Richard Purssell describes ’shocking event’ in Haifa court on first day of civil suit brought by Corrie family against Israel

A British witness told a court today about how he had watched an Israeli military bulldozer run over and kill the American activist Rachel Corrie while she was trying to stop Palestinians’ homes being demolished in Gaza.

Richard Purssell, who was also a volunteer activist in Rafah at the time, seven years ago, described the “shocking and dramatic event” in an Israeli court in Haifa on the first day of a civil suit brought by Corrie’s family against the Israeli state.

Twenty-three-year-old Corrie, from Olympia, Washington, in the US, went to Gaza for peace activism reasons at a time when there was intense conflict between the Israeli military and the Palestinians.

The Corrie family lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein, said he would argue that her death was due either to gross negligence by the Israeli military or that it was intended. If the Israeli state were found responsible, the family would press for damages.

Purssell, a Briton, now working as a landscape gardener, said he volunteered with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) to witness events in the occupied Palestinian territories for himself. In Rafah he had been hoping to prevent the Israeli military from demolishing Palestinian homes. The organisation was strictly non violent, he said. “Our role was to support Palestinian non-violent resistance.”

On the day of her death, 16 March 2003, Corrie was with seven other activists, including Purssell, in Rafah, close to the Israeli-guarded border with Egypt. They saw an Israeli military armoured Caterpillar D9 bulldozer approaching the house of a Palestinian doctor.

Purssell described how the bulldozer approached at a fast walking pace, its blade down and gathering a pile of soil in its path. When the bulldozer was 20 metres from the house Corrie, who like the others was wearing an orange fluorescent jacket, climbed on to the soil in front of it and stood “looking into the cab of the bulldozer”.

“The bulldozer continued to move forward,” Purssell said. “Rachel turned to come back down the slope. The earth is still moving and as she nears the bottom of the pile something happened which causes her to fall forward. The bulldozer continued to move forward and Rachel disappeared from view under the moving earth.”

The bulldozer continued forward four metres as the activists began to run forward and shout at the driver.

“It passed the point where Rachel fell, it stopped and reversed back along the track it first made. Rachel was lying on the earth,” Purssell said. “She was still breathing.” Corrie was severely injured and died shortly afterwards.

The Israeli military says it bears no responsibility for Corrie’s death. A month after her death the military said an investigation had determined its troops were not to blame; the driver of the bulldozer had not seen her and had not intentionally run her over. It accused Corrie and the ISM of behaviour that was “illegal, irresponsible and dangerous”.

Hussein will argue at the Haifa district court that witness evidence shows that the soldiers did see Corrie at the scene, with other activists well before the incident, and that they could have arrested her or removed her from the area before there was any risk of injury.

Before the hearing began, Craig Corrie, Rachel’s father, said the family had been on a “seven-year search for justice in Rachel’s name”. He added: “I think when the truth comes out about Rachel the truth will not wound Israel, the truth is the start of making us heal.”

Cindy Corrie, Rachel’s mother, said the family was still waiting for the credible, transparent investigation Israel first promised regarding her daughter’s death. “I just want to say to Rachel that our family is here today trying to just do right by her and I hope that she will be very proud of the effort we are making,” she said. She said the family had met the staff of US vice-president Joe Biden on Tuesday to talk about the case.

Three other witnesses, two more Britons and an American, who were all at the scene in Rafah when Corrie was killed will give evidence at the Israeli court. It is not clear if any Israeli military officials will speak.

The hearing is scheduled to run for at least two weeks.

Supporters rally with the Corrie family outside the court building on the first day of the trial.

The Haifa District Court began hearing eyewitness testimonies today, March 10, 2010, in a 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: Israeli Court Begins Hearing Testimonies in the Unlawful Killing of 23 year old American Activist Rachel Corrie (pdf, 134.99 KB)

The court heard the testimonies of two ISM witnesses, British citizens Richard Purssell and Tom Dale. Their testimonies were frequently interrupted due to poor court-provided translation, which the presiding judge, Oded Gershon, acknowledged to be flawed. A new court translator was requested by the judge for the coming hearings.

The state attorneys spent most of their time cross-examining the eye-witnesses about the ISM and their purpose in Rafah. Purssell repeatedly affirmed that his purpose for being in Gaza was to offer nonviolent protection to Palestinian civilians whose homes were threatened with demolition by the Israeli military. Relatively little time was spent ascertaining what happened to Rachel Corrie.

