israel. They were joined by supporters, friends and a handful of reporters, including me (see Nora Barrows-Friedman's report for more). No one from the Israeli media was present the case has been virtually ignored inside Israel.
In the immediate wake of Corrie's killing, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, then the chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, instructed Corrie's parents to demand a thorough, fair and transparent investigation from the Israeli government. Since then, the Israelis have stonewalled them, refusing to provide key details of their investigation, which was corrupted from the start by the investigators apparent attempts to find evidence that a bulldozer did not in fact kill Rachel.
A 2003 bill introduced in the House International Relations Committee calling for a thorough Israeli investigation in Corrie's killing and for American efforts to prevent such killings from happening again garnered 78 signatures in support (Rahm Emanuel was the only Jewish signer). However, Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, one of the Israel lobby's closest allies in Congress, prevented the bill from getting out of the committee. President George W. Bush could have pressed for a full floor vote on the bill but he did nothing. The bill died as a result.
Having been obstructed by the Israelis opaque investigation and betrayed by their own government (with notable exceptions like former Rep. Brian Baird), the Corries have been forced to take matters into their own hands. And so they have filed suit against the Israeli government for criminal negligence. Whether or not they will be able to secure the ruling they seek, Rachel Corrie's family has already elicited a number of damning revelations about the Israeli army's abuses in Gaza in 2003 and the machinations it has relied on to obscure evidence of its criminal conduct.
I think we are in a situation similar to South Africa. What we are trying to make clear is that the truth has to be pursued diligently or we won't make it to the point of reconciliation, Craig Corrie told me, referring to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that enabled South Africa to peacefully transition from an apartheid system to representative democracy. We need to understand and acknowledge the truth first.
So far, the truth has not been easy to come by. The Corries are saddled with a judge who is said to have never ruled in favor of any plaintiff in a civil rights-related suit. And the defense has claimed unspecified state security concerns in its successful bid to avoid revealing the full contents of the investigation into Rachel Corrie's killing the family's lawyers have only been allowed to view a summary. But the Corries legal efforts have not been in vain.
On the first day of hearings, the Corries lawyers were able to confirm through testimony from Oded, one of the investigators of Rachel Corrie's killing, that Major General Doron Almog, then the head of the Israeli army's Southern Command, had attempted to stop the military investigators from questioning the bulldozer operators who killed Rachel. When asked why he did not challenge Almog's apparently illegal intervention, Oded stated that he was only 20-years-old at the time, with no college education and only a few months of training as an investigator. He was intimidated by the high-ranking officer who stormed into the room and menaced him and the other investigators. (Almog once canceled a trip to Britain after being warned that he would be arrested on arrival for ordering the destruction of 59 homes in the Rafah refugee camp in 2002).
Among the most disturbing aspects of Corrie's case is the abuse of her body by Israeli authorities after she was killed. Craig Corrie recalled to me a panicked phone conversation he had with Will Hewitt, a friend and former classmate of Rachel Corrie who had just witnessed her killing.
It's getting dark over here and there are no refrigeration units for her body in Gaza, Hewitt told Craig Corrie.
Just leave it until tomorrow, Craig replied. We don't want you or anyone else to get killed.
But her body is starting to smell, Hewitt pleaded.
Somehow Hewitt and his fellow activists from the International Solidarity Movement were able to get Rachel Corrie's body out of Gaza. But first Hewitt was ordered by Israeli troops to remove the body from the casket and carry it across a border checkpoint. Only Hewitt was allowed to escort Corrie's body in the ambulance; the rest of the activists who witnessed her death were forced to hitchhike home in the desert. Finally, Corrie's body was transported to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv where the notorious Dr. Yehuda Hiss autopsied her.
Who is Dr. Hiss? The chief pathologist of Israel for a decade and a half, Hiss was implicated by a 2001 investigation by the Israeli Health Ministry of stealing body parts ranging from legs to testicles to ovaries from bodies without permission from family members then selling them to research institutes. Bodies plundered by Hiss included those of Palestinians and Israeli soldiers. He was finally removed from his post in 2004 when the body of a teenage boy killed in a traffic accident was discovered to have been thoroughly gnawed on by a rat in Hiss's laboratory. In an interview with researcher Nancy Schepper-Hughes, Hiss admitted that he harvested organs if he was confident relatives would not discover that they were missing. He added that he often used glue to close eyelids to hide missing corneas.
