Photos Show Rachel Corey Was Murdered!

Israeli Bulldozer Kills U.S. Protester
Sun Mar 16, 5:05 PM ET

By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - An American college student in Gaza to protest Israel operations was killed Sunday when she was run over by a bulldozer while trying to block troops from demolishing a Palestinian home.

At least one Palestinian also was killed.

The killing of the student by the Israelis — the first of a foreign activist in 29 months of fighting — came as Israelis and Palestinians wrangled over the terms of a U.S.-backed plan to end the violence and establish a Palestinian state.

Rachel Corrie, 23, of Olympia, Wash., had been with U.S. and British demonstrators in the Rafah refugee camp trying to stop demolitions. She died in the hospital, said Dr. Ali Moussa, a hospital administrator.

"This is a regrettable accident," said Capt. Jacob Dallal, an army spokesman. "We are dealing with a group of protesters who were acting very irresponsibly, putting everyone in danger."

The army said soldiers were looking for explosives and tunnels used to smuggle weapons.

The United States "deeply regrets this tragic death of an American citizen," State Department spokesman Lou Fintor said.

He expressed condolences to Corrie's family and said the United States wants an "immediate and full investigation" into her death.

"We again call on the Israeli defense forces to undertake all possible measures to avoid harm to civilians," Fintor's statement said.

Greg Schnabel, 28, of Chicago, said four Americans and four Britons were trying to stop Israeli troops from destroying a building belonging to Dr. Samir Masri.

Israel for months has been tearing down houses of Palestinians it suspects in Islamic militant activity, saying such operations deter attacks on Israel such as suicide bombings.

"Rachel was alone in front of the house as we were trying to get them to stop," Schnabel said. "She waved for the bulldozer to stop. She fell down and the bulldozer kept going. It had completely run over her and then it reversed and ran back over her."

She was wearing a brightly colored jacket when the bulldozer hit her.

Several Palestinians gathered at the site, and troops opened fire, killing one Palestinian, witnesses said. The army had no comment on that report.

Corrie was the first member of the Palestinian-backed "International Solidarity Movement" to be killed in a conflict that has claimed more than 2,200 Palestinian lives — about three times the toll on the Israeli side.

A student at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Corrie would have graduated this year, Schnabel said.

Her killing should be a message to President Bush (news - web sites), who is "providing Israel with tanks and bulldozers, and now they killed one of his own people," said Mansour Abed Allah, 29, a Palestinian human rights worker who witnessed Corrie's death.

Several other U.S. citizens have been killed in Palestinian-Israeli violence. On March 5, Abigail Litle, 14, was killed in a Palestinian suicide bombing attack on a bus in the northern Israeli city of Haifa. Last July, five Americans died in a bombing at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Bush said Friday that a long-awaited "road map" for peace would be back on the table once Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) appointed a prime minister with real power — a process that appeared well under way last week.

But on Sunday, Arafat presented legislators with proposed changes to the Palestinian basic law approved last Monday that, according to a diplomatic source, that created the impression that a prime minister was not independent.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the move could thereby reduce any pressure on Israel to constructively engage the new Palestinian prime minister.

The road map worked out by the United States, European Union (news - web sites), United Nations (news - web sites) and Russia foresees Palestinian statehood by 2005 and an end to Israeli settlement-building in the West Bank and Gaza.

Bush has said that first, the Palestinians need to change their leadership, and the road map calls for Arafat to appoint an empowered prime minister.

While Arafat bowed to intense international pressure and agreed to share control with a new prime minister, Palestinian legislators said Sunday he was now asking for amendments in the law passed last week.

The most significant change was that Arafat wanted the ultimate say in the creation of a new Palestinian Cabinet, suggesting he could have veto power over candidates nominated by the new prime minister. He also asked for the right to chair Cabinet meetings, said legislators.

The 88-member Palestinian Legislative Council was to meet Monday to discuss the proposed changes. If agreement is reached, legislators are expected to approve the appointment of Arafat's longtime deputy, Mahmoud Abbas, as premier.

Meanwhile, Israel pressed ahead with its proposals over key phrases in the draft "road map." According to the Haaretz newspaper, Israel wants to replace all references to an "independent" Palestinian state with the term "certain attributes of sovereignty," noting that such a state has to be "credible" and "law abiding."

Israeli officials had no immediate comment on the report, which cited anonymous Israeli sources.

The Palestinians say U.S. officials have assured them that no more changes will be made in the document.

In phase one of the draft, Palestinians would carry out government reforms and crack down on militants, while Israel would withdraw from Palestinian towns. Israel would then recognize an interim Palestinian state. Negotiations on full statehood would come in stage three.

Each phase is laden with obstacles. If Arafat fails to appoint a prime minister with real power, Israel could refuse to end its occupation of West Bank towns and villages. To date, Arafat has failed to rein in militants.

American peace activist killed by army bulldozer
in Rafah

IDF expresses `regret'; State Department `assessing' reports

By Haaretz Staff

A 23-year-old American woman, Rachel Corrie, a college student from Olympia, Washington who belonged to the International Solidarity Movement in the territories, was killed yesterday by an IDF bulldozer during a house demolition in Rafah.

Israeli officials expressed "regret" over the incident to American officials, sources in Jerusalem said, and in Washington, a State Department statement said it had received reports of the incident, and was "assessing the situation."