“Seven years after my daughter Rachel was killed, I was finally able to hear Rachel’s friends, who were with her, testify in a court of law. Despite some disheartening procedural challenges, we remain hopeful that the truth about what happened to Rachel will be revealed, and that the people responsible for her killing will be held accountable,” said Cindy Corrie, Rachel’s mother.

The courtroom was filled with local and international reporters, human rights observers and three representatives from the U.S. Embassy, including Consul General Andrew Parker. Last night, the Corrie family met with Parker and senior members of Vice President Joseph Biden’s staff in Jerusalem. Antony Blinken, the Deputy Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor to the Vice President, reconfirmed the long-standing U.S. Government position that there has not been a thorough, credible, and transparent investigation into Rachel’s case. They reiterated the U.S. Government’s endorsement of pursuing justice for Rachel through the Israeli court system. Embassy staff will continue to attend the trial.

“I continue to be humbled by the steadfast dedication to nonviolent support for all of our human rights demonstrated by Rachel’s friends, not just seven years ago in Rafah, but again today in Haifa,” said Craig Corrie, Rachel’s father.

For more information, contact:
Israel/Palestine:

• Gabrielle Rubin +972-52-8332430 gabrielle.rubin@gmail.com
• Rachel Leah Jones +972-54-6564638 racheleahjones@gmail.com
• Libby Lenkinski +972-54-8001917 libbylenkinski@gmail.com
• Jonathan Pollak +972-54-6327736 jonathan@popularstruggle.org
• Jen Marlowe +972-54-7938064 jenmarlowe@hotmail.com

United States:

• Ismail Khalidi +1-646-824-7982 ismail@imeu.net
• Rachel Corrie Foundation http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/trial

Parents of American activist killed by Israeli bulldozer seven years ago take fight for justice to Haifa courtroom

A court today began hearing a civil suit brought against the Israeli government over the death of Rachel Corrie, the US activist who was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza seven years ago.

The case, brought before a Haifa court by Corrie’s family, challenges the official Israeli version of events in which the military said its troops were not to blame. The family hopes the hearing will be a chance to put on public record the events that led to their daughter’s death in March 2003. If the Israeli state is found responsible, the family will press for at least $300,000 (£201,000) in damages.

Before the hearing began, Craig Corrie, Rachel’s father, said the family had been on a “seven-year search for justice in Rachel’s name”.

“I think when the truth comes out about Rachel, the truth will not wound Israel, the truth is the start of making us heal,” he said.

Cindy Corrie, Rachel’s mother, said the family was still waiting for the credible, transparent investigation Israel first promised into her daughter’s death.

“I just want to say to Rachel that our family is here today trying to just do right by her and I hope that she will be very proud of the effort we are making,” she said.

The family’s lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein, will argue that witness evidence shows the soldiers saw Corrie at the scene, with other activists, well before the incident and could have arrested her or removed her from the area before there was any risk of her being killed.

He will argue her death was either due to gross negligence by the Israeli authorities or was intentional.

Four key witnesses – three Britons and an American – who were at the scene in Rafah when Corrie was killed are to give evidence.

The first witness to give evidence was Richard Purssell, a Briton who was an ISM volunteer along with Corrie. He described how he had gone to Gaza to see the situation for himself and to prevent the Israeli military from demolishing Palestinian houses.

He said the ISM told him it was a strictly non-violent organisation. “Our role was to support Palestinian non-violent resistance.”

He briefly described the moment Corrie was killed. “Rachel disappeared inside the earth and the bulldozer continued for 4 metres and then reversed,” he told the court.

Corrie, who was born in Olympia, Washington, travelled to Gaza to act as a human shield at a moment of intense conflict between the Israeli military and the Palestinians.

On the day she died, when she was just 23, she was dressed in a fluorescent orange vest and was trying to stop the demolition of a Palestinian home in Rafah. She was crushed under a military Caterpillar D9R bulldozer and died shortly afterwards.

A month after her death the Israeli military said an investigation had determined its troops were not to blame and said the driver of the bulldozer had not seen her and did not intentionally run her over.

Instead, it accused her and the group she was with, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), of behaviour that was “illegal, irresponsible and dangerous.”