When Craig and Cindy Corrie learned that Hiss would perform an autopsy on their daughter, they stipulated that they would only allow the doctor to go forward if an official from the American consulate was present throughout the entire procedure. An Israeli military police report stated that an American official did indeed witness the autopsy. However, when the Corries asked American diplomatic officials including former US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzner if the report was true, they were informed that no American was present at all. The Israelis had lied to them, and apparently fixed their own report to deceive the American government.
On March 14, during the first round of hearings in the Corries civil suit, Hiss admitted under oath that he had lied about the presence of an American official during the autopsy of Rachel Corrie. He also conceded to taking samples from Corrie's body for histological testing without informing her family. Just which parts of Corrie's body Hiss took remains unclear; despite Hiss's claim that he buried the samples, her family has not confirmed the whereabouts of her missing body parts.
It's so hard to know that Rachel's body wasn't respected, Rachel's sister, Sarah, told me. Doctor Hiss and the Israeli government knew what our family's wishes were. The fact that our wishes were disregarded and a judge hasn't done anything is absolutely horrifying.
The treatment of Rachel Corrie's body is peripheral to her family's lawsuit. But it demonstrates the degree to which she and those whose homes she died defending have been dehumanized there are no civilians during wartime, as Colonel Yossi declared. Rachel Corrie's family is seeking only one dollar in symbolic punitive damages from the Israeli government. Their real goal is to force a country in a perpetual state of warfare to treat its innocent victims as human beings, and to be held accountable if it does not.
It is incredibly expensive for us to carry this case on both emotionally and financially, Craig Corrie remarked. It is a whole lot to ask of a private citizen. But as a family we still have the ability to do a lot, so we are going to carry this cause on for everyone who cannot.
http://bit.ly/bBGP20
14 sept 2010
There Are No Civilians In Wartime: Rachel Corrie's family confronts the Israeli military in court
Corrie family outside courthouse bfore their civil suit against Israel resumed.
Seven and half years after their daughter was crushed by an armored bulldozer, Cindy and Craig Corrie stood in front of a courthouse in Haifa, Israel. Far from home, they were surrounded by Israelis carrying signs of support in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. The Corries came for the truth of 16 March, 2003.
I've looked forward to today, Craig said. For seven and a half years our family has waited for the complete, credible and transparent investigation promised by President Sharon to President Bush.
September 5 marked the resumption of the family's civil suit against the Israeli government begun this March. They charge Israel by either intent or negligence - is ultimately responsible for Rachel's death.
I feel like we are standing up in the same way Rachel stood up when she stood up to actions against a civilian population that were going unaccounted for, Cindy said. We are trying to challenge what happens here in the same way, hoping that by demanding some accountability that soldiers everywhere, but soldiers here particularly, see that their actions will always have to be explained.
The official Israeli investigation cleared the bulldozer's operators and shed little light on how Rachel died. A former US State Department official wrote without equivocation the investigation was inadequate. The Corrie's suit against Caterpillar Inc., the manufacturer of the massive D9R, was dismissed for political reasons.
There are literally thousands of others who've been hurt in the same way but who don't have the opportunity to go to court, Cindy said just before the trial resumed on 5 September. I know how difficult it was for us, and I hope they draw some hope from us being here.
The enormous concrete and glass courthouse then opened its doors to the Cindy, Craig, their daughter Sarah Corrie Simpson, their legal team, the US Consul General, supporters, volunteer translators, and journalists. The courtroom was on the sixth floor, and previous cases had yet to finish. After a man handcuffed by chain to his feet was led shuffling past, the case began. Unlike most judicial systems, Israel employs no jury, just judges.
Hussein Abu Hussein had taken the Corries case pro bono. Over the next two days, the trilingual advocate vigorously challenged the state's witnesses, slowly uncovering the surrounding details of Rachel's death.
Rachel Corrie before the D9R bulldozer on the day she was killed.
There are a few established facts. At 10 am on 16 March, 2003, a group from the International Solidarity Movement rushed to the militarized border zone between Egypt and the Gaza strip called the Philedelphie Route. The giant blade 4 meter-tall by 4.5 meter-wide of a D9R bulldozer were coming to demolish the family home of Dr. Samir Nasrallah. A group including Rachel stood as human shields. Auxiliary armoured personnel carriers launched stun grenades and tear gas canisters at the activists and fired shots in the air.
