SECTION A
PART 1 Introduction
The Japanese teach that “folding a paper crane is like making peace, some of the steps are awkward. At first, it may seem impossible… Patience and consultation are helpful. And the result, big or small, is a thing of beauty.” A young Japanese girl, believing the ancient gods’ legend they might grant her wish to be well again if she folded a thousand paper cranes, began folding as did her classmates ”to create Peace in the world.” Other people began making cranes, too. Soon, there were thousands of hopeful origami symbols for peace. The young Japanese girl died of leukemia from radiation the bombing of Hiroshima caused. The year was 1955. There was no cure. Just a legacy she left, showing people could work together towards a common goal, one bird of peace at a time.
A country away, years later, another young girl paraded life sized puppet paper birds of peace, doves, throughout her town, over 30 of them, including one 12 feet tall, and another, huge on a bicycle, expressing her message, clearly and creatively, “Peace on Earth.” This young girl, living in Olympia Washington, died a death the US State Department, in official papers, calls unfortunate. Her death might best be called “tragic.” She made a life choice she knew could be ill-fated but ever since she was a young child, some say, she was political. At age 10, she wrote a poem addressing "children everywhere are suffering." She wanted to feed the world. Her goal was to “stop hunger by the year 2000.” Instead, she stopped a Caterpillar D-9, dying under its tracks. She was 23. And still political.
Her given name is Rachel, a biblical name of one of the Matriarchs. It means “small sheep.” Her family name is Corrie. Upon dying, Rachel Corrie ceased belonging to her parents. The anti-Israel activists took her as their martyr to fight “Zionists.” Rachel Corrie was no longer a symbol for doves. She became a symbol for hawks feeding from historic hatred.
Corrie’s accidental death occurred when she was engulfed by a mound of dirt a bulldozer was moving outside the Gaza village of Rafah. Activisits, pushing for the now delayed July “disengagement strategy” targeting an Israeli town across the way, Gush Katif, were buoyed by the boon her death offered them. Media attention. The people the young girl listened attentively to, allege Jews have no history in Palestine. They say the Palestinian push starting with Gush Katif will continue until all of Israel is in the ocean.
Alan Rickman produced in London a performance of Philip Munger’s cantata, “My Name Is Rachel Corrie.” Rickman said he felt Corrie’s journaling “revealed a woman who was both ordinary and extraordinary, writing poems about her cat, her friends, her grandmother, the wind; but also, from a strikingly young age, engaging passionately with the world, trying to find her place in it.” The University of Anchorage Alaska, where Munger is based, felt differently. They cancelled Munger’s initial performance of the “Corrie” cantata. Alaska’s Jewish community, the Frozen Chosen, had spoken up. They did not view Corrie as someone deserving of being honored. Corrie was someone, they felt, who supported the destruction of their homeland, Israel, after all, Corrie died challenging an Israeli bulldozer from destroying terrorist tunnels used to smuggle explosives, weapons and missiles to terrorists in Israel. Corrie sympathizers say differently.
The day Rachel Corrie died, the International Solidarity Movement, ISM, held a gathering downtown in Olympia Washington at Percival Landing. A hundred or so showed up. The ISM memorializing her at Percival Landing were the Palestinian radicals who recruited her to be a “human shield,” in the first place, note, a role they themselves did not volunteer to perform acknowledging they have little “capital,” in media. But a pretty, blonde waifish American girl from Oregon with a passion for underdogs, and cats? The ISM knew what they were doing when they found Corrie on her college campus.
Corrie attended Evergreen State, self- described as an eco-concerned “distinctive,” “public,” “liberal arts and sciences” campus in the Pacific Northwest. It was from here, Corrie was recruited as a “non-violent” activist. It was from there a hundred or less came to honor her moment in the wind by the water on a historic dock, torn down and replaced many times since it was built in 1860 by Sam Percival.
I came to Corrie’s story because the world is small. More correctly, Corrie’s story came to me because the world is even smaller. Waiting on the Hill with colleagues to photograph the steroid trial superstars, Conseco, Palmiero, Sosa and Schilling, a grey haired woman approached. She said her name is Elizabeth Corrie and she had a story to tell. Unless a listener has a connection to Mid East politics, her name means nothing. To me it meant something.
Elizabeth is the aunt of Rachel Corrie, a 23 year old activist who died in the Gaza Strip. I know of Rachel Corrie. And always will. I saw a posterized image of Rachel amidst the July protest up Fifth Avenue in New York City. Surrounded by Palestinian flags and supporters, her face stood out from above the anti-Bush scrawl, held high amidst people wearing t-shirts boasting “Jews For Palestine.” It was six months after my brother was murdered by terrorists in the Middle East. I lost my breath, for the moment. Then, crying inside, I continued my photographically archiving anti-Israel, anti-Jew, anti-Bush sentiment, until soon after, I could not stay. I had to leave. Even strong women have breaking points. Mine is easily explained. Jews celebrating with and for activists, sworn to annihilate our race? I cannot understand that still to this day.
Roget’s New Millenium Thesaurus defines “activist,” the noun, as over-enthusiast, offering as its synonyms, “addict, bigot, bug, crank, crazy, demon, devotee, enthusiast, extremist, fiend, fool, freak, maniac, militant, monomaniac, nut, radical, ultraist, visionary, zealot. belligerent, combatant, demonstrator, fighter, objector, partisan, protestor, rioter, warrior.” Rush Limbaugh prefers to call them, “obstructionists.”
During Fall of 2003, Newsweek magazine’s Jerusalem bureau chief, Joshua Hammer asked why Rachel Corrie, an American college student studying in Olympia Washington put her life on the line. Was Corrie a “martyr, idiot, dedicated, deluded?” he asked, the end result being what it is, did it matter. Hammer noted, “the facts of Rachel Corrie's death, four months after her arrival in Gaza, dissolved into a half-dozen competing versions of the truth, none of them fully convincing.”
There is a way to unravel the threads tied to this truth. But not from the rhetoric. Too much has been written and little matches. The starting place should be with Rachel’s passport. Until then, one should follow her paper trail to Gaza.
The United States Department of State, DOS, provides a no-nonsense “Travel Warning for Israel, the West Bank and Gaza” on their web site, http://travel.state.gov. The State Department travel advisory says, “The Government of Israel may deny entry to persons it believes might travel to “closed” areas in the West Bank or Gaza or to persons the Israeli authorities believe may sympathize with the Palestinian cause and are seeking to meet with Palestinian officials. In addition, dual Palestinian-American citizens, along with anyone suspected of planning activity deemed political in nature, may encounter difficulties, or be barred from, entering and/or departing Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, especially during times of Israeli closures.” Travellers entering into Gaza or the West Bank are warned to expect delays and difficulties at Israeli military checkpoints located throughout those areas and advised to exercise particular care when approaching and traveling through checkpoints, aware they might not be allowed passage through.
The Department of State warns U.S. citizens to defer travel to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza due to safety and security concerns. The division of responsibilities and jurisdiction in the West Bank and Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is complex. The Allenby Bridge crossing from the West Bank into Jordan and the Rafah crossing from Gaza into Egypt are under the jurisdiction of the Israeli Government, which also controls entry and exit via the Gaza International Airport. “As part of constant wide-ranging military operations, the IDF, Israeli Defense Force, frequently launch ground and air incursions, with intense shelling and firing, while enforcing with deadly force closed military zones, curfews, and area closures.” American citizens who remain in or travel to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza despite warnings, are urged to review their personal security situations and take actions they deem appropriate to ensure their well-being.
The Travel Advisory says, “During periods of unrest, access to the West Bank and Gaza is sometimes closed off by the Israeli Government and those areas may be placed under curfew. Americans have been killed, seriously injured, detained and deported as a result of encounters with IDF operations in Gaza and the West Bank.”” “While in a foreign country, a US citizen is subject to that country's laws and regulations, which sometimes differ significantly from those in the United States and may not afford the protections available to the individual under US law.” “Persons violating Israel's or the Palestinian Authority's laws, even unknowingly, may be expelled, arrested or imprisoned. Penalties for breaking the law can be more severe than in the United States for similar offenses.”
The State Department site says, “Israeli security measures are strict involving prolonged questioning, detailed searches at all points of entry/departure including the West Bank and Gaza. Travelers with Arabic surnames, those asking Israeli stamps not be entered into their passports, and unaccompanied female travelers are subjected to close scrutiny at points of entry. Cameras or electronic equipment delay entry/departure, at times confiscated during security checks. The Israeli National Police monitor, arrest and deport members of groups they believe intend to commit violent or disruptive acts in Israel.”
A valid passport, an onward or return ticket, and proof of sufficient funds are required for entry into Israel, then, a three-month visa may be issued upon arrival and may be renewed. The State Department site repeats, “the Government of Israel has not admitted individual American citizens or groups who have expressed sympathy with the Palestinian cause, sought to meet with Palestinian officials, or intended to travel to areas in the West Bank or Gaza.” Simply put for all recruited human shields to understand.

