"Devote Our Lives to Making This Stop"
Rachel Corrie
Let's begin by quotes from Rachel Corrie Wikipedia page who was an American member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). She was killed by a bulldozer operated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) while attempting to prevent IDF forces from demolishing the home of local Palestinian pharmacist. The following Lines describe what happened and how…
ISM and other eyewitness accounts
“Joe Carr, an American ISM activist who used the assumed name of Joseph Smith during his time in Gaza, gave the following account in an affidavit recorded and published by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR):
Still wearing her fluorescent jacket, she knelt down at least 15 meters in front of the bulldozer, and began waving her arms and shouting, just as activists had successfully done dozens of times that day... 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... Her head and upper torso were above the bulldozer’s blade, and the bulldozer driver and co-operator could clearly see her. Despite this, the driver continued forward, which caused her to fall back, out of view of the diver.[sic] He continued forward, and she tried to scoot back, but was quickly pulled underneath the bulldozer. We ran towards him, and waved our arms and shouted; one activist with the megaphone. But the bulldozer driver continued forward, until Rachel was all the way underneath the central section of the bulldozer.
Joe Smith, as recorded by the Israel Resource Review: "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." According to the Seattle Times, "Smith, who witnessed Sunday's incident, said it began when Corrie sat down in front of the bulldozer. He said the driver scooped her up with a pile of earth, dumped her on the ground and ran over her twice."
British ISM activist Tom Dale, who was standing yards away from Corrie, told journalist Joshua Hammer, Jerusalem bureau chief for Newsweek:
The bulldozer built up earth in front of it... 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... The whole [incident] took place in about six or seven seconds.
An individual giving the name Richard, who stated that he witnessed Corrie's death, as recorded by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz:
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
British ISM activist Richard Purssell gave the following account, in an affidavit made in a manner similar to Carrie's:
As the bulldozer reached the place where Rachel was standing, she began as many of us did on the day to climb the pile of earth. She reached the top and at this point she must have been clearly visible to the driver, especially as she was still wearing the high visibility [ fluorescent orange with reflective strips ] jacket. She turned and faced in my direction and began to come back down the pile.
The bulldozer continued to move forward at [5-6 mph]. As her feet hit the ground I saw a panicked expression on her face... The pile of earth engulfed her and she was hidden from my view.”
An Atrocity to a non Palestinian
Rachel wrote to her mother from Rafah: "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 Benatar and have boyfriends and make comics for my coworkers. But I also want this to stop."
A message from Rachel’s parents:
"Rachel chose to go to Rafah, a city at the southern tip of Gaza, because she believed the world had forsaken this place. During her time there, Rachel became our eyes and ears of as she told us about the tanks and bulldozers passing by, about the homes with tank-shell holes in their walls, about the rapidly multiplying, Israeli army towers with snipers lurking along the horizon, about apache helicopters and invisible drones buzzing over the city for hours at a time, about wells and greenhouses, and olive groves destroyed, and about the giant metal wall being built around Gaza.
Rachel had dreams. She believed that her hometown Olympia, Washington, could gain a lot and offer a lot by committing to a sister-city relationship with Rafah. She envisioned e-mail exchanges between children in the two cities. She wrote, Many Palestinian people want their voices to be heard, and I think we need to use some of our privilege as internationals to get those voices heard directly in the US, rather than through the filter of well-meaning internationals such as myself.
Rachel believed that she might see a Palestinian state or a democratic Israeli-Palestinian state within her lifetime. She wrote, “I think freedom for Palestine could be an incredible source of hope to people struggling all over the world.” "
Her parents continued the struggle and their march to let justice reach those who are banned from touching or seeing it.
Rachel Corrie died aged 23 years; she died defending justice from being overrun by military power and dominating media and policies.
She died for a cause, and she has thrown some single rays of light on what is happening in that dark unknown spot called Palestine.
Finally, it is not the first time that a non Palestinian has been under such atrocity and it will not be the last. Every child in Palestine knew her. She died for them to have a shelter. She is inhabited in their hearts as long as their hearts beat, which is the great encourage for everyone all over the world to think deeply in Rachel words:
"Freedom for Palestine could be an incredible source of hope to people struggling all over the world"
The Story is still continued …
Israeli troop's stories show the killing of Women and kids without any reason. Combing down buildings and ramming houses with their armored vehicles and fire from inside. Bombing civilian houses without any notification to the residents.
Now who is using the terror as method, as their weapon...?
This file is just a hole in the falsified media, this hole has let what happened over there reach your eyes. You just have to consider and think research, decide.
By AbdElGhany El Sharkawy
References:
http://www.thewe.cc/
http://news.bbc.co.uk
http://www.cnn.com/
http://rachelcorriefoundation.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Corrie