When they didn't run scared, the bulldozer crews left Philedelphie but were ordered to return, according to the military police investigation. In the affidavit of the D9R commander Edward Valermov, they resumed with all possible delicateness. Rachel was trampled soon after.
Valermov was stopped from continuing his testimony, and possibly clarifying the event, by Major General Doron Almog, the commander of Gaza. Such high-ranking intervention in the courts is common, said the state's first witness at the Haifa trial.
Known simply as Oded, the witness was twenty, with three months of interrogation training beyond basic army procedures, when he joined the team to investigate Rachel's death. Hussein cross-examined Oded all of the first day, challenging his competency and thoroughness. Hussein charged the team's report absolving the soldiers of all responsibility was inaccurately incomplete, Oded was inexperienced and he mishandled a 24-hour surveillance camera's record of the day.
The tape is available but obviously edited. Large segments are missing, the quality of the video is diminutive, and unknown speakers say in Arabic Did you kill him? and May God have mercy on him. The video was acquired by military intelligence and held for seven days before his team got it, Oded said at the trial.
How can you explain the delay? Hussein asked.
They probably had other things to do at the time,Oded said, smiling. Maybe it was not a high priority.
Judge Oded Gershon ordered the state attorneys to release the tape, unaltered. At the end of second day, the Corrie family, lawyers, Human Rights Watch representatives, journalists and supporters were allowed to view it without comment. While more detailed, the dates on the video questionably fluctuate.
The video shows Rachel's last moments. No one argues she was killed by a D9R bulldozer operated by the Israeli Engineering Corps TZAMA (Oded attempted to argue a grenade could've killed her but Judge Gershon berated him). Whether Israel intentionally killed her, covered up the evidence, or should be immune for actions in a war zone, is debated.
After Oded, the state presented three witnesses and their affidavits in Haifa. Major Yvonne Manshur was a career military engineer and equipment expert who retrofitted D9R bulldozers. Bought from the American Caterpillar company with US military aid, Manshur modified such massive machines with bullet-proof glass and metal shields, sometimes with machine guns and cameras. In Lebanon, Syria, Jenin and Gaza, the Doobi, or Teddy Bear in Hebrew, is deployed to destroy tunnels, clear minefields, pave roads and demolish homes. With modifications, each D9R costs nearly a million dollars.
But the Doobis are flawed. They have blind spots, according to a 2002 report by Manshur. Rachel died in one, he stated certainly after running standard computer simulations and experiments in the field (a later witness, Gad, revealed Manshur was not allowed to start or drive the D9R during this test). Adding a system guaranteeing 360-degree view via cameras and monitors in short, a system that could detect Rachel - was deemed too expensive at $58,000.
We installed those cameras as a test after [Rachel's death], Manshur said, adding the experiment wasn't successful. The cost was high, and [we] decided not to continue with that.
The bulldozer operators were technically blind, Hussein said, but they had regulations to inspect those blind spots before each operation.
But in a military situation, Manshur said, how are you supposed to walk around the vehicle before operating it?
After a short break to toast the Jewish New Year, Judge Gershon resumed the trial with a Colonel from the Engineering Corps and former head of the Education and Training department.
Following Rachel's death, Yossi successfully claimed before the US Congress the D9R operators inability to see her. He was an expert in the operation of the bulldozers he was ordered to adapt manuals for deployment in limited combat areas in October 2000. Before then, the manuals had been oral.
The manual was not fit for war. It wasn't satisfactory, Yossi said. He helped craft guidelines for areas with snipers, mines and rocket-propelled grenades a dangerous war zone necessitating new and harsh tactics.
It's not important for the bulldozers or army to safeguard other people. During war there are no civilians, Yossi said. We're not going to write a manual about birds, animals or civilians. We're not going to write that manual. We're writing a manual for war.
Hussein asked him to read from the manual.
Before you start operating the vehicle, the driver should make sure there is no one around, Yossi said, rapidly finishing before adding, But these regulations are for regular circumstances not war.
During war, what are the regulatory texts that are relevant? Hussein said.
When you go to war, you adapt these regulations to circumstances, Yossi said.
No one runs over someone intentionally, Yossi said. What happened in this situation is that the people arrived on the scene after we started. They entered the situation and should've taken care of their own safety. It was their responsibility.
Supporter of Corrie case outside courthouse.
Yossi's words, while callous, reflect Israel's official stance: no one but Rachel can be blamed for her death in a dangerous combat zone. But they shocked the courtroom and troubled the Corries.