PART 2 Rachel Corrie And Rafah

Some supporters of Rachel stop short of calling her a martyr. The ISM and Palestinian press releases, say she is just that. She was just a child of privilege, the daughter of Craig and Cindy, Craig, an insurance executive, Cindy, a flutist volunteering at local schools.
Rachel Corrie comes from Washington state’s capitol, better known as a “liberal patch of woods,” situated between Seattle and Portland, on Interstate 5. In 2002, there were 42,530 people living there. In 2004, maybe 500 more. Olympia has 11 elementary schools, 4 middle schools, 2 high schools. And three colleges, one private, and two public- St. Martins, South Puget Sound Community and Evergreen State, providing plenty of fodder for left-leaning activist recruiters.
Corrie’s cousin Linda Young, remembers Rachel, in third grade, worrying about world hunger saying "we need to figure out a way to feed them.” Young says Corrie’s social concern came from “being part of a family that was creative and generous and viewed itself as citizens of the world rather than simply Americans.” John McGee, a computer specialist at Evergreen State College, knew Corrie since she was six. He said in the fifth grade Rachel had a list of 20 things she wanted to be when she grew up. Most classmates named one or two. The youngest and most idealistic of three children, Rachel traveled to Russia, encouraged by her parents who supported international student exchange programs.
After graduating Capital High School, Corrie wanted to become a writer or an artist. She entered Olympia’s liberal-arts college, Evergreen, one reporter described as a left-wing orientation for extremism, anti-Americanism, Anti-God, Anti-Life; Anti-Israel, Anti-Capitalism and anti-tradition. Evergreen’s famous alumni include cop killer, Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal. Abu-Jamal delivered his commencement address by audiotape from death row. Bart and Homer Simpson’s creator, Matt Groening, is another alumnus.
It was at Evergreen, Rachel focused on arts and international relations, studying "Labor and the Environment", "Common Ground", "Local Knowledge" and a contract entitled "Public Art and the Middle East Conflict." She joined the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, participated in peace and environmental activities and joined, in her senior year, the International Solidarity Movement, ISM, some cynically refer to as “I Support Murderers.” Newsweek’s Josh Hammer said Corrie “dabbled in political activISM.
During Corrie’s senior year, a friend returned from Gaza talking enthusiastically about a pro-Palestinian activist group founded the year before to “uphold the right of Palestinians to carry out "armed struggle" and seek "to establish divestment campaigns in the U.S. and Europe to put economic pressure on Israel the same way the international community pressured South Africa during the apartheid regimes." Corrie had only one quarter left to graduate when the ISM recruited her to travel to the Gaza Strip. She left the end of January, planning to return for spring enrollment. Colin Reese, described as her closest friend, lived with Corrie the last four years of her life. Reese said their apartment was cluttered with her journals containing her poems and reflections and her sculptures, works in progress. Reese said, “She wasn't the most punctual or tidy person in the world.”
Corrie’s colleague answers Hammer’s “why did Rachel head to Rafah” question. Reese said, Rachel heard how “neglected Rafah is by the world, and by the activist community,” that “Rafah is one of the poorest and most dangerous places in the world.” Reese also said, “Rachel was aware of how dangerous Rafah is,” that “more people have been killed per-capita in Rafah than any other place” in the Gaza. He said, “Rachel made a B-line straight for it.” July 12, 2002, almost a year before Corrie traveled to Gaza to affiliate with the Palestinian cause, Amnesty International had issued a scathing condemnation of attacks by Palestinian bomb murderers calling them bombing crimes against humanity. American Jewish Congress President Jack Rosen declared, "There can be no doubt that more than ever before, the world beyond Israel and the United States is awakening to the inhumanity of Palestinian suicide bombings and is finally responding." As did Corrie. She went to “Palestine.”
Corrie proposed to her college a leave of absence for an independent-study program during which she would join the ISM team in Gaza and initiate her "sister-city" vision. Corrie’s college granted her request. Mid school year, during the Al-Aqsa Intifada started by mass murder terrorist Marwan Barghouti, Corrie took her leave of absence. Her departure was amplified by the ISM’s “devotion to stopping, through nonviolent means, Israeli encroachment on Palestinian territory.”

Rachel studied the ISM’s manual prior to leaving for Rafah. She was required to. The Department of States Travel Advisory, when compared with the ISM manual, makes it clear ISM recruits do not go to Gaza to comply with Israel’s laws. “Human shields” go to Israel to violate them. Tragically, Rachel Corrie accidentally died doing so.

Rachel ?ew from Seattle to Israel, January 18, 2003. As stated by the DOS, when granted after answering questions with believed to be honest answers, Israel allows a three month visa. Rachel Corrie knew she was going to Rafah for four. From the onset, Corrie intended to challenge Israel. Corrie checked into a youth hostel in East Jerusalem. She joined another Olympia resident, 25 year old William Hewitt, in the second ISM two-day training course. This one was held at their West Bank headquarters. The first was held in America. The ISM placed Corrie with 5 to 8 American or European peace activists. Corrie sent emails to family and friends. She described her not being prepared for life in Gaza. Her Feb. 7th email said, "No amount of reading, attendance at conferences, documentary reading and word of mouth could have prepared me for the reality of the situation here.”
Hewitt said Rachel began to talk with everyone, including taxi drivers, curious about their lives, their families. In the ISM role-playing exercises, Hewitt said Corrie played the angry settler, the soldier or the activist trying to defuse a situation. During the training, recruits received tips about blending into Palestinian society. Activists were told they had to abstain from drugs, sex, and alcohol during their stints in Gaza. Rachel and the other women activists were told they had to wear the hijab, Muslim woman’s head covering. During the two days, Rachel and her colleagues were taught a few rules about direct-action tactics including removing military roadblocks, defying curfews, and blocking house demolitions. They were told to “make your presence known,” “wear ?uorescent jackets,” “don't frighten the army,” “try to communicate by megaphone,” and “don't run.”
Corrie and Hewitt originally met, April 2002, during the time of the Afghanistan war. Hewitt says Rachel was passionate, creative, with a fun personality. He recalls the group she organized to create and dress as doves, symbolic protest to this and all wars. Rachel asked Hewitt, experienced in making large backpack puppets, and mobile structures, to help with her Parade of Doves.
Hewitt said Rachel planned to use her four months in Rafah, to set up a “sister-city relationship with her hometown of Olympia, WA. Olympia is a city of 18.1 square miles. Rafah is a town of 140,000 Palestinians, mostly refugees. Rachel envisioned connecting the people and institutions of each city- schools, hospitals, governments, businesses, and individuals who could provide services for and interactions between the two cities. Her goal was to develop “dozens of contacts with individuals and organizations in the Rafah community.”
Corrie’s friend said she talked of bringing “groups of Olympians to Rafah, and maybe even someday groups of Rafians to Olympia.” She often talked about establishing a pen pal program between children in both cities.
In between participating in ISM-organized demonstrations, she worked on her Olympia-Rafah project. One of her first unifying efforts was a solidarity demonstration for Iraq. February 15th, less than a month after she arrived in Rafah, Rachel was photographed burning a paper US flag while Rafah pre-school children up towards her. Another time, she participated in a mock trial of George Bush, President of the United States.

Corrie’s ISM activities included going inside the Israeli "no man's land," security zone near the Egypt border. The Israeli Defense Force conducted demolitions intended to destroy smuggling tunnels, firing positions and uncover explosive devices. Corrie wrote detailed letters home about the family she was acting as a human shield for, along with being a human shield for local wells and Palestinian workers. Rachel wrote, “I thought a lot about what you said on the phone about Palestinian violence not helping the situation.” She explained that “access to the ocean was completely cut off in the last two years by a checkpoint and the Gush Katif settlement.”
Corrie was learning Arabic in Rafah. She had an opportunity to learn Arabic at her college before she travelled to Gaza. The online catalogue description read, “Novice level, using short poems and stories.” Evergreen offered, Fall 2002, classical Arabic in their evening and weekend classes. Joe Fahoum taught, “Beginning Arabic I, class size-22.” “In this yearlong course, students will learn the Arabic alphabet and to read and write in modern or Classical Arabic Standard, the language spoken in all 22 Arabic states and Islamic countries.” Rachel wrote in her emails of her befriending children. A fellow recruit said Rachel made friends quickly. She wrote Gaza children “love to get me to practice my limited Arabic by asking me, "Kaif Sharon?" "Kaif Bush?" “How is Sharon? How is Bush?” She wrote home how she answered, "Bush Majnoon", "Sharon Majnoon" back in my limited Arabic, “Bush is crazy. Sharon is crazy.” Another time she wrote she tried to say, "Bush is a tool", but it didn’t translate quite right.”
Craig and Cindy Corrie tell people Rachel lost her life acting as a “human shield” for a house. Their March 19, 2003 press release states their daughter, “a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement in the Occupied Territories, died Sunday in the Gaza Strip while courageously trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home.” “Rebuilding Alliance,” a charity, reported the day Corrie died no houses were demolished.
Erroneously believing a house was to be demolished was not the first life threatening mistake Rachel made. British newspaper, “The Guardian,” published “Rachel’s War,” a collection of Rachel’s unedited emails, exposing the woman behind the myth of the martyr promoted by ISM and others such as www.cis-ca.org. In one email, Corrie admitted almost costing a father and his children their lives. February 27 2003, she wrote, “Yesterday, I watched a father lead his two tiny children, holding his hands, out into the sight of tanks and a sniper tower and bulldozers and Jeeps because he thought his house was going to be exploded. Jenny and I stayed inside the house with several women and two small babies.” “This father walking out with his two little kids just looking very sad, just happened to get my attention more at this particular moment, probably,” she wrote, because “it was our mistake in translation that caused him to think that it was his house that was being exploded. In fact, the Israeli army was in the process of detonating an explosive in the ground nearby - one that appears to have been planted by Palestinian resistance.” “I was really scared that they were all going to be shot and I tried to stand between them and the tank.” Most likely, Corrie was not taught to by Joe Fahoum, the Arabic language teacher at Evergreen College, or by the small children in her 45 days there, to say day-to-day Gaza phrases like, “the Israelis are clearing landmines. Your house is not being blown up. Do not go in to the streets.”
While there is always the chance, Corrie grasped basic Arabic as a language, no statements have been made as to her mastery of both Hebrew and Russian languages needed to call through, the ISM provided megaphone, to the Israeli military bulldozer driver she stood in front of as a human shield. Or that she understand, in those languages, what people were saying to her if they said, “Move! Now!”
March 14th, Corrie in an interview to the Middle East Broadcasting network, said, "I feel like I'm witnessing the systematic destruction of a people's ability to survive." Two days later, she was dead. Rachel Corrie had been in Rafah 1 ½ months.
BIO: Carrie Devorah is an investigative photo journalist. “The day I met Elizabeth Corrie, we connected on a level few can.” “No one ever could have predicted to her that she would be standing one day next to a woman, technically representing the other side. But when it all comes down to it, there is no side when it comes to death and mourning. Just eternal sadness.” “And that we shared.” We talked about loss. Wanting that last phone call, wanting just to be held one more time by our loved one, so close, we could carry, in the least, a memory of their essence with us as we walk forward.” “What struck me was the honesty of Elizabeth in wanting to do something, undefined, call the “right thing.” “Our talking- comfortably, openly, publicly with tears, was a good start.”

