A year of silence since Rachel Corrie died

http://www.iht.com/articles/508556.html

Elizabeth Corrie IHT
Wednesday, March 3, 2004

Killed in Israel

ATLANTA, Georgia Only a year ago, the month of March would have held the same
positive associations for me as it has for many - the beginning of the end of
winter, the promise of springtime and even summer. This year, and for every year for
the rest of my life, the approach of March will mean something else entirely - the
anniversary of the brutal death of my cousin, Rachel Corrie.

On March 16, 2003, an Israeli soldier and his commander ran over Rachel with a
nine-ton Caterpillar bulldozer while she stood - unarmed, clearly visible in her
orange fluorescent jacket - protecting a Palestinian home slated for demolition by
the Israeli army.

The death of Rachel Corrie, and the response that her case has - and has not -
received, reveal several disturbing, indeed immoral and criminal, truths.

First, Rachel died while attempting to prevent the demolition of a home, a common
practice of the Israeli Army's collective punishment that has left more than 12,000
Palestinians homeless since the beginning of the second uprising in September 2000.
This practice violates international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Second, Rachel was run over by a Caterpillar bulldozer, manufactured in the United
States and sent to Israel as part of the regular U.S. aid package to Israel, which
amounts to $3 billion to $4 billion annually, all of it from U.S. taxpayers. The use
of Caterpillar bulldozers to destroy civilian homes, not to mention to run over
unarmed human rights activists, violates U.S. law, including the U.S. Arms Export
Control Act, which prohibits the use of military aid against civilians.

Third, the self-acquittal of the Israeli army for Rachel's death and the resistance
of the state of Israel to an independent investigation into this case reveals both
the Sharon administration's unwillingness to take responsibility for the death of a
U.S. citizen and the Bush administration's cowardice in allowing another nation to
attack U.S. citizens with impunity.

Fourth, Rachel's death was in fact only the first of several Israeli attacks on
foreign citizens in the West Bank and Gaza. Brian Avery, from New Mexico, was shot
in the face on April 5; Tom Hurndall, a British citizen, was shot in the head on
April 11 and died Jan. 13, and James Miller, another British citizen, was also shot
and killed in April. To date, only in Hurndall's case will the Israeli soldier
responsible for the attack face trial, and this is because the British government,
after several months, finally responded to the overwhelming evidence presented by
the Hurndall family.

As we approach March 16, residents and citizens of the United States should ask
themselves how it is that an unarmed U.S. citizen can be killed with impunity by a
soldier from an allied nation receiving massive U.S. aid, using a product
manufactured in the United States by a U.S. corporation and paid for with U.S. tax
dollars. When three Americans were killed, presumably by Palestinians, in an
explosion on Oct. 15, 2003, as they traveled through Gaza, the FBI came within 24
hours to investigate the deaths. After one year, neither the FBI nor any other
U.S.-led team has done anything to investigate the death of an American killed by an
Israeli.

Why the double standard? Perhaps this reveals the most disturbing truth of all.

Elizabeth Corrie is an administrator and teacher in a school in Atlanta.

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