In many ways I was just sickened to hear over and over again in different ways how there was absolutely no consideration for civilians, Cindy said. Somebody with that viewpoint to have the authority to guide soldiers is immoral and unconscionable.
The trial ended with new court dates set for October and November. The Corries are staying in Israel and Palestine until the trial resumes. Peace comes, Craig said, first from understanding.
Over the years, he has seen the situation in Palestine and Israel deteriorate and peace grow ever distant: increased Israeli censorship of the truth, the growing separation wall, continual settlement expansion, flotilla attacks and the wars of Lebanon and Gaza.
You see horrendous, horrendous things happening, he said. But he finds hope in the example of South Africa's successful fight against apartheid, especially Archbishop Desmond Tutu tripartite peace program: uncovering the truth, acceptance of each side's roles, and forgiveness. The current peace process is still on the first step.
The world does not have perfect knowledge of the situation here, Craig said. Until we do, I think asking for peace is like asking for a flower to grow but asking that it not be watered.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1537
There Are No Civilians In Wartime: Rachel Corrie's family confronts the Israeli military in court
Corrie family outside courthouse bfore their civil suit against Israel resumed.
Seven and half years after their daughter was crushed by an armored bulldozer, Cindy and Craig Corrie stood in front of a courthouse in Haifa, Israel. Far from home, they were surrounded by Israelis carrying signs of support in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. The Corries came for the truth of 16 March, 2003.
I've looked forward to today, Craig said. For seven and a half years our family has waited for the complete, credible and transparent investigation promised by President Sharon to President Bush.
September 5 marked the resumption of the family's civil suit against the Israeli government begun this March. They charge Israel by either intent or negligence - is ultimately responsible for Rachel's death.
I feel like we are standing up in the same way Rachel stood up when she stood up to actions against a civilian population that were going unaccounted for, Cindy said. We are trying to challenge what happens here in the same way, hoping that by demanding some accountability that soldiers everywhere, but soldiers here particularly, see that their actions will always have to be explained.
The official Israeli investigation cleared the bulldozer's operators and shed little light on how Rachel died. A former US State Department official wrote without equivocation the investigation was inadequate. The Corrie's suit against Caterpillar Inc., the manufacturer of the massive D9R, was dismissed for political reasons.
There are literally thousands of others who've been hurt in the same way but who don't have the opportunity to go to court, Cindy said just before the trial resumed on 5 September. I know how difficult it was for us, and I hope they draw some hope from us being here.
The enormous concrete and glass courthouse then opened its doors to the Cindy, Craig, their daughter Sarah Corrie Simpson, their legal team, the US Consul General, supporters, volunteer translators, and journalists. The courtroom was on the sixth floor, and previous cases had yet to finish. After a man handcuffed by chain to his feet was led shuffling past, the case began. Unlike most judicial systems, Israel employs no jury, just judges.
Hussein Abu Hussein had taken the Corries case pro bono. Over the next two days, the trilingual advocate vigorously challenged the state's witnesses, slowly uncovering the surrounding details of Rachel's death.
Rachel Corrie before the D9R bulldozer on the day she was killed.
There are a few established facts. At 10 am on 16 March, 2003, a group from the International Solidarity Movement rushed to the militarized border zone between Egypt and the Gaza strip called the Philedelphie Route. The giant blade 4 meter-tall by 4.5 meter-wide of a D9R bulldozer were coming to demolish the family home of Dr. Samir Nasrallah. A group including Rachel stood as human shields. Auxiliary armoured personnel carriers launched stun grenades and tear gas canisters at the activists and fired shots in the air.
When they didn't run scared, the bulldozer crews left Philedelphie but were ordered to return, according to the military police investigation. In the affidavit of the D9R commander Edward Valermov, they resumed with all possible delicateness. Rachel was trampled soon after.
Valermov was stopped from continuing his testimony, and possibly clarifying the event, by Major General Doron Almog, the commander of Gaza. Such high-ranking intervention in the courts is common, said the state's first witness at the Haifa trial.
Known simply as Oded, the witness was twenty, with three months of interrogation training beyond basic army procedures, when he joined the team to investigate Rachel's death. Hussein cross-examined Oded all of the first day, challenging his competency and thoroughness. Hussein charged the team's report absolving the soldiers of all responsibility was inaccurately incomplete, Oded was inexperienced and he mishandled a 24-hour surveillance camera's record of the day.