RACHEL CORRIE and THE CATERPILLAR (II)
SECTION B
PART 3 Rafah, Rachel and The ISM

Rafah has been a center of Palestinian resistance for the past three years. ISM’s Gaza headquarters in Rafah was a central meeting point, it seems, for activists. And others. Radical activists recruited to act as human shields would assemble in ISM offices for their two day Gaza training. Terrorists are known to have gathered there, too. Militants prowl the streets. Walls covered with “martyr” posters are graffitied with images of exploding Israeli tanks. The “Pink Line” or “Philadelphi Road,” the border strip upon which Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers patrol in proximity to roadside bombs buried in the sand, is under fire from anti-tank missiles and grenades. Despite there being a lucrative business in smuggling weapons in tunnels dug as deep as 100 feet, often heading out from inside Egypt and Gaza homes, and leading into Israel, Palestinian agitators would prefer the world to see Rafah as a community in distress.

The International Solidarity Movement, active on America’s college campuses, presents their organization to the public as a Palestinian-lead grassroots organization designed to work with international volunteers to partake in non-violent direct action resistance to the Israeli occupation. Potential ISM volunteers are told they will work and live in Palestinian communities, and get a first-hand account of the violence to which the Palestinians are subjected every day by the Israeli military. “We are in solidarity with them, as we share in their suffering and take some of the risks that they are unfortunately forced to live with. It is important for us to show that the world has not forgotten these people, and that individuals from all over the world are willing to interrupt their comfortable lives to come and risk themselves for the sake of Palestinians. Through this work we attempt to make links between Palestine and the outside world.” The ISM tells recruits they must “use” personal contacts, international media, and their respective embassies to draw international attention to the Palestinian plight. “We work as observers of the immense human rights violations being committed by Israel, and document these atrocities with established human rights organizations,” stating the right of “Palestinian refugees” is “unconditional” and that Palestine must become Israel.

The ISM achieved notoriety after Rachel Corrie died, for “sponsoring Rachel Corrie and sending her in to commit suicide on behalf of a Palestinian group headquartered in the Middle East.” The dead international volunteer scored a propaganda win for the PLO and hurt Israel.

Key to the beginnings of the International Solidarity Movement is Adam Shapiro, a Jewish college radical from Brooklyn. Shapiro volunteered as a human shield for Yasser Arafat when the Israeli army surrounded Arafat’s Ramallah compound shortly after the 2000 Intafadah was launched. The event will never be forgotten. It was Passover time. Families were celebrating their Seders in a hotel. 30 were murdered that night. Slaughtered in cold blood.

Shapiro has publicly eschewed his Jewish birthright. He and his wife, Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian-American activist from Michigan, are ISM spokespeople in America, promoting the dismantling of Israel by supporting Palestinian terrorists. Michigan has a large Middle Eastern community, dating back almost thirty years. The Shapiro’s define their “legitimate resistance,” with the ISM motto, “by any means necessary.” Jerusalem Diarie’s e-reporter, Judy Balint, had reported that “a senior Islamic Jihad terrorist, Shadi Sukiya was arrested in the ISM West Bank office. The ISM “any means necessary” included allowing Shadi Sukiya to hoard arms in their Jenin office and facilitating Asif Hanif and Omar Khan Sharif, the bomb murderers of Mike’s Place in Tel Aviv, to enter Israel by way of Jordan through use of the ISM travel network, Alternative Tourism Group. ATG, established by Ghassan Andoni, a physics professor at Birzeit University, in the Middle East, a co-founder of ISM, is reported to be assisting ISM volunteers to enter Israel.