The army report, obtained by the Guardian in April 2003, said she “was struck as she stood behind a mound of earth that was 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.”

But several witnesses offered a different version of events, saying the driver had seen her but continued anyway, hitting her with the bulldozer blade. She was severely injured and died shortly afterwards in an ambulance.

While Corrie was in the Palestinian territories, she wrote vividly about her experiences. Her diaries were later turned into a play, My Name is Rachel Corrie, which has toured internationally, including in Israel and the West Bank.

Seven years after Rachel Corrie, a US peace activist, was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza, her family is to put the Israeli government in the dock today.

A judge in the northern Israeli city of Haifa is due to be presented with evidence that Corrie, 23, was killed unlawfully as she stood in the path of the bulldozer, trying to prevent it from demolishing Palestinian homes in Rafah.

Corrie’s parents, Craig and Cindy, who arrived in Israel on Saturday, said they hoped their civil action would shed new light on their daughter’s killing and finally lead to Israel’s being held responsible for her death. They are also seeking damages that could amount to millions of dollars if the court finds in their favour. An internal army investigation was closed shortly after Corrie’s death, exonerating both the bulldozer driver and the commanders who oversaw the operation.

Three Britons and one US citizen, who were standing close to Corrie when she was killed, are expected to challenge Israel’s version of events, arguing that the bulldozer driver knew Corrie was there when he ran her over.

The Israeli government had initially blocked the activists from entering Israel three weeks ago, but at the last minute, after Britain and the US exerted strong pressure, allowed their entry for the hearing.

The four, like Corrie, belonged to the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which brings activists to Israel to resist the occupation non-violently alongside Palestinians. Cindy Corrie, from Olympia, Washington, said: “My family and I are still searching for justice. The brutal death of my daughter should never have happened. We believe the Israeli army must be held accountable for her unlawful killing.”

For many observers, Rachel’s Corrie death in March 2003 rapidly came to symbolise the injustices of Israel’s occupation. Diary entries, many of them written while she was living with Palestinian families, were adapted into a play that has been performed around the world.

However, as one Israeli commentator noted in the liberal daily newspaper Haaretz on the first anniversary of her death: “In Israel, her name has been all but forgotten.”

Corrie’s family hopes the court case will rectify that.

Rachel, a film released last year about her life and the events in Rafah, is due to be screened in Tel Aviv on March 16, on the seventh anniversary of her death and in the midst of the legal proceedings.

Until the court case in Haifa, the Corrie family had run into a series of administrative and legal brick walls in trying to get their daughter’s death independently investigated and to hold those responsible to account.

Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister at the time of Corrie’s death, promised a “thorough, credible and transparent investigation” would be conducted.

But an internal military inquiry clearing the two soldiers operating the bulldozer was widely criticised, including by US officials. Human Rights Watch said it “fell far short of the transparency, impartiality and thoroughness required by international law”.

The army’s report claimed that Corrie had been “hidden from view” behind a mound of earth and that the bulldozer had never come into contact with her. It concluded that “Corrie was struck by dirt and a slab of concrete” as earth slipped on top of her.

The four former ISM activists due to appear in court this week have been told not to comment before giving their testimonies.

But previous witness statements, backed by photographic evidence, have questioned the army’s account. Photographs show Corrie, wearing an orange fluorescent jacket and holding a megaphone, confronting the bulldozer over several hours. They also show the bulldozer’s track marks over Corrie’s body moments after she was crushed. Tom Dale, a British activist who was next to Corrie when she was killed, wrote two days later that she had climbed on top of a mound of earth as activists nearby shouted at the bulldozer driver to stop.

The bulldozer, he wrote, “pushed Rachel, first beneath the scoop, then beneath the blade, then continued till her body was beneath the cockpit. They waited over her for a few seconds, before reversing. They reversed with the blade pressed down, so it scraped over her body a second time.”

In 2007 a US court denied the Corrie family the right to sue the Caterpillar company, which supplies the Israeli army with the special D-9 bulldozers that killed their daughter and that Israel regularly uses to demolish Palestinian homes.

This week’s hearing is the outcome of a private lawsuit filed by the Corries in March 2005, at the suggestion of the US state department.

Mrs Corrie said: “We hope this trial will also illustrate the need for accountability for thousands of lives lost, or indelibly injured, by the Israeli occupation and bring attention to the assault on non-violent human-rights defenders.”