The tape is available but obviously edited. Large segments are missing, the quality of the video is diminutive, and unknown speakers say in Arabic Did you kill him? and May God have mercy on him. The video was acquired by military intelligence and held for seven days before his team got it, Oded said at the trial.
How can you explain the delay? Hussein asked.
They probably had other things to do at the time,Oded said, smiling. Maybe it was not a high priority.
Judge Oded Gershon ordered the state attorneys to release the tape, unaltered. At the end of second day, the Corrie family, lawyers, Human Rights Watch representatives, journalists and supporters were allowed to view it without comment. While more detailed, the dates on the video questionably fluctuate.
The video shows Rachel's last moments. No one argues she was killed by a D9R bulldozer operated by the Israeli Engineering Corps TZAMA (Oded attempted to argue a grenade could've killed her but Judge Gershon berated him). Whether Israel intentionally killed her, covered up the evidence, or should be immune for actions in a war zone, is debated.
After Oded, the state presented three witnesses and their affidavits in Haifa. Major Yvonne Manshur was a career military engineer and equipment expert who retrofitted D9R bulldozers. Bought from the American Caterpillar company with US military aid, Manshur modified such massive machines with bullet-proof glass and metal shields, sometimes with machine guns and cameras. In Lebanon, Syria, Jenin and Gaza, the Doobi, or Teddy Bear in Hebrew, is deployed to destroy tunnels, clear minefields, pave roads and demolish homes. With modifications, each D9R costs nearly a million dollars.
But the Doobis are flawed. They have blind spots, according to a 2002 report by Manshur. Rachel died in one, he stated certainly after running standard computer simulations and experiments in the field (a later witness, Gad, revealed Manshur was not allowed to start or drive the D9R during this test). Adding a system guaranteeing 360-degree view via cameras and monitors in short, a system that could detect Rachel - was deemed too expensive at $58,000.
We installed those cameras as a test after [Rachel's death], Manshur said, adding the experiment wasn't successful. The cost was high, and [we] decided not to continue with that.
The bulldozer operators were technically blind, Hussein said, but they had regulations to inspect those blind spots before each operation.
But in a military situation, Manshur said, how are you supposed to walk around the vehicle before operating it?
After a short break to toast the Jewish New Year, Judge Gershon resumed the trial with a Colonel from the Engineering Corps and former head of the Education and Training department.
Following Rachel's death, Yossi successfully claimed before the US Congress the D9R operators inability to see her. He was an expert in the operation of the bulldozers he was ordered to adapt manuals for deployment in limited combat areas in October 2000. Before then, the manuals had been oral.
The manual was not fit for war. It wasn't satisfactory, Yossi said. He helped craft guidelines for areas with snipers, mines and rocket-propelled grenades a dangerous war zone necessitating new and harsh tactics.
It's not important for the bulldozers or army to safeguard other people. During war there are no civilians, Yossi said. We're not going to write a manual about birds, animals or civilians. We're not going to write that manual. We're writing a manual for war.
Hussein asked him to read from the manual.
Before you start operating the vehicle, the driver should make sure there is no one around, Yossi said, rapidly finishing before adding, But these regulations are for regular circumstances not war.
During war, what are the regulatory texts that are relevant? Hussein said.
When you go to war, you adapt these regulations to circumstances, Yossi said.
No one runs over someone intentionally, Yossi said. What happened in this situation is that the people arrived on the scene after we started. They entered the situation and should've taken care of their own safety. It was their responsibility.
Supporter of Corrie case outside courthouse.
Yossi's words, while callous, reflect Israel's official stance: no one but Rachel can be blamed for her death in a dangerous combat zone. But they shocked the courtroom and troubled the Corries.
In many ways I was just sickened to hear over and over again in different ways how there was absolutely no consideration for civilians, Cindy said. Somebody with that viewpoint to have the authority to guide soldiers is immoral and unconscionable.
The trial ended with new court dates set for October and November. The Corries are staying in Israel and Palestine until the trial resumes. Peace comes, Craig said, first from understanding.
Over the years, he has seen the situation in Palestine and Israel deteriorate and peace grow ever distant: increased Israeli censorship of the truth, the growing separation wall, continual settlement expansion, flotilla attacks and the wars of Lebanon and Gaza.
You see horrendous, horrendous things happening, he said. But he finds hope in the example of South Africa's successful fight against apartheid, especially Archbishop Desmond Tutu tripartite peace program: uncovering the truth, acceptance of each side's roles, and forgiveness. The current peace process is still on the first step.