The ISM operates in America and Canada guised as several organizations, both on and off campus- the Palestine Solidarity Movement; Al-Awda, Arabic for “The Return;” the “Palestine Right to Return to Return Coalition,” led by Mazen Qumsiyeh, a Yale geneticist; SUSTAIN, Stop U.S. Taxpayer Assistance to Israel Now. SUSTAIN is visible at protests in America, most recently at the April World Bank Summit in Washington DC. A SUSTAIN member entertained the crowd with Anti-Israel sentiment sung in a sing-a-long kumbaya style. The ISM in New Jersey operates as “Palestinian led” Palsolidarity.
The ISM was set up by Palestinian activists, George Rishmawi and George Qassis and Ghassan Andonim a physics professor at the West Bank Bir Zeit University, before Arafat launched the second Intafada. After the Oslo peace talks broke off, they came up with the idea of bringing radical students from the United States, Canada and Europe as “nonviolent peace activists” intended to interfere with the Israeli army’s anti-terrorist operations then use their International foreign national status to influence the rhetoric war being waged. ISM leaders refuse to condemn terrorist attacks by Palestinians against Israeli civilians alleging Palestinian violence is self defense.
It was March 2003, around the time Corrie died, Islamic Jihad terrorist Shadi Sukiya was arrested nearby Rafah, in Jenin, in a house rented by the ISM. Susan Barclay, an ISM organizer, hid Sukiya. Barclay, deported by Israel, told Sam Skolnik of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 20, 2003, "she knowingly worked with representatives from Hamas and Islamic Jihad -- terrorist groups that sponsor suicide bombings and exist, according to their charters, to demolish the Jewish state entirely," (http://home.comcast.net/~jat.action/index.htm#ISM). March 25, 2003, the Israeli government imposed new restrictions on ISM activities. The next month, April, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a report, ISM members were arrested for taking “an active part in illegal and violent actions against IDF soldiers vandalized and destroyed Israeli security fences and equipment.. At times, their activity in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip is under the auspices of Palestinian terrorist organizations."
“Mohamed from Rafah”, photojournalist Mohammed Qeshta, lives in Rafah. His website presents his community of about 130,000 inhabitants. Qeshta’s photo shows Rafah filled with standing homes. Mohammed clarifies refugee camps surround Rafah. They are not Rafah. Qeshta should know. He is a Rafah coordinator for the International Solidarity Movement. Mohamed describes Rafah, to his website readers, as “situated in the southern part of the Gaza Strip in Palestine, at the border with Egypt. In ancient times, it was an important settlement on the Othmans road, connecting Egypt with the Al-Sham countries, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine. According to the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel at Camp David in 1982, Rafah was divided into two parts: One part was assigned to Egypt, the other part to the Gaza Strip, Palestine.”
International media covering Corrie’s accidental death did not report that days later, fifteen people met at an ISM apartment in Rafah. The group then proceeded to the site where Rachel Corrie died. Two British citizens were included in the group. Asif Hanif and Omar Khan Sharif. Five days later, Hanif and Sharif carried out the murder bombing at Mike’s Place, a popular cafe next to the backdoor of the US Embassy in Tel Aviv. One hour after midnight, three civilians were murdered. One of the victims, a young French waitress had planned to return home the next day. She did, in a pine box. Jack Baxter, a New York producer, was at Mike’s Place filming “Blues By The Beach,” his now, award winning documentary on how Israelis defy dying by living life to its fullest in the face of the Intafadah. The bombing left Jack profoundly and permanently injured. Baxter described in an interview, (http://www.goldbergmemorial.org/blues_by_the_beach.html) seeing, but not making sense, of a group of men drinking tea moments before the blast. Baxter recalls the men standing up, being hugged by their friends. Baxter said the friends walked away never looking back and the men walked forward into a million pieces. Next thing Baxter knew, there was blood and bodies everywhere. Including his own. Baxter’s bombers, the two men found inspiration by visiting the site where Craig and Cindy’s daughter died. Baxter is left limping, deafened and suffering an undetermined infection from the bombing.
Details gleaned from first hand accounts of Corrie’s death, conflict, (http://www.jerusalemdiaries.com/article/83.) One posting stated, Rachel running to defend the home of a host family she was getting to know, was one of the last activists to arrive at the site. Rachel arrived at 3:00 pm. Other obstructionists arrived earlier, between 1:00 and 2:00. From all accounts, after 45 days in Gaza, she called the doctor’s family her friends. A colleague gives the impression, Rachel thinking her friend’s house was going to be raized by the IDF, would be willing to die to save it. Rachel was that type of a girl.
Rachel knew going to Gaza as a human shield was life endangering. The ISM made sure of that. All ISM recruits, were required to sign a “Release Statement of Personal Liability,” in order to travel to Gaza to act as a human shield on the ISM’s behalf. The ISM required two persons to sign as witnesses to the document. The ISM Waiver says, “I am aware that I will be entering situations that may be tense at the present time and that there may be danger of war or other conflict occurring while I am here.” “I realize I could be detained, imprisoned, taken hostage, injured or even killed. I also understand that due to the unstable situation, access to health care facilities, adequate shelter and food may be difficult on occasion. I assume and accept full responsibility for any risks of personal injury, illness, damage or other deprivation that may occur as a result of my participation with the planned actions and events included but not limited to the risks described above. I understand that ISM cannot guarantee my personal safety.” “I also hereby release and agree to hold harmless the ISM coalition and its supporting organizations, their members, employees, directors, agents, and successors from any and all claims, demands, rights, causes of action, whether known or unknown brought by me or on my behalf by my heirs, beneficiaries, executors or assigns. I am at least 18 years old and have read and accept the above statements.”
It is interesting to note, even militants fear legal responsibility and litigation. But, it can make sense. Rachel Corrie was recruited in America. By Americans. The ISM recruiters and trainers requesting recruits sign the ISM Waiver Release barring survivors from legally remedying the loss of their loved ones are not the terrorists media hype Americans to fear. They are homegrown, the US citizen next door.
The packet addendum was initially prepared by Mark Schneider with the Colorado Campaign for Peace In The Middle East, a group that actively fundraises and develops “affinity relationships” for Gaza activism. It was modified by Direct Action Palestine. Recruits are provided a (720) number to call in an emergency situation, along with an anticapitalist@... email address, too. Schneider appears to be involved
Newsweek’s Jerusalem bureau Chief, Joshua Hammer, wrote an investigative piece on the death of Rachel Corrie. The article was published Fall 2003 in Mother Earth. Hammer, himself, took an ISM training, as did frontpagemag.com reporter Lee Kaplan. Hammer and Kaplan wrote revealing exposes detailing their experiences while in ISM recruit training.
Hammer and Kaplan both received the 44 page manual ISM provides to its recruits. The International Solidarity Movement manual contains many things including non-violence ground-rules. The non-violence ground-rules include, “we will respect all the various agreements concerning the actions,” and “we will act safely at all times and act responsibly to ensure that no harm comes to any living being including ourselves. It says it “recruit volunteers from other nations to undertake non-violent resistance to the Occupation,” “works under the leadership of Palestinian peace activists, supporting them in their creative resistance to the Occupation, and lending support to Israeli and other peace activist groups.” It pressures “International news media to focus on the illegality and brutality of the Occupation,” seeks to change public opinion so it “demands that Israel respect international law, and that America stops funding Israel with billions of dollars each year,” and strives to “establish divestment campaigns in the US and Europe to put economic pressure on Israel the same way the international community put pressure South Africa during the apartheid regimes.”
The radicals pay their own transportation to and from the Middle East where they live in the homes of Palestinians. Recruits also cover their own living expenses while there. Cost to the ISM for using activists, in their obstructionist work, is nominal. The Manual says a 2-3 week trip to Gaza costs the activist approximately $1,850. Rachel Corrie was going to stay in Rafah four months, a cost of almost $10,000 she was required to pay for, with or without help from family and others. The legitimate question raised is where did a 23 year old college student come up with the minimum of $10,000 this trip cost her. If the money can be proven to have been withdrawn from her bank account that is one thing but if her parents loaned or gave her the money, do Craig and Cindy Corrie share culpability for her death having contributed to her knowingly position herself to possibly lose her life.
The lessons the ISM manual teaches their militant recruits, how-to-fool-Israeli-border-police, are textbook for Intel struggling to preserve global border security in these days of escalating terrorism. “Volunteers” are provided with recommended guidelines for entering Israel to travel to their assigned locations within the Gaza Strip. “Make a reservation in a hotel in Israel even if you don’t use it.” “Bring Israel guidebooks that look dog eared.” “Give border guards the name of a hostel if you are young enough. This will fool them.” “Do have a good story why you are coming to Israel; make sure you can back it up.” “Do not indicate you are intent on being in the West Bank or Gaza or that you are a Palestinian sympathizer.” “Do not come in large groups or indicate you are coming to join the ISM.” On Page 13, the ISM advises their recruits on “playing the game.” “You are a tourist who stayed at a hotel and did not meet with Palestinians.” Page 14, recruits are warned, “Do not carry any private information about Palestinians you met with.” “Have no personal information about people living under the PA.” “Send yourself an email and wipe your laptop/PDA clean of information.” “Do not carry sensitive information.” Page 28, the ISM manual makes it very clear to recruits, including Corrie, their lives will be endangered, “You should remember you are entering a war zone and it will be impossible to guarantee your safety.”
Page 29, the manual says, “The ISM is constantly reassessing its strategies and tactics. No one is ever pressured to do anything he or she is uncomfortable with.” Page 34 of the manual is the Release Statement of Personal Responsibility agreeing if her conduct “jeopardizes the safety of, or otherwise causes harm to others around me, then I may be asked to withdraw from ISM Activities.” ISM recruit formal training, according the manual, is one or two days of “intensive training and role playing.” Recruits are given advice on topics like media, getting the ISM into press; non-violence training, role playing. The manual advises recruits “Forming an affinity group now will help you stay safe in Palestine by building up trusts and cohesiveness and to understand each other’s needs and limits. You need to plan who will be taking video footage, still pictures, who will be in charge of medical supplies……etc.” Training in Gaza consists of, Page 38, “Non violence training; philosophy, history, strategy, role playing, ( a peace organization in your community can likely provide this),” “media training: role playing, thinking on your feet, powerful sound bites, how to negotiate with reporters and editors, how to write to get into press, etc.,” “Medical and psychological training: Going to a place where American F-16’s and helicopters gun ships are regularly being used to bomb and terrorize people means being prepared to face that terror. There may be a doctor or EMT in your area that is familiar with street medic training or basic emergency functions to know. Also talking with a psychologist before and after you go could be helpful in processing difficult stresses and trauma,” and the advice is given to “try to speak with someone who has been there.” Page 40, recruits are advised to check their health insurance policy to find out how payment is made in case recruits are injured.”
Before leaving their home countries to travel to Gaza, recruits are told to build a Reporters List to phone call or email updated reports to. Recruits are told to practice interviews, coordinate contacts back home to forward email updates on to other media, and “while in Palestine be prepared to get phone calls from media in the United States,” and “be sure to know the email address where you will send your updates and journals to the rest of the group.” Page 41 tells recruits to have a cell phone to keep in touch with ISM leaders, “a must.” (The activists with Corrie at the time of her accident, had “Orange,” a UK cell service, barring them from calling Gaza emergency numbers, delaying the ambulance’s arrival, raising the question if that delay contributed to Corrie’s dying.)
Page 40, recruits are advised, “(8) The types of actions you may be participating in while you are in Palestine are removing roadblocks, painting olive trees, doing a checkpoint watch, attempting to cross roadblocks with Palestinians, staying at a Palestinian house to act as a human shield… and many other inherently dangerous actions. Control and discipline of yourself will help any situation not to escalate into violence. ISM provides training on how to deal with the many situations so as not to escalate into violence. ISM provides training on how to deal with the many situations you may encounter.”
The manual’s 2002 Travel Advice recommends, Page 43, flying on Turkish Air or Swiss Air but not El Al because of increased security, harassment and for “political reasons.” Recruits are told to read the Village Voice to locate a travel agent, “just after the film section.” The author has had “personal success” with “Majestic, tell him Jordan sent you,” White Horse, Gemini and Zaid’s recommendation is unnamed, all phone numbers are posted. “It is also recommended that if you find an Arab-American agent tell them what you are doing and they may even work harder to get you a better deal.” The anonymous author strongly recommended against arriving in Israel’s Ben Gurion airport in a group “unless your reason is airtight.”
frontpagemagazine.com’s Lee Kaplan attended ISM’s “Freedom Summer 2004 training session for volunteers,” after seeing one of the ISM’s many Internet notices for new campaign volunteers. Kaplan wrote ISM’s stated purpose, was “to obstruct Israeli defense forces attempting to protect the civilian population from terrorist acts.”
The ISM summer campaign was named, “Freedom Summer,” to have volunteers relate their mission in Palestine to the American Civil Rights movement. In 1964, Civil Rights activists descended on Southern States including Mississippi, to register blacks in the Deep South to exercise their vote won back in 1870.
The orientation lecture Kaplan attended was held at The New College of San Francisco. Jess Ghannam, an Arab-American psychoanalyst and professor at the University of California Medical School conducted the session. Ghannam, is on the San Francicso ADC’s Board. Kaplan described the intimidation techniques used with participants. Once all participants arrived at a “ratty storefront theater in a rundown area of the city that had a folding grid gate barring the entrance from the public’ on Mission Street in San Francisco, they were padlocked inside. Then, Kaplan writes, Ghannam distorted Middle East history with an anti-Israel/ pro-Palestinian bias.

An ISM veteran, Jamie, a San Francisco City social worker affiliated with “San Francisco’s Jews For A Free Palestine, JFFP,” handed the participants their ISM training manuals, warning recruits the manuals were not to be carried with them when they enter Israel. Kaplan felt the “ADC reader,” as it is titled, appears to be a text for “infiltrators and subversives.”

He wrote it contains “effective” ISM documents on how to disrupt Israeli law enforcement and defense officials. Groups with articles in the manual include the “War Resisters League,” “Act Up,” and “Direct Action.” Mahera, an employee of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee trained the recruits. Mahera is a Palestinian-American woman in her late 20’s. She works in the ADC’s San Francisco office. Hussein Ibish, ADC’s communications director, a frequent guest on talk shows, promotes the ADC as a civil rights organization unaffiliated with Mid East terrorism.

Kaplan’s profiling of the ISM “Freedom Summer” San Francisco orientation participants, is quite telling, providing insight into how recruits like Rachel Corrie may knowingly contribute to their possible dying in the Middle East.

