Ben Lynfield, The Scotsman

It was one of the more dramatic events in the second intifada uprising. And now it is coming back to haunt an Israeli general who believed he was above the law – or perhaps was the law.

American Rachel Corrie, 23, was fatally wounded when an Israeli D-9 military bulldozer buried her under sandy soil near the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt, according to fellow volunteers with the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement, who were with her. She died of her injuries after being evacuated by ambulance.

Ms Corrie, wearing a fluorescent orange jacket and carrying a megaphone, was among a group of ISM volunteers that over a period of three hours sought to block two army bulldozers from demolishing Palestinian homes.

In death, Ms Corrie, from Olympia, Washington, became a symbol of idealism and self-sacrifice to many and an embarrassment to Israel.

Her parents have left no stone unturned to unearth what really happened that day – 16 March, 2003 – and have launched a civil suit trying to pin responsibility on the state of Israel, which has thus far said her death was unintentional and even blamed the victim herself for behaving “illegally.”

But now evidence has emerged in the civil suit that Israel’s then Gaza commander obstructed the military police investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death.

The apparent intervention of Major-General Doron Almog, then head of Israel’s southern command, is documented in testimony taken by Israeli military police from the commander of the bulldozer a day after Ms Corrie was killed.

Monday, March 22 and Wednesday March 24, 2010 the Haifa District Court saw the fifth and sixth days of testimony in the civil lawsuit filed by Rachel Corrie’s family against the State of Israel for her unlawful killing in Rafah, Gaza. Rachel Corrie, an American human rights defender from Olympia, Washington, was crushed to death on March 16, 2003 by a Caterpillar D9R bulldozer. She had been nonviolently demonstrating against Palestinian home demolitions with fellow members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct action methods and principles.

Download this press release: Military investigator testifies that head of IDF Southern Command instructed bulldozer operator not to cooperate with investigation (pdf, 156.88 KB)

An Israeli military police investigator, who was part of the team that investigated Rachel’s killing, completed his testimony on March 22. In his testimony he stated that:

• One commander of the unit involved in the incident interrupted the testimony of the operator of the bulldozer that killed Rachel, telling him that the head of the Southern Command of the Israeli military ordered him to stop talking, not to sign anything and not to cooperate with the investigation. When asked if he considered this an intervention into the interrogation, the investigator testified that he did.
• The investigator stated not only that he did not visit the site of the killing, but also that the bulldozer involved in the killing was removed from the scene directly after the incident. He testified that the only tool he used in conducting the investigation was taking testimonies of eye-witnesses and soldiers.

Jack Khoury, Haaretz

The Military Police interrogation of a key suspect in the killing of American human rights activist Rachel Corrie was cut short by a direct order of then GOC Southern, Maj. Gen. Doron Almog, army documents obtained by Haaretz suggest.

The documents come from the Military Police investigation file and were submitted as evidence to the Haifa District Court when a member of the MP investigation team testified in court during the civil lawsuit case Corrie’s family has brought against the State of Israel.

The Corries’ attorney, Hussein Abu Hussein, confronted the former investigator with a protocol of his questioning of the commander of the D9 Caterpillar bulldozer that drove over the activist. The officer’s record states his interrogation of the bulldozer commander came to an unusual end. “It’s now 18:12. Maj (res.) K entered the interrogation room and told the witness he must not say anything or write anything, by a direct order from GOC Southern Command. I confirm this occurred and I sign this in my hand,” the officer wrote, adding his signature. There the interrogation concluded.

Prior to the intervention the soldier was describing the moment he understood Rachel Corrie had been hurt, insisting he could not see her from the driver’s cabin.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 17, 2010

Today March 17, 2010 the Haifa District Court saw a fourth day of testimony in the civil lawsuit filed by Rachel Corrie’s family against the State of Israel for her unlawful killing in Rafah, Gaza. Rachel Corrie, an American human rights defender from Olympia, Washington, was crushed to death on March 16, 2003 by a Caterpillar D9R bulldozer. She had been nonviolently demonstrating against Palestinian home demolitions with fellow members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct action methods and principles.

An Israeli military police investigator, who was part of the team that investigated Rachel’s killing, testified today. In his testimony he stated that:

• He never inspected the site where the killing occurred; nor did he ever sit inside the D9 bulldozer to see for himself the view the driver had and what the field of vision was.
• He admitted that the Israeli military’s D9 bulldozer regulations state that the D9s should not be operated with civilians in close proximity. He failed to question the bulldozer driver about these regulations or make them part of the military police investigation file.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 15, 2010

Today, March 15, 2010, the Haifa District Court saw the third day of testimony in the civil lawsuit filed by Rachel Corrie’s family against the State of Israel for her unlawful killing in Rafah, Gaza. Rachel was crushed to death on March 16, 2003 by a Caterpillar D9R bulldozer. She had been nonviolently demonstrating against Palestinian home demolitions with fellow members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct action methods and principles. Today’s only testimony came from British citizen Alice Coy, a nurse, who was an eyewitness to the killing. The state spent most of the day trying to establish that contrary to all eyewitness accounts and human rights reports, the Israeli Military had no intention of demolishing homes in the area on the day Rachel was killed.

Download this press release: March 15: Eye Witness Testifies: Israeli Military Investigator Tried to Influence My Statement (pdf, 166.35 KB)

Ms. Coy testified that:

• She first visited Israel in order visit Israeli family members.
• When the Israeli Military interviewed her on April 1st about Rachel’s killing, the soldier who documented her testimony refused to record her statement that she believed the bulldozers were going to destroy civilian homes.
• She believed the Israeli Military was planning to demolish homes on the day Rachel was killed because the Israeli Military had been demolishing homes on the Philadelphi Corridor in the days and weeks prior, and because they had already begun to demolish a house earlier that day by damaging its porch.