The world does not have perfect knowledge of the situation here, Craig said. Until we do, I think asking for peace is like asking for a flower to grow but asking that it not be watered.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1537
- 5 oct 2010
Trial in killing of American activist Rachel Corrie resumes in Israeli court
Haifa, Israel The Haifa District Court will resume hearings on Thursday, October 7 in the civil lawsuit filed by Rachel Corrie's family against the State of Israel for her unlawful killing in Rafah, Gaza.
Rachel Corrie, an American student activist and human rights defender from Olympia, Washington, was crushed to death on March 16, 2003, by a Caterpillar D9R bulldozer while nonviolently protesting Palestinian home demolitions with fellow members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
The first phase of the trail began in March 2010, when the Corrie family presented its witnesses, including several of Rachel's colleagues from ISM who witnessed her killing. During the second phase of the trial, which began in September, the government will present several witnesses, including the Israeli military police investigator who headed the investigation into Rachel's death, and the bulldozer operators who struck and killed her.
When our daughter was killed, the Israeli government promised a thorough, credible and transparent investigation into her death, and neither our family nor our government believes that standard has been met, said Cindy Corrie. After seven years, we hope the government witnesses will be compelled by this trial to provide some of the answers that have so long been denied us.
The lawsuit charges that Rachel's killing was intentional. Alternately, it charges that the Israeli government was negligent for allowing Israeli soldiers and military commanders to act recklessly using an armored military bulldozer without due regard to the presence of unarmed, nonviolent civilians in Rafah. It also alleges that the Israeli military failed to take appropriate and necessary measures to protect Rachel's life, in violation of obligations under Israeli and international law.
The government of Israel argues that Rachel's killing took place in the course of armed conflict in a closed military zone and should be considered an Act of War, or War Operation, and that its soldiers are therefore not liable for her death under Israeli law. It also argued that the case should be dismissed based on controversial legal theory that actions of the Israeli army in Rafah, Gaza, should be considered Acts of State. Finally, the government argues that Rachel acted in reckless disregard of her life and was responsible for her own death.
The proceedings have been attended by representatives of the US embassy, Lawyers without Borders, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the Arab Association for Human Rights, Al Haq, Adalah, and Human Rights Watch.
We pursue this case not just for our daughter, said Craig Corrie, but for the many civilians killed in Gaza, still remembered, still loved, still awaiting justice.
Hearings are scheduled for October 7, 17,18 and 21 between the hours of 9:00-16:00 before Judge Oded Gershon at the Haifa, District Court, 12 Palyam St., Haifa, Israel.
See any changes to the schedule and register to receive further press releases at rachelcorriefoundation.org/trial.
Download this press release: http://bit.ly/cr5DDX
http://bit.ly/b4YQWX 19 mar 2012, 16:48 , Respect -
Maria 7 oct 2010
Lawsuit for U.S. activist killed in Gaza to resume Thursday
NAZARETH, (PIC)-- A case filed by the family of American activist Rachel Corrie against Israel over the deliberate murder of their daughter in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah will resume on Thursday in Haifa, 1948 occupied Palestine.
A U.S. student and human rights activist from Olympia, Washington, U.S.A., Rachel Corrie was ran over by a military Caterpillar D9R bulldozer on February 16, 2003 while she peacefully protested the demolition of Palestinian homes with other activists from the International Solidarity Movement.
Hearings are scheduled to take place on Oct. 7, 17, 18, and 21 between 9:00am and 4:00pm before Israeli judge Oded Gretchon in the Haifa court.
The sessions will be attended by U.S. embassy representatives, the Lawyers without Borders organization, the Israeli Civil Rights Association, and the Arab Foundation for Human Rights, along with other human rights organizations.
Commenting on the trial, Craig Corrie, the father of Rachel, said: "We are following this issue not only for our daughter, but for a number of civilians who were killed in Gaza and whose memory and love remains in our hearts, and who are still waiting for justice".
http://bit.ly/cMucoj
19 mar 2012, 16:48 , Respect -
Maria 8 oct 2010
Military investigator testifies in Rachel Corrie trial
HAIFA (Ma'an) -- The military official charged with investigating Rachel Corrie's death testified Friday that he had not been to the site of the killing because he thought it was dangerous, the Rachel Corrie Foundation said.