Jamie told Barbara, a Lebanese-American to get a new passport. It had Syria stamped in it. Jamie said the Syria stamp would prevent her from entering Israel. Jamie told Ian from Lake Tahoe and Berkley not to tell Israeli guards he “wanted to help Palestinians.” Jamie told him the goal is to deceive Israeli guards into thinking Ian was a tourist there to help Israel’s affected tourism.” Jamie reportedly said, “The Israeli economy is hurting because the war has killed tourism and we want to take advantage of that.” Christina, an Argentinian student in the US, wanted to help further human rights issues. Christina was worried she would have to go into debt, to do so. Arlene, a 62 year old Jewish activist from Oakland, during role playing, told the pretend Israeli guards she came for her parents funeral. Arlene’s parents are alive. They do not talk to her. Kaplan describes Arlene, suffering incontinence, wanting to relive her Vietnam activist dreams, willing to put sugar in the tanks of Israeli security vehicles or even throw tear gas canisters back at them during riots. Scott supported Israel until he took Mid East courses with Joel Beinin at Stanford University. Beinin, a former president of the Middle East Studies Association, wants to liberate Israel by dismantling the Jewish state. Scott is Jewish. Jeff, a Bay Area environmental activist, was looking forward to “stirring things up.” Ken, a consultant for the US Food and Drug Administration, “sick and tired of “Zionists,” wasn’t afraid to do something about it “even if the CIA is after me.” Nui, part Lebanese and Thai-Chinese felt helping the Palestinians would “find her roots.” Meredith felt helping the Moslem Palestinians asserted her identity as a “queer half-Jewish woman.”

Recruits were told using wheeled duffel bags makes them look touristy, backpacks would facilitate their passing as students. Recruits, reminded the 2000 Intafadah put Israel’s economy into a shambles, were told Israelis are anxious for tourism but not organized as far as security. Recruits were told to rehearse and know their stories, cautioned they would be interrogated coming and going to Israel. Recruits were advised to prepare to explain why they came to Israel despite there being a war going on, with “I thought it was better now,” or “I had my ticket for a long time and my Israeli friends said I should come.” Jewish anti-Israel activists were told to wear their Magen Davids, Stars of David, and to know their Hebrew names. Oakland trainer, Mary Erwin, cautioned Kaplan’s group, “If you use the name of someone in Israel as being the reason for your visit, they will call that person. Make certain you have a story thought out who that person is.” Erwin said ISM has allies from the “Israeli anarchist and communist movements ready to lie to the border guards when called on the phone, available to verify false stories given to the border guards in order to get the ISM volunteers into Israel, offering to provide us with the names and numbers of leftists in Israel who would say they knew us.” Erwin said one such Israeli leftist group working to aid the PLO by providing such witnesses is a group called “B’tselem,” “in God’s image.”

Gush Katif's spokesman, Eran Sternberg publicly vocalized his suspicions of the group. April 1st, April Fool’s Day, B’tselem issued a report focused on, what the organization calls, the "prison of Gaza." Sternberg scoffed at the report’s section addressing the blow to Jewish rights resulting from the disengagement. " Sternberg said, "The strange timing of this report, after it is already too late to change the law, raises a heavy suspicion that the purpose of these left-wing organizations is merely to prove in the future that they did something. We don't really buy their 'concern.' "

The ISM explained alternate entry routes into Israel, giving the advice if turned away from one, go to the other “because they usually don’t know you were turned away from another one first.” They were told once inside Israel to make their way to the West Bank even though going there is illegal. Jamie told volunteers to email their instructions to themselves “so we would not need our manuals.” Kaplan wrote “we were assured the “ISM corps” was working on legal proposals to challenge the Israeli government at every turn if illegal entrants were discovered.” He said the trainer asked people if they are willing to resist if they are caught and knowing they will be deported.” Kaplan wrote the “ISM manual stressed that the volunteers were not in any real danger from Israeli security forces and advised them to inconvenience and disobey them in every way possible.” If arrested, they were told to call the National Lawyer’s Guild experienced in supporting protesters.

Kaplan felt the ISM training session taught from the get-go to deceive border guards and break “the law to enter a democratic country.” His opinion is “everything we were instructed to do in the course of our training while we were in Israel would involve some form of breaking Israeli law.” Like lying by giving names of hotels where they would be at instead of stating they would be with Palestinians. Kaplan felt the ISM goal was “anything to be a nuisance.” “If the soldiers tell you to back up ten feet, step back only five,” anything and everything to interfere with the soldiers trying to do their jobs was our goal. Kaplan said a list of instructions was given on how to deal with possible arrests since we would be doing our best to break the law. “We were told that international demonstrators usually get released quickly by the police once they reach the police station. But if we refused to leave without our Palestinian companion, the police might release him also just to get rid of all of us. Jamie told them, “The soldiers can only detain you. They have to call the border police to arrest you.” “Carry only a photocopy of your passport if they ask to see yours. If they hold it, you have to remain like they tell you. But if it’s a photocopy you can escape while they are busy handling other demonstrators.” The recruits were advised if they were told to leave a designated closed military zone where the IDF is fighting terrorists, demand the soldier’s orders in writing.

Kaplan noted the irony of Jamie’s final advice to them, “be ready for lots of violence,” interesting in light of her talking, he noted, to people going to the Middle East to engage in “nonviolent” activities for peace. Kaplan relayed a story Jamie told them of how 100 “internationals” surrounded six Israeli soldiers at a roadblock set up to prevent suicide bombers from getting into Israel. The soldiers, all young boys and conscripts in the Israeli army, were forced to withdraw after the tried to control the mob until they ran out of non-lethal weapons.

Once under Palestinian Authority in Gaza, recruits were told they would undergo a second two day training in advance of being assigned to “affinity groups” they would team with to disrupt Israeli soldiers in military zones. The recruits were coached what to tell media, if interviewed, “We support the Palestinian right to resist the occupation provided by international law,” or “We call for an immediate end to occupation and immediate compliance and implementation of all relevant UN resolutions.” The recruits were told all ISM matters were confidential. Their activism program included “marching onto an Israeli army base to free captured terrorists and trying to tear down the security fence.”

Brian Malovany, a senior trainer from Oakland said, “there can only be one state called Palestine.” “If people ask you about a two-state solution just tell them it’s a human rights issue.” He told Kaplan and the others, “do not dictate to the Palestinians what they should not do,” “We can’t tell kids not to throw stones!” or “if Palestinians shoot at Israeli soldiers don’t tell them it is wrong to do so.” Kaplan said he was told he might be used as human shields inside houses slated for demolition by the Israeli army because they were used as bomb making factories. Kaplan was taught, “When violence is mentioned, say resistance or resistance to injustice.” “When terrorism is mentioned, emphasize state terrorism.” And, “instead of occupation say military occupation to make people think the occupation is a military dictatorship. Kaplan wrote, “Apparently the ISM doesn’t care what they say as long as they get anyone over there to make trouble and risk their lives for the cause. Now I understood the recruitment of Meredith. To these radicals the strategy is to tie any cause, any idea, any gender, environmental or social issue to the destruction of Israel.”

PART 4 Accounts of Rachel’s Death

Several eyewitness are circulating accounts on the Internet of Corrie’s death. Details of the eyewitness reports, close eyewitness reports and “the closest eye witness account on the murder of Rachel Corrie,” written by Tom Dale, conflict.
Except on one fact, it was a Sunday. March 16th.