Mr Corrie added that the family had had to endure “lies and misrepresentations” about the circumstances of the death.

The lawsuit accuses the Israeli government of being responsible either for Corrie’s intentional killing or for the negligent conduct of its soldiers towards unarmed demonstrators.

Israel alleges that it is not liable because the army’s actions were “acts of war” and because Corrie recklessly endangered herself.

Around the time Corrie was killed, three Britons – Iain Hook, Tom Hurndall and James Millar – were fatally shot by Israeli soldiers. Only in the case of Hurndall, another ISM volunteer who was shot in Rafah a month after Corrie, did an investigation lead to a soldier being found guilty and jailed.

An unusual trial begins in Israel this week that people around the world will be watching closely. It involves the tragic death of a 23-year-old American student named Rachel Corrie. On March 16, 2003, she was crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer.

Corrie was volunteering with the group International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which formed after Israel and the United States rejected a proposal by then-United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson to place international human-rights monitors in the occupied territories. The ISM defines itself as “a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles.” Israel was building a large steel wall to separate Rafah from Egypt, and was bulldozing homes and gardens to create a “buffer zone.” Corrie and seven other ISM activists responded to a call on that March day to protect the home of the Nasrallah family, which was being threatened with demolition by two of the armored Israeli military bulldozers made by the U.S. company Caterpillar.

Cindy Corrie, Rachel’s mother, related what happened:

Rachel Corrie attempting to prevent the demolition on Palestinian homes in Rafah.

The bulldozer proceeded toward Rachel. … She was in her orange jacket. When it kept coming, she rose on the mound, and the eyewitnesses testified that her head rose above the top of the blade of the bulldozer, so she could clearly be seen, but the bulldozer continued and proceeded over her, and so that it was covering her body. It stopped and then reversed, according to the eyewitness testimonies, without lifting its blade, so backed over her once again.

Her friends were screaming at the bulldozer drivers through this to stop. They rushed to her, and she said to them, ‘I think my back is broken.’ And those were her final words.

Shortly after Rachel’s death, the Corries met with the Bush State Department. It was there that the idea of a civil lawsuit was first presented, by Secretary of State Colin Powell’s own chief of staff, Lawrence B. Wilkerson. Craig Corrie, Rachel’s father, recalled: “He said: ‘If it was my daughter, I’d sue them. I don’t care about money. I wouldn’t care about anything. I would sue the state of Israel.’” Ultimately, this is what the Corrie family did.

Just before heading to JFK Airport in New York to attend the trial, Craig Corrie told me about the lawsuit: “We’re accusing the state of Israel of either intentionally killing Rachel or of gross negligence in her killing seven years ago.” The day after Rachel was killed, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised President George W. Bush a “thorough, credible and transparent investigation.” Yet according to a Human Rights Watch report from 2005, Israel’s “investigations into Corrie’s killing … fell far short of the transparency, impartiality, and thoroughness required by international law.”

The civil trial, Craig Corrie says, is not about the monetary damages, but to discover information, and “like [South African Archbishop] Desmond Tutu talks about, of mending the tear in society.” The Corries never speak solely about their daughter, but about the plight of the Palestinians and the Israeli siege of Gaza. According to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions’ latest figures, 24,145 houses have been demolished in the occupied territories since 1967, including the United Nations estimate of 4,247 houses demolished during “Operation Cast Lead,” the name Israel gave for its military assault on Gaza last year.

Of course, more than houses were destroyed there. More than 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed. The Corries also express concern about the psychological toll exacted on Israeli soldiers. Craig Corrie said, “We lost Rachel, and that hurts every day, but that bulldozer driver lost a lot of his humanity when he crushed Rachel.”

The trial begins during the same week that Joe Biden makes his first trip to Israel as vice president. As chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden sought answers on the death of Rachel Corrie during the confirmation of U.S. Ambassador to Israel James Cunningham. Biden knows the pain of losing a daughter. His daughter was killed with his first wife in a car accident in 1972.

The Corries are calling on people around the world to stand with them on March 16, the anniversary of Rachel’s death, for truth, accountability and justice, “to raise and highlight many of the critical issues to which Rachel’s case is linked.”

