MEDIA ADVISORY

May 22 to be Final Court Hearing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 17, 2011

(Haifa, Israel) – Former IDF Spokesperson Brigadier General Ruth Yaron and former Southern Brigade Commander, Colonel Pinhas (Pinky) Zuaretz are both scheduled to testify on May 22 in what is anticipated to be the final hearing in the Corrie family’s civil lawsuit against the State of Israel.

The lawsuit, filed in 2005 by Attorney Hussein abu Hussein, charges the Israeli government and Ministry of Defense with responsibility for killing American peace activist Rachel Corrie in Rafah, Gaza in 2003. Since the trial opened in March 2010, nearly 2000 pages of court transcripts have been recorded, from more than 20 testimonies, including that of 14 military personnel. Most government witnesses were identified only by their initials, and nearly half testified while hidden behind a screen.

Download this media advisory: العربية (pdf, 627.86 kB), English (pdf, 553.73 kB), עִבְרִית (pdf, 593.42 kB)

Brigadier General Yaron served as the Israeli Military’s spokesperson from 2002-2005. Her testimony will focus on the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), an organization committed to opposing the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands using non-violent methods. Rachel was protesting against civilian home demolitions, as part of ISM, when she was run over and killed by an Israeli military D9R bulldozer.

MEDIA ADVISORY

Court Canceled April 27 – Witness Now Slated to Testify on Original May 22 Date

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2011

(Haifa, Israel) – In another round of last minute maneuvering, attorneys for the State in Corrie vs. State of Israel requested that testimony from their highest-ranking witness be postponed. Former Brigade Commander Colonel Pinhas (Pinky) Zuaretz, who was scheduled to testify on April 27, will not testify until May 22.

The witness was originally scheduled to testify on May 22, but on April 17, just before the court recessed for Israel’s Passover holiday, the State filed an emergency request to move Zuaretz’s testimony forward by nearly a month. Haifa District Court Judge Oded Gershon granted the government motion, without hearing from the Corrie family’s lawyers, citing availability of the witness as the main factor in his ruling.

Only after the court granted this request did the State provide Corrie family lawyers with Zuaretz’s five-page witness affidavit, though the document was signed nearly three weeks earlier.

Attorney Hussein Abu Hussein, who represents the Corrie family, opposed the State’s April 17 request and filed motion for reconsideration, citing due process violations. He indicated there was inadequate time to prepare for the witness given the expanded scope of the newly acquired affidavit and the delay in receiving it. The court denied his motion and granted the State’s request for the hearing to occur Wednesday, April 27.

MEDIA ADVISORY

Brigade Commander’s appearance is moved forward nearly one month.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20, 2011

(Haifa, Israel) – In a breaking development, an Israeli court has granted the State’s request to move the testimony of former Brigade Commander Pinhas (Pinky) Zuaretz to next week, Wednesday, April 27, nearly one month prior to his originally scheduled appearance. A 5-page affidavit for the witness was only issued by the State on Sunday. Attorney Hussein Abu Hussein who represents the Corrie family initially opposed the State request and filed motion for reconsideration citing due process violations.

Download this media advisory: العربية (pdf, 579.93 kB), English (pdf, 552.09 kB), עִבְרִית (pdf, 586.19 kB)

Colonel Zuaretz was the commanding officer of the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade in 2003, when American peace activist Rachel Corrie was killed. Troops under Zuaretz command were responsible for the military’s actions resulting in Rachel’s killing in Rafah, Gaza that day. Zuaretz is the highest ranking officer called as a government witness in the civil trial, and possibly, the highest ranking Israeli military officer ever to face cross examination in a civil suit regarding the actions of the Israeli military against civilians in Gaza during the second intifada. His testimony is expected to shed light on the Israeli military’s failures as an occupying power to protect civilian life and property in the region.

WHO:
Oral testimony and cross examination of former Israeli Military Southern Brigade Commander, Colonel Pinhas (Pinky) Zuaretz, by plaintiffs’ attorney Hussein abu Hussein.

By Cindy and Craig Corrie

(Haifa, Israel) - Word of the murder of Juliano Mer-Khamis, founder of the Jenin Freedom Theatre, spread quickly through the internet, through activist circles, and through Haifa – this Mediterranean city in northern Israel where we are staying for the trial in our daughter’s case, and where Mer-Khamis sometimes lived. As we departed Massada Street that evening, friends hailed us from a cafe owned by one of Juliano’s comrades. They had come to join others who needed the comfort of fellow mourners that night. Juliano’s intense, determined, handsome face (projected in photos hung in each of the cafe’s several windows) confronted those who passed by on the narrow sidewalk and street outside. Some stopped before the cluster of burning votive candles that filled a table below one of the portraits, and bent over them to light more. A week later, black stenciled portraits of Juliano and the words “Arna’s son” have appeared on exterior walls throughout the city.

Our family has entered a bit into the mourning. It is another terrible, senseless loss – one that strikes at the hearts of peace-with-justice-seeking-communities throughout Israel, in Palestine, and beyond. We hear that Juliano (“Jules” to some of our friends who knew him best) was a larger than life figure whose presence dominated any setting. Contrary to what occasional critics charge about his allegiances, he is reported to have told Israeli radio, “I am 100% Palestinian and 100% Jewish.” It was this bridge he provided, as well as his passion and courage that seem to have engaged and inspired many others. It is, also, all that he and his mother, Arna Mer, stood for and acted upon – opposition to the occupation, freedom for Palestinians, coexistence, and the freeing of spirits and minds through creative work.

By Emily Weisberg / Palestine Monitor

Abedalhadi Basheer, a student from Gaza, at Peace Works 2011. Photo: Emily Weisberg

Dozens of writers, activists, students, filmmakers and human rights organizers came to Olympia, Washington USA over the weekend of April 8-9 for the 5th annual Peace Works conference, organized by the Rachel Corrie Foundation.

The Rachel Corrie Foundation, began in 2003 following the killing of 23-year-old Rachel by an Israeli bulldozer in Rafah, seeks to continue her legacy through community building and the promotion of human rights activism. Created by Rachel’s parents Cindy and Craig, the foundation began the Peace Works conference in 2006 to “bring people together to address issues of war, racism, economic inequality, environmental degradation, and oppression of individuals, groups, and peoples.”

The conference was held at the Evergreen State College, which Corrie attended before her death. Workshops and lectures were offered on a variety of current Palestine-Israel issues including water rights, diminishing borders, displaced villages, the recent onslaught of racist laws, home demolitions, ethnic cleansing, class struggles, colonization, trivialization of memory, and the success and challenges in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

The conference featured writer and poet Alice Walker on Friday evening, a sold-out event during which Walker discussed her own trip to Gaza with the Corries in 2009.