Corrie believed Palestinian pharmacist, Dr. Samir Nasrallah’s house was at risk from the IDF bulldozer. Nasrallah, living in the Hai as-Salam neighborhood of the town of Rafah a few hundred yards from the Egyptian border, often hosted pro-Palestinian activists acting as human shields.
Corporatewatch.org reports allegations from SUSTAIN, Stop US Tax-funded Aid to Israel Now, that the “vast majority” of home demolitions are directed against civilians. One website said demolitions occur with as little as 24 hours notice, generally for homes built without permits. Gaza residents are charged, by the Palestinian Authority formerly run by Yasser Arafat, upwards of $20,000 for permits, with the application processing taking as long as five years. Arafat died under a cloud of suspicion over billions of unaccounted for dollars.
An International Solidarity Movement activist is said to have telephoned Rachel, on her cell phone, to tell her, "The Israelis are back," "I think they're heading for Dr. Samir's house."
Abu Ahmed, a neighbor of Nasrallah’s, recalls seeing Corrie racing past him, a megaphone in one hand, an orange fluorescent jacket in the other. Ahmed urged her to, "Come inside and have some tea.” Corrie told him she didn't have time. He watched as she disappeared around the corner of his house “heading toward the roar of machinery.” There, Corrie placed herself in the path of an Israeli bulldozer she believed was about to crush Nasrallah’s house. Her friend, Hewitt, wrote, “it does not surprise me that she would give her life to defend this family’s home and possessions.” “She especially liked his wife and children, and truly thought of them as family. She slept in his house many nights.”
Nasrallah posted his eyewitness account to the internet. He wrote, “I could see her clearly when the bulldozer had nearly reached her. It hurled a pile of sand at her, and she lost her balance and fell. That is when I lost sight of her. She was no more than 10 meters from me.” Ten meters is almost eleven yards.
Three days after Rachel died, four of seven ISM activists present at the accident posted, to the Internet, their recollections of the incident. Americans Tom Dale and Joe Smith, Brits Greg Schnabel and Richard Purssell, wrote “American peace activist Rachel Corrie was murdered by an Israeli bulldozer driver on 16 March 2003 while attempting to defend a Palestinian doctor's home from demolition. Greg and Richard's accounts are more formal; Tom and Joe's are excerpted from e-mails to friends and families.
Joshua Hammer wrote Tom Dale told him, "The bulldozer built up earth in front of it. Its blade was slightly dug into the earth. She began to stand up. The earth was pushed over her feet. 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. I think she would have been between the treads. The whole incident took place in about six or seven seconds."
An anonymous individual identifying himself only as an activist, posted to the internet, he was 10 meters away from Rachel when she died. “We'd been monitoring and occasionally obstructing the 2 bulldozers for about 2 hours when 1 of them turned toward a house we knew to be threatened with demolition. Rachel knelt down in its way. She was 10-20 meters in front of the bulldozer.” “The bulldozer drove toward Rachel slowly, gathering earth in its scoop as it went. She knelt there, she did not move. The bulldozer reached her and she began to stand up, climbing onto the mound of earth. She appeared to be looking into the cockpit. The bulldozer continued to push Rachel, so she slipped down the mound of earth, turning as she went. Her faced showed she was panicking and it was clear she was in danger of being overwhelmed. All the activists were screaming at the bulldozer to stop and gesturing to the crew about Rachel's presence.”
Joe, an ISM activist from Kansas City, Missouri, wrote in his account, he noticed between 1:00 and 1:30pm, two Israeli Army bulldozers and one tank demolishing “farmland and other already damaged structures” near the border.” 3 activists went up onto the roof of one home, and then called for others to come.” Joe admits, though his account is greatly detailed, he was not there to witness the Corrie’s death. He was just repeating what he was told, information supporting the activists knew they were in physical danger, yet persisted toying with the machines, admitting the drivers were unaware of the dangers the activists were submitting themselves to. “Between 13:30 and 14:00, I arrived. We began to disrupt the work of the bulldozers . At this point, Rachel and the two other activists joined us.” “Between 14:00 and 15:00, Rachel and two other activists began interfering with the other bulldozer, which was attempting to destroy grass and other plants on what used to be farmland. They stood and sat in its path, and though it would drive very close to them, and even move the earth on which they were sitting, it always stopped in time to avoid injuring them.” “Between 15:00 and 16:00, one bulldozer pushed Will, an American activist, up against a pile of barbed wire. Fortunately, the bulldozer stopped and withdrew just in time to avoid injuring him seriously, but we had to dig him out of the rubble, and unhook his clothing from the wire. The tank approached to see if he was ok. One soldier stuck his head out of the tank to see and he looked quite shocked and dumbfounded but said nothing.”
"Between 16:45 and 17:00, One bulldozer, serial number 949623, began to work near the house of a physician who is a friend of ours . Rachel sat down in the pathway of the bulldozer. It continued driving forward, heading straight for Rachel. 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. She got so high onto it that she was at eye-level with the cab of the bulldozer. Despite this, he continued forward, which pulled her legs into the pile of rubble, and pulled her down out of view of the driver . We ran towards him, and waved our arms and shouted, one activist with the megaphone. But he continued forward, until Rachel was underneath the central section of the bulldozer . Despite the obviousness of her position, the bulldozer began to reverse, without lifting its blade, and drug the blade over her body again. He continued to reverse until he was on the boarder strip, about 100 meters away, and left her crushed body in the sand. Three activists ran to her and began administering first-responder medical treatment . She said, "My back is broken!"
Starhawk from Nabulus provides insight into how the obstructionists abuse their privilege of American citizenship after entering a zone the US government offers travel advisories against entering. Starhawk wrote, “I don't expect much of a reaction from the United States Government. The D9 bulldozer that killed her was designed and built by Caterpillar, and American-based Multinational Corporation.” “The U.S. embassy knew that we were being threatened, but took no action. I suspect that the reaction will be similar in the future, but hopefully they will at least make an effort to tell the Israelis that we are indeed U.S. citizens, and that they should try to guarantee our safety, as we attempt to guarantee the safety of Palestinians. I imagine that the U.S. Government will speak regrettably about the incident, but will try and defend Israel, and conclude that it was a tragic accident caused by reckless and irresponsible youths. Supposedly there is an investigation underway, but no investigator has contacted us, or been to visit the sight, which has been severely desecrated and destroyed by the Israeli Army. The destruction of evidence is a blatant sign of guilt.”
Corrie’s college acquaintance recalled, “we were split into two groups, one working as human shields for water workers at the Canada water well in Tele Sultan and the other doing the same for electricity workers in Hay Salaam.” He wrote “13:00-13:30: The military machinery, two Israeli Army bulldozers and one tank,” was severely threatening nearby homes, so the 3 activists went up onto the roof of began to disrupt the work of the bulldozers. We moved slowly at first, just standing near to their work, and then sat and stood on a partially built house that looked threatened. One bulldozer began to damage part of the structure on which we were standing, so a Scottish activist began standing and sitting on the edge of the structure, and made it impossible for the bulldozer to work without injuring him. At this point, Rachel and the two other activists joined us from the well, with a banner and a megaphone. Rachel and a British activist were wearing jackets that were fluorescent orange and had reflective stripping.”

“14:00-15:00: Our press office informed the British and American embassies that Israeli Army bulldozers were behaving aggressively, and were endangering the lives of British and American citizens, but they took no action.” He continues, “The bulldozer continued to try and further damage the structure and we continued to get in its way. At one point, a concrete pillar almost fell on the Scottish activist, but he moved just in time. We were worried that the two houses behind this structure would be targeted, so we placed one activist on the roof of each house. I went onto the roof of the house closest to the structure. Rachel and two other activists began interfering with the other bulldozer, which was attempting to destroy grass and other plants on what used to be farmland. They stood and sat in its path, and though it would drive very close to them, and even move the earth on which they were sitting, it always stopped in time to avoid injuring them.” “After about 10 minutes, both bulldozers gave up on their work and withdrew to the border, and parked to face the houses, one on each side of the tank. I stayed on the roof, as the rest of the activists gathered to face the military machinery, and held an "International Solidarity Movement" banner, while Rachel shouted at them with a megaphone.” “They fired a few warning shots at the ground, and then fired a teargas canister. The wind blew the gas east of us, and never came close to a single activist. After a few more minutes of this face off, the bulldozers began driving east together on the boarder strip, and we thought they might have given up. Just in case, five of the activists walked on the Palestinian land, and followed the bulldozers. The other activist and I came down out of our houses. He joined the others, and I joined Rachel who had stayed with the tank in order to speak to the soldiers over the megaphone. They requested that she approach the tank, but she refused due their rude and aggressive behavior.” He describes on bulldozer driver posing for a photo for the activists. Then at “16:45-17:00, One bulldozer, serial number 949623, began to work near the house of a physician who is a friend of ours, and in whose house Rachel and other activists often stayed. While we occupied the other structures directly west (the closest was less than 5 meters away and the furthest was less than 25 meters away), Rachel sat down in the pathway of the bulldozer. I was elevated about 2 meters above the ground, and had a clear view of the action happening about 20 meters away. Still wearing her fluorescent jacket, she sat 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. The bulldozer continued driving forward headed straight for Rachel. 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. She got so high onto it that she was at eye-level with the cab of the bulldozer.”

“Rachel’s legs were pulled into the pile of rubble, down out of view of the driver. Fellow activists ran towards the bulldozer, waving their arms, shouting, one activist with through the megaphone. But the bulldozer driver continued forward, until Rachel was underneath the central section of the bulldozer… then the bulldozer began to reverse, without lifting its blade, and drug the blade over her body again. He continued to reverse until he was on the border strip, about 100 meters away, and left her crushed body in the sand.” He said “three activists ran to her and began administering first-responder medical treatment. Her body was in a mangled position, her face was very bloody, and her skin was turning blue. She said, "My back is broken," but nothing else. The three activists took care to keep her neck straight, and turned her to her side in case of vomit or blood from the mouth. She was showing signs of brain hemorrhaging (I found out later from the British medical activist) so they elevated her head in order to allow it to drain blood, as this injury was more serious than her spinal injury. They continued to talk to her in attempts to keep her conscious.” “One activist ran to the doctor's house less than 5 meters away to ask for his help and to call an ambulance. I also called a Palestinian friend and asked him to call an ambulance, as our Orange network phones cannot dial the emergency number. An activist used the megaphone to inform the soldiers that a Palestinian ambulance was on the way, and demanded that they not shoot at the paramedics.” The doctor came out of his house. The activist wrote, “the doctor suggested that we move her, but it was clear that we could not. He used cotton swabs to dab some of the blood coming from her face.” “17:00-17:15, the ambulance arrived.” “While the paramedics loaded her onto a stretcher, one activist suggested that I get a good picture that clearly showed the serial number of the bulldozer responsible. I walked all the way out to the border strip, passed the tank, and began photographing the bulldozer… By the time I'd finished, the paramedics were carrying Rachel on a stretcher to the ambulance. She was still breathing at this point, and her eyes were open, but she was clearly in a great deal of pain. Four activists piled into the ambulance with Rachel and the paramedics and were rushed to Al Negar Hospital. She was brought directly to the emergency room, and was in there when I arrived in a taxi.” “17:20, she was pronounced dead and was wheeled out of the emergency room with a white sheet covering her head.” “It was so unreal.” He was in complete shock.

Before the media machine kicked in, he noted, “It had all happened so fast.” Then, he recalled “being on international TV as he was being comforted.”
March 17th, Dr. Lim ibn-Kateb posted alleged transcripts of a conversation between himself, the ISM representative, and the US Consulate regarding ISM activists in Rafah. Kateb says 7 activists left ISM Rafah headquarters for “Block O,” as soon as they received word there may be demolitions. The activists were 3 US, 3 UK and 1 Dutch. Kateb wrote the activists saw a row of six houses being systematically bulldozed by two Israeli military bulldozers guarded by a tank. The activists, unable to approach the bulldozers directly because of landmines, found an alternative route bypassing the minefield. Despite warnings shot into the ground in front of them, the activists, continuing to advance, announced through their megaphones they were unarmed international peace activists. Kateb wrote “the activists refused to submit to their intimidation and continued their approach.”

