Last night, October 9th, in the small Bethlehem suburb of Beit Sahour where I am now living and working, the Alernative Information Center hosted Cindy, Craig and Sarah Corrie. They are in Israel to attend the trial surrounding the killing of their daughter and sister, Rachel, in 2003. Rachel's death under the blade of an Israeli military bulldozer as she was trying to protect the home of a Palestinian family in Gaza may have faded from our memories, but has consumed the lives of her family for the last seven and a half years.
The first to speak, after being introduced by one of the Palestinian hosts, was Craig, Rachel's father. He addressed the packed audience of mostly international visitors and volunteers and described his initial shock and grief, that at first he feared would paralize him with hate. Instead, he was able to take action to seek accountability, not revenge, for Rachel's death. He quit his successful job in business, and within six months went with his wife to Gaza to visit the people and places Rachel had being writing home about. Meanwhile, then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had promised the family that Israel would conduct a thorough, credible and transparent investigation into Rachel's death. Even the U.S. Department of State agrees that such an investigation never took place.
The Corries persued every diplomatic and legal channel available to them in the U.S. before filing a civil case in Israeli courts. That case was opened last March, temporarily closed, and, in an unusual move, it was reopened this month in the Israeli city of Haifa, giving the family another chance to reach understanding. As Sarah told us, she wants to look the responsible soldiers in the eyes and hear what they were thinking and feeling when they killed her sister. But it seems she will not have that chance, as the soldier witnesses will testify behind a screen "for security reasons."
Cindy Corrie spoke about how the court procedings are trying to hide the reasons Rachel was in Gaza in the first place, so she told us how Rachel decided to join the Palestinian-led International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and go to Gaza to learn and to help. Not to know why Rachel took this action, is to turn this trial into a narrow examination of facts, such as how visible Rachel was to the bulldozer driver.
She said the trial is revealing in exposing what Israel's investigation didn't include, such as visiting the site of the killing or getting into a D9 bulldozer to check on visibility of people in front of it. She added that the crime site was smoothed over withi 24 hours of the killing, destroying any possible evidence against the military.
I asked the Corries what they thought internationals like us should do to be most effective in our work to end the occupation. They said most important thing is to hold our government to international standards of human rights and law. One way to do this is to pressure Congress through our individual congressmen. While we all know how frustrating this can be, Congress has shown movement on this issue. We should develop relationships with our congressmen so that they will listen to us. Only the grassroots will bring change, not the so-called leaders.
The Corries also support the BDS movement ('Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions), but they stressed that we should each do what matches our individual talents. The Corries will follow this trial to its conclusion, but they want us to know that it is not just for Rachel. They use the trial to speak of the many Palestinians who do not have the same resouces nor access to lawyers and courts as they do; to speak of the Palestinians who are being attacked, jailed or killed for trying to protest nonviolently; and to fight the notion that the military are immune from prosecution simply because they are involved in a war. One military officr told them that "there are no civilians in a war." Should that become accepted truth, it will be a huge shift in the conduct of wars and a huge loss for human rights.
Craig Corrie was applauded when he concluded, "We must DEMAND that our Constitution be upheld."
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