The ISM activist was taking part in protest efforts yesterday afternoon in Rafah, to prevent the army from demolishing houses in a strip of land a few hundred meters wide between the Rafah refugee camp and the nearby Egyptian border, in an effort to block smuggling from Egypt.

According to eyewitnesses, a routine IDF demolition operation was underway in the area, with two D-9 bulldozers and a tank as protection. They destroyed three buildings that were already partially destroyed and a number of walls. The ISM activists then deployed in the area and used bullhorns to call on the drivers to stop. According to ISM activists, at one stage the IDF forces left the area and took up positions near the border, a few hundred meters away.

But around 5 P.M., the force returned, and the activists assumed the bulldozers were on their way to other houses. "They began demolishing one house," said an ISM activist, who said his name was Richard. "We gathered around and called out to them and went into the house, so they backed out. During the entire time they knew who we were and what we were doing, because they didn't shoot at us. We stood in their way and shouted. There were about eight of us in an area about 70 square meters. Suddenly, we saw they turned to a house they had started to demolish before, and I saw Rachel standing in the way of the front bulldozer."

According to the ISM activist, Corrie was wearing a bright jacket and climbed onto the bulldozer shovel-plow and began shouting at the driver. "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."

According to the activists, the tank arrived on the scene and was only 20 meters away, but the soldiers did not offer any assistance. A little while later, the heavy equipment pulled away, and a Red Crescent ambulance took the badly injured woman to Abu Yusef Najar Hospital in Rafah, where she was declared dead on arrival. A second activist was slightly injured. The destroyed house belonged to Dr. Samir Nasrallah.

Army sources said the demolitions were meant to prevent sabotage along the Philadelphi road parallel to the Egyptian border. The sources said the bulldozer driver deviated from the track and apparently was moving a block of concrete that hit the woman.

The ISM is an international pacifist movement that draws its inspiration from a quote by Albert Einstein: "The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."

Since the start of the intifada, hundreds of the foreigners, mostly students, have taken a rigorous course in nonviolent theory and practice and then been placed in Palestinian towns and villages, where they report on events at checkpoints, villages under curfew and house demolitions, help move humanitarian aid into besieged areas, and accompanying ailing Palestinians to hospitals. As non-Palestinians, they enjoy a certain measure of immunity - Corrie was the first ISM casualty in the nearly 30 months of intifada.

"I'd like to remind everyone of another non-Jewish American killed in the Middle East."


I'd like to remind you that Hitler exterminated 6 million Jews, so Israel should be entitled to exterminate at least 6 million.....

right?

You can't make an omlette without cracking a few eggs.

Well...first off, those photos don't show her being murdered.

Secondly, Bulldozers are renowned for their speed....I.E. it's hard for one to catch you and run you over. You kinda have to fall infront of one to get squashed.

Thirdly, they don't exactly stop on a dime. That's alot of mass moving along...even at a slow speed.

Lastly, the blade on the dozer is taller than she is. It's not exactly easy to see everything infront of you when operating one of those machines.

We should all mourn the loss of an activist and a fellow citizen, but accept it for what it was: an extremely tragic accident.

..it was just another statistically miraculous "terrible accident"

- like the repeated bombing of the U.S.S. Liberty, the assassination of Count Folke Bernadotte and the Lavon Affair.


Nothing to see here folks...move along.

I really feel horrible that she died and I'm glad that she was doing something she believed in, but in all the witness accounts, they all say the same thing: She FELL infront of the bulldozer.

Wasn't ran over.

It wasn't a Tianamen square style protest.

She fell infront of a bulldozer.

A tragic and horrible waste of life, but an accident none-the-less.

Try reading before writing, O Logical One.

"Logical" wrote:
"what it was: an extremely tragic accident."

Haaretz article above says:

"According to the ISM activist, Corrie was wearing a bright jacket and climbed onto the bulldozer shovel-plow and began shouting at the driver. "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."

Eyewitnesses say it was definitely NOT an accident. Go here:
http://boards.marihemp.com/boards/thread.shtml?1x47739x0

Speaking of Tianamen, tell me why at the heart of the anti-war activist groups, the defenders of all that's free and right (really left) in the world do you find ANSWER which was founded by a group tha tbelieves that the solders were just defending themselves at Tianamen square?

For that matter, why do they also defend, even support, Slobodan Milocevic?

Ever hear the addage that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones?

Why do the KKK and other far-right racist groups support support Bush and the corporate state? Could it be that hate radio and television cater to them?.

Why does corporate, mega-media, ClearChannel (and other) hate radio and television use every code-word racist gimmick to spread hate and disinfo.

Why do morons believe in "right" or "left" or "conservative" or "liberal"?

No one gives a fuck about ANSWER. ANSWER is just one of many groups organizing around issues.

Beat up on ANSWER all you want. I have myself. But don't try that good old-time redbaiting. No one is buying it here, O amateur spindoctor.

Riddle me this: Why is Pudge a moron?

Technically you dumb ass..
Bulldozers like this one that actually run on chains and not wheels ... especially when on sand... running freaking very slowly.. because of the low gear proportions that they have.......
It is manufactured this way to have more friction thus more traction and less speed.
So technically you dont know what you are talking about.
dumbass !

I am glad this useless piece of pro-murder trash got killed. You run in front of a dozer you are taking a risk.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.