Kateb wrote the activists called him at the ISM media office as soon as they came under fire, “to alert me to the danger they were under.” “I immediately made an emergency call to the US consulate in Tel Aviv to inform them what was happening and request that they alert the headquarters of the Israeli occupying forces in the Gaza Strip that there were international peace activists, including 3 Americans, in Rafah Town that were coming under fire from Israeli troops and ask them to please exercise restraint.” Kateb explains a telephone call to the human shield’s Embassy is standard ISM procedure in such circumstances. Withdrawing the activists from a dangerous area for their own safety is not standard procedure.

The US Embassy receptionist Kateb refers to as a “diplomat” said she did not have anyone she could contact in the Army. According to Kateb, the receptionist said no one was available because it was the Sabbath. Shedding suspicion on the truth of Kateb’s posting is that March 16th is a Sunday. Rachel Corrie died on Sunday. The Embassy was open. March 15th was the Shabbat. Kateb, according to his transcripts, would not tell the receptionist the obstructionists were interfering with IDF activity in the Gaza Strip. He posted, Diplomat: “What are they doing in the area?” ISM: “They're trying to stop house... Can I speak to the consul please?” Kateb was transferred to an Ingrid Barzel. Kateb wrote told Barzel his call was “an emergency call about a group of International Peace Activists in Rafah Town that are being fired upon by Israeli troops. I'm phoning you because I want you to get in contact with the Army and advise them that there are American nationals in the area and ask them to please exercise restraint.” Barzel told him, “Please advise your people there to leave the area.” Kateb argued back, “Look they're in the area and they don't intend to go anywhere. They're trying to stop houses being demolished by military bulldozers.” Barzel said, “We have a travel advisory against traveling to the Gaza Strip and if these people are there, they are there illegally.” Kateb editorialized in his transcript, “This is untrue to enter the Gaza Strip one has to have a special authorization stamp in one's passport and all the Rafah activists have one,” raising curiosity as to how the activists got the special stamp. Kateb asked Barzel, What if one of them gets killed? Will you hide behind your excuses then?“ Barzel clarified, “They're not excuses. It's State Department procedure endorsed by the Secretary of State.” Kateb, represented as the spokesman for the ISM, challenged Barzel, “So what you're saying is you take no responsibility for the welfare of your nationals dong peace work in the Gaza Strip even if this means one of them gets killed because of your inaction?” Ingrid Barzel answered him, “We do not accept any responsibility for anyone who ignores our travel advisories and illegally enters the Gaza Strip.”
Bloggers used the young woman’s death to criticize Israel. Pro-Palestine supporters incorporated, with literary license, ISM all too similar accounts, into postings.
Laurie King-Irani, an anthropology teacher in Victoria BC, co-founder of Electronic Intifada, is the coordinator of the International Campaign for Justice for the Victims of Sabra and Shatila. King-Irani, an Internet activist, embellished the ISM accounting of Corrie’s accident, “Crushed into the earth, her face torn and her head fractured, Rachel spoke her last words to her devastated friends: "I think my back is broken."

It is King-Irani that presents a statement, as fact that the ISM filmed the incident, Corrie’s family state Representative is waiting to receive. Corrie was “the victim of a murder committed in broad daylight, and captured, in part, on camera by ISM activists.” “Picture taken at 4:47PM on 16 March 2003, Rafah, Occupied Gaza. Rachel Corrie lies on the ground fatally injured by the Israeli bulldozer driver. Rachel's fellow activists have dug her a little out of the sand and are trying to keep her neck straight due to spinal injury. Photo by Joseph Smith (ISM Handout.)” Joe’s priority did not appear to be his obstructionist colleague. Judy Balint, in her “Jerusalem Diaries,” detailed her investigation into Smith’s photos of the accident.

King-Irani continued, “Even as the bulldozer approached, crumpling the earth into a swelling mound of dirt and rocks and lifting her off the ground, Rachel kept standing up and looking forward into the tinted glass window shielding the bulldozer driver from contact with the human being he was about to kill. Rachel slipped under the bulldozer, which then backed up and ran over her.” King-Irani, it should be noted, is currently designing an interdisciplinary research project on the political, social, and cultural repercussions of the absence of truth and justice commissions.

Corrie’s hometown paper wrote, “On Sunday, the armored, super-sized bulldozer, called a D-9, did not stop. It inched forward, lurched and caused the ground to give way, causing Corrie to fall into the path and underneath the vehicle. The bulldozer, witnesses said, moved forward and then backward over Corrie's body. Her head and chest were crushed.” Rachel’s autopsy was peformed at Tel Aviv’s National Center of Forensic Medicine.

BIO: Carrie Devorah is an investigative photo journalist. “The day I met Elizabeth Corrie, we connected on a level few can.” “No one ever could have predicted to her that she would be standing one day next to a woman, technically representing the other side. But when it all comes down to it, there is no side when it comes to death and mourning. Just eternal sadness.” “And that we shared.” We talked about loss. Wanting that last phone call, wanting just to be held one more time by our loved one, so close, we could carry, in the least, a memory of their essence with us as we walk forward.” “What struck me was the honesty of Elizabeth in wanting to do something, undefined, call the “right thing.” “Our talking- comfortably, openly, publicly with tears, was a good start.”

RACHEL CORRIE and THE CATERPILLAR (III)
SECTION C
PART 5 The Caterpillar Question
Corrie’s family says a bulldozer and a bulldozer driver murdered Rachel, March 16, 2003. They do not address that Corrie died in the Gaza Strip trying to influence, with only a megaphone and her body, an IDF driven 60 ton Caterpillar D-9, to cease in its work. The IDF says they were clearing debris and shrubbery to expose landmines planted in the no-man’s land separating Rafah, a rocket distance away from Gush Katif.
The Israeli army’s investigation, led by the chief of the general staff of the IDF, found Israeli forces not guilty of any misconduct. Israeli army spokesman, Capt. Jacob Dallal, said Corrie's death was a "regrettable accident." He said Corrie and the ISM activists, "a group of protesters were acting very irresponsibly, putting everyone in danger — the Palestinians, themselves and our forces- by intentionally placing themselves in a combat zone.”
Dooby, the bulldozer operator, an army reservist from Russia, explained to Newsweek’s Jerusalem bureau chief Joshua Hammer, the impossibility of communicating from the inside the cabin of a 60 ton bulldozer. Armoured bulldozers have limited visibility with several blind spots often requiring soldiers to assist in directing bulldozer drivers. The driver sits in the Caterpillar cab, 6’ above the ground. “Dooby said his field of vision was limited inside the D9 as supported with an IDF produced video taken from inside the cockpit. There is engine noise, thick plates of glass. Though Hammer did not screen the video, he did view Dooby’s interview broadcast on Israeli television. Hammer said the footage makes a "credible case,” showing how " operators are peering out through narrow, double-glazed, bulletproof windows with their view obscured behind pistons. Dooby had no idea Corrie was in front of the machine. He could not see Corrie kneeling in front of the house. Corrie was in the driver’s “blind spot.” “The Jerusalem Post” reported "the driver at no point saw or heard Corrie. She was standing behind debris which obstructed the view of the driver and the driver had a very limited field of vision due to the protective cage he was working in." "You can't hear, you can't see well," he told Israeli TV. "You can go over something and you'll never know." “I pushed the earth, and I didn't see her at all.” Corrie's friends argue the driver must have been able to see her because she was wearing a fluorescent orange jacket. Others speculate, the driver failed to see her or expected her to jump out of the way. Nor could he have known, she believed the house was going to be demolished.
The British newspaper “The Guardian” excerpted the army's report. It said Corrie was "struck as she stood behind a mound of earth created by an engineering vehicle operating in the area and she was hidden from the view of the vehicle's operator who continued with his work. Corrie was struck by dirt and a slab of concrete resulting in her death." The report continues, "the finding of the operational investigations shows that Rachel Corrie was not run over by an engineering vehicle.”
Rachel’s friend, Colin Reese, confirmed Corrie knew the danger of Caterpillars. An e-mail Rachel sent described an army bulldozer lurching toward protesters, “even using the front of the machine to push the activists aside. She seemed acutely aware of the danger involved in the tactic,” he wrote.

April 2005, shortly after stockholders in Caterpillar, the world’s Number 1 maker of earth-moving equipment, voted to ignore activist requests to exclude Israel from Caterpillar’s Middle East clientele, the heavy equipment manufacturer posted record first quarter profits, boosting the companies estimates for the year and outpacing Wall Street’s expectations. The Peoria-based manufacturer reported their net income rose from $412 million to $581 million, up 38%. Their sales for the quarter ending March 31, $8.34 billion, was up 29% from $6.47 billion a year ago, eclipsing estimates of $7.3 billion in sales. Thomson financial analysts predict a profit of $1.36 a Caterpillar share. Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Jim Owens told AP, “These record results are further evidence of the strength of man global markets we serve and of our ability to successfully meet this continuing strong market demand.

Pro-Palestinian lobbyists pushed Owens and Caterpillar to stop selling equipment to Israel, arguing Caterpillar equipment was being used to effect human rights abuses against people in Gaza. Stand With Us, a Los Angeles based pro-Israel college youth group was present at the stockholders meeting to counter pro-Palestinian arguments presented. Corrie’s accidental death provided pro-Palestinian activists a forum in which to exploit debate seeking Caterpillar boycotts against Israel. The security clearance zone around the border, Israeli tanks and bulldozers had been clearing, north of the Palestinian town Khan Younis where the coastal road abruptly ended is beachfront land belonging to Gush Katif, one of the Jewish communities in Gaza, slated for evacuation.