Cindy and Craig Corrie have filed a civil suit against the State of Israel for the unlawful killing of their daughter, who was crushed to death in Rafah on 16 March 2003 by a bulldozer while protesting the demolition of a Palestinian home by Israeli forces.
Head of the Military Police Special Investigative Unit Shalom Michaeli testified at Haifa District Court that he could have gone to the site of Rachel's killing in an armored vehicle but had chosen not to because it was dangerous and the terrain had changed, a statement from the foundation said.
Michaeli further said he ordered only a partial transcript of radio transmissions because he did not think it important to transcribe the full audio. A video recording of the incident revealed that the camera operator panned away from the scene minutes before Corrie was killed, but Michaeli said he had not thought it relevant to question the operator, the foundation said. The investigator testified in a written affidavit that when he inspected the bulldozer which killed Corrie he found no traces of blood, but told the court Friday the vehicle could have been washed "or even painted" before he inspected it.
The commander of a second bulldozer present when Corrie was killed also testified Friday, and said he did know how Corrie was hurt, or remember much about the incident. The foundation noted that this contradicted a detailed affidavit he signed eight weeks ago.
Craig Corrie said he was struck by Michaeli's failure "to look for evidence, to secure evidence, to resolve conflicting evidence, and to turn evidence over to this court. This is not what we and the U.S. government were promised by the government of Israel when Rachel was killed and it is not what we will accept now."
Court grants soldiers anonymity
The court issued a decision Thursday to allow soldiers to testify behind a screen in court. The driver of the bulldozer that killed the 23-year-old will be granted anonymity under the order. Judge Oded Gershon ruled that the commander of the unit and the second soldier in the bulldozer that hit Corrie would testify in plain view, as their faces were already publicly known, the foundation said.
State attorneys argued that secrecy measures were necessary to protect the soldiers and prevent their images from being circulated, while Corrie's attorneys said the move infringed on the right to an open, fair and transparent trial.
The foundation noted that the request was filed just 48 hours before the first soldier's testimony. A request that the family could see the witnesses, even if the public could not, was rejected, but the foundation said lawyers for the Corrie family would appeal the decision to Israel's Supreme Court.
"While Rachel stood in front of a wall to protect the two families huddled behind it, the state is now making the soldiers hide behind a wall that denies us the opportunity to see them," said Cindy Corrie, Rachel's mother. "The State of Israel has been hiding for over seven years. Where is the justice?"
The trial began in March 2010, when Corrie's family presented witnesses, including several of her International Solidarity Movement colleagues who witnessed her killing.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=322150 19 mar 2012, 16:48 , Respect -
Maria 11 oct 2010
Corrie family appeals decision allowing soldiers to testify behind screen
Lawyers for the family of Rachel Corrie filed an appeal with the Israeli Supreme Court on Sunday, challenging a decision to allow soldiers to testify behind a screen in the lawsuit filed against the State of Israel for the unlawful killing of the American peace activist in Rafah, Gaza.
State attorneys made the highly unusual request in court on Thursday, October 7 arguing that they were necessary to protect the soldiers safety and prevent their images from being circulated. Haifa District Court Judge Oded Gershon granted the request, ruling that all but two soldiers, who were both already known to the public, would be permitted to provide their testimony hidden from public view.
Corrie attorneys opposed the motion, arguing that allowing the soldiers to testify behind a screen infringes upon the fundamental right to an open, fair and transparent trial. They argued that the government request was based on an overbroad security certificate issued by Defense Minister Ehud Barak in 2008, was not supported by concrete evidence to substantiate their concerns for the soldiers safety or security. The lawyers will also ask the Supreme Court to review Judge Gershon's decision not to allow the family to see the witnesses even if the public could not.
Attorney Hussein Abu Hussein, who represents the Corrie family, stated:
"An open and transparent judicial process is the only way to guarantee a fair trial. There is no reason why these soldiers should testify behind a screen. The government's request is a shameless attempt to add a cloud of secrecy to civil trial and shield the soldiers from the discomfort of telling the truth in an open court."
Attorneys for the family requested urgent review of the appeal and decision made, prior to October 17, when testimony of the next soldier in the case is anticipated to resume.
Subsequent hearings are scheduled for October 17,18 and 21 between the hours of 9:00-16:00 before Judge Oded Gershon at the Haifa, District Court, 12 Palyam St., Haifa, Israel.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m70637&hd=&size=1&l=e