Susan Goodman, senior project director at Common Cause says money, she describes as organized money, is a good tool in terms of effecting change in corporate behavior. Pro-Palestinian activists failed, two years in a row, to outrage Caterpillar shareholders into demanding the profitable corporation change its policy in dealing with Israel. Forcing regulation does not come cheap. While numbers are not available on how much the pro-Palestinian activists spent for the right to speak up and influence Caterpillar corporate policy, a frame of comparison is PETA. Jeffrey Macdonald of the Christian Science Monitor wrote PETA, already a stock owner in 10 companies with animal policies PETA objects to, invested another $90,000 in order to buy stock in 30 more companies.

PART 6 After Rachel Died

Craig and Cindy Corrie spoke out after Rachel died. They said Rachel “reported to us her Palestinian friends were afraid that with all eyes on Iraq, the Israeli Defense Forces would escalate activity in the Occupied Territories. Rachel wanted to be in Gaza if that happened.” While addressing matters of their heart, the loss of their daughter, it appears they may have overlooked that matters of Israeli law and regulation, as stated in the US State Department Travel Advisory may have been compromised. There is one thing to be assured of, ignorance of the law is not an excuse. It is one’s job to know the law and follow it, not circumvent it as it seems the ISM coaches recruits to do.
The Corrie’s statement provides Joshua Hammer, who asked why Rachel died in Gaza, insight. Rachel appears, from what her parents stated, to be a product of familiar family politics along with exposure to bias. “We are comforted and heartened by the compassionate expressions of love that we have received from both Palestinian and Israeli people.” The Israelis the ISM would introduce the Corries to appear to be left-wing supporters, such as B’tselem. The Corries further said, ”We are greatly concerned for the non-violent internationals volunteering in the Occupied Territories. We ask that members of Congress call upon the Israeli government to cease harassment of these individuals and, specifically, to cease firing upon them when they are engaged in protecting the Palestinian water supply, protecting Palestinian homes from illegal demolitions, and retrieving bodies of murdered Palestinians for return to their families – all events Rachel witnessed.” They demanded that “the American Embassy in Tel Aviv, when called upon for assistance, provide all reasonable support to non-violent, American volunteers in the Occupied Territories, as well as support to other internationals as appropriate.” “We are asking members of Congress to bring the U.S. government’s attention back to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and to recognize that the occupation of the Palestinian territories is an overwhelming and continuous act of collective violence against the Palestinian people. We ask that military aid to Israel be commensurate with its efforts to end its occupation of the Palestinian Territories and to adhere to the rules of international law.”
Nine days after Rachel died, Washington State’s Third Congressional District Representative Brian Baird held a press conference at the Canon Building off First Street. Baird announced he introduced into the US Congress Resolution 111. With Resolution 111, Baird said, he is seeking “a full, fair and expeditious investigation” into Rachel Corrie’s death.
The day of the Steroids hearing in Washington DC, Elizabeth Corrie, Rachel’s aunt, was carrying papers for distribution. She cherry picked through the sheaves of documents she held, selecting the following to give me; (1) pages 5-8, unsigned, entitled, “Legal Opinion Regarding the Military Police Investigating File Concerning the Death of US Citizen Rachel Elaine Corrie in Rafah,” (2) “excerpt,” and (3)“Conclusions.” The papers appear to have been from “LTC, Military Advocate, Southern Command.” The fax is marked sent from Kinko’s, 10//7/03. A 360 area code can be discerned. The fax is dated 01-SEP-2003, from 6344019 to 93555. There are no other identifying marks. Pages 1-4 are missing, raising question as to why those pages not included in the packet being presented to legislators, media and others such as do the missing pages give insight into the where, when and why of the day Rachel Corrie died? Do the missing pages damage the Corrie’s case for the amendment they are seeking to references of Rachel in the pages of the 2004 Human Rights Abuse reports they are objecting to.
June 2004, US Department of State Chief of Staff, Lawrence Wilkerson, adressed the Corries correspondences to him. Lawrence Wilkerson wrote that he reviewed the Corrie’s correspondences to and from Senators Grassley and Harkin and to Assistant Secretary Paul Kelly seeking to have the FBI conduct an investigation into the death of their daughter. Wilkerson advised them the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice is “unable to find a US criminal statue with which to proceed with a US investigation or prosecution. Wilkerson wrote he felt the Israeli government is unlikely to agree to an FBI investigation into Rachel’s death. Wilkerson addressed the second investigation, following that of the IDF. He said while it made remedial recommendations to ensure the likelihood of similar occurrences, “it did not find negligence on behalf of the IDF or the bulldozer crew.” Wilkerson, addressing the Corrie’s demand for release of more information than was published in the IDF report, clarified Israeli Military General protocol for investigations is no different than that of the US Military. He wrote, ”the US military not release recommendatory or similar non-factual portions of its investigations into civilian deaths caused by actions of US military personnel,” “for legal and privacy concerns.” Wilkerson advised the Corries to follow up on a State Department list of lawyers they might consider to pursue this matter in the Israeli courts. The Corries denied receiving the list. Wilkerson wrote back, “check with your son Chris, and you know that in fact we did provide him with such a list on April 16, 2004.”
This letter was then circulated by Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, , to then US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Senators Lugar, Biden, Representatives Gallegly, Baird, Leach and the Corries, along with a recommendation to alter the 2003 Human Rights Reports. The Corrie family was expressing concern regarding references to their Rachel.
They communicated their mission to the NEA and Congressman Leach. The Corries object to language in the following paragraph, “On March 16, an Israeli bulldozer clearing land in Rafah in the Gaza Strip crushed and killed Rachel Corrie, 23, a US Citizen peace activist. Corrie was standing in front of the bulldozer and was wearing a reflective vest. Eyewitness demonstrators stated that they believe the driver knew Rachel was in front of the bulldozer as he proceeded forward. The IDF conducted two investigations into the case including a polygraph of the operator and found no negligence on the part of the operator. The operator knew that there were demonstrators in the area but claimed he did not see Corrie at the time she was struck. However the report of the IDF Judge Advocate General recommended several remedial measures including remedying blind spots from the cabs of armored bulldozers for improved safety during future operations. “
Corrie said “our family is concerned with the content of the paragraph and finds that it does not accurately represent the US Department of State’s own conclusions regarding Rachel’s case. We officially request the following changes be made…” (1) They want the line changed to read the driver “knew” not “believed” Carrie was in front of him. The Corries want the addition of “A report of the IDF Judge Advocate General stated the operator knew that there were demonstrators in the area but claimed he did not see Corrie at the time she was struck…along with others. (2) The Corries want Rachel’s case in relation to definition of Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of life stating “(E) Rachel was a civilian noncombatant. Her killing, therefore, does not fall under the combatant death exemption described in the definition.” Their demand letter was copied to Senators Cantwell, Murray, Grassley, Harkin, Baird, Leach.
Roget’s New Millenium Thesaurus, provides the following definition for non-combatant. It says, “a civilian in wartime, especially one in a war zone; impartial; neutral.” Synonyms for non combatant are, “aloof, bystanding, calm, clinical, collected, cool, detached, disengaged, disinterested, dispassionate, easy, even-handed, fair-minded, impersonal, inactive, indifferent, inert, nonaligned, nonbelligerent, nonchalant, noncommittal, noncommittal, nonparticipating, nonpartisan, on sidelines, pacifistic, poker-faced, relaxed, unaligned, unbiased, uncommitted, unconcerned, undecided, uninvolved, unprejudiced.”
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English language defines combatant as “One, such as a person or a combat vehicle, that takes part in armed strife.” Princeton University’s Wordnet defines combatant as “someone who fights; engaging in or ready for combat. Synonyms- battler, belligerent, fighter, scrapper.”
The Corries expanded their objections, relating to their daughter, to the 2004 Human Rights Report Statements. The Corries feel with the report referencing to “people involved in the accident,” the Department of State then endorses the conclusion of the Israeli report. The Corries also objected to the 2004 Human Rights Report stating thee Israeli bulldozer, as testified by the bulldozer’s driver and the IDF, was “clearing land in Rafah in the Gaza Strip.”
An unsigned page in the packet the Corries are circulating says, (1) Rachel Corrie a US civilian was killed on the Philadelphi Route in Rafah, March 16, 2003. The IDF Military Police investigation began the following day. (2) The Philadelphi Route extends east of the boundary with Egypt, “defining in the Oslo Accords as the “Military Installations Area” over which Israel has complete civil and security control.” “Data gathered shows that the area is used as a main route for smuggling weapons and terrorists in and out of Gaza Strip. The volume of terrorist activity and attempts to harm IDF forces in this area is of the highest in the Territories, compared to its size.” (3) “The aim of clearing the ground in the area is to deny terrorists intending to attack the forces traveling along the Route and in the vicinity, potential hideouts and to uncover explosive charges.”(7) “Close to 17:00, the deceased Rachel Elaine Corrie began approaching the southern bulldozer working in the area.” “…According to statements made by the deceased friends Richard, Thomas, Nicholas and Joseph, the deceased sat or kneeled down evidently believing the bulldozer would stop upon reaching her…When the dirt mount reached the place where the deceased was sitting, she began climbing atop it, finding it difficult to maintain her balance. During her ascent off the mound, before reaching its tip, the deceased decided to climb back down off the dirt pile. She turned in the opposite direction but as described by her friends, her leg got caught on something and she fell down