Joyce McMillan writes in The Scotsman:

The up-close exuberance of these early scenes makes it all the more difficult to watch the disappointment and despair which begin to overtake Rachel in Gaza, and in the end tears are hard to avoid. But so, too, are the fierce questions Rachel was asking in her last days: about why we tolerate such terrible and unnecessary suffering in our world, every day, and what we are prepared to do about it.

And in The Guardian, Mark Fisher says:

Mairi Phillips’s exemplary performance brings to mind the recent research that suggests a link between political activism and happiness. Her youthful fervour is earnest but never foolish and she displays the ironic humour Americans are supposed to lack. Her expertly modulated performance goes from brazen to righteous to distressed, evoking Corrie’s spirit with tremendous honesty.

Tickets may be purchased online here.

Ros Phillips, who directed this production, talks about her perspective on Rachel’s story.

Mairi Phillips discusses playing Rachel.

Here are rehearsal and production photos.

Vice President Joe Biden / Courtesy The White House

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who arrived in Israel yesterday, didn’t look for camels among the cars on the road from Ben-Gurion International Airport to Jerusalem. In a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing held two years ago for the United States Ambassador to Israel, James Cunningham, Biden heard that the Israelis even know how to ride bulldozers.

Then a senator from Delaware, who chaired the committee, Biden asked for a detailed report on the affair of American peace activist Rachel Corrie, who was run over and killed by the treads of an Israeli bulldozer.

If Biden schedules a meeting with Corrie’s parents here, the Israeli Information and Diaspora Ministry will have to work overtime. The parents, who arrived in advance of the scheduled deliberations on their suit against the state of Israel, will tell him that his hosts are continuing to deny any responsibility for their daughter’s death.

Rachel was a 23-year-old student run over by a 64-ton bulldozer in March, 2003, when she and others from the International Solidarity Movement tried to use their bodies to stop the demolition of a house in Rafah.

At the Senate hearing, Cunningham spoke about the Israel authorities’ refusal to open a thorough investigation into the affair and not rest content with an internal report.

Cunningham detailed numerous written and oral requests to top people in the Israeli government by senior people in the American administration and his predecessor at the embassy. In reply to Biden’s question, Cunningham undertook to stand by the Corrie family in the demand for a credible investigation of the tragic event. Tomorrow the witness stage in the Corrie family’s suit will open at the Haifa District Court. Facing the family and friends will be representatives of the state who are demanding the suit be withdrawn. They claim Corrie was killed in “an act of war,” during the course of an armed conflict in a closed military zone. Therefore, even if it is proved there was use of excessive force as well as gross negligence – the state is totally exempt from liability. The defense is giving legal cover to the bulldozer operator and the soldiers who secured him, on the grounds it was a sovereign “act of state.” In other words: Corrie was responsible for her own death.

Apparently Israel takes responsibility for the deaths of foreign civilians only when threatened. For more than five years legal wrangling dragged on between the state and the family of British television filmmaker James Miller, who was shot and killed in Rafah. With respect to that incident too, which took place two months after Corrie was killed, the state hid behind the excuse of “an act of war.” In this case too questions arose as to the credibility of the Investigative Military Police report and the top political level in London urged the government of Israel to compensate the widow and the orphans. The case was closed (with the payment of more than 1 million pounds Sterling in compensation) after the British threatened to issue an official extradition request for the Israeli soldiers who shot the cameraman.

The American media have long ceased to follow American VIPs who come to give artificial respiration to “the peace process.” Perhaps the White House reporters who are accompanying Biden will evince interest in the Corrie case.

A play currently running at The Allen Hall Theatre is receiving excellent reviews, and the cast can pat themselves, or to be more specific, herself on the back.

My Name is Rachel Corrie, is a portrait of a young American Peace Activist killed in the Gaza Strip seven years ago, and the play is performed by a single actress who speaks Corrie’s words.

FAMILY SEEKS ACCOUNTABILITY SEVEN YEARS AFTER AN ISRAELI MILITARY BULLDOZER CRUSHED THEIR 23 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER TO DEATH

On March 10 the Haifa District Court will begin hearing eyewitness testimonies in a civil lawsuit filed by Rachel Corrie’s family against the State of Israel for her unlawful killing in Rafah, Gaza. Rachel Corrie, an American student activist and human rights defender from Olympia, Washington was crushed to death on March 16, 2003 by a Caterpillar D9R bulldozer while nonviolently protesting Palestinian home demolition with fellow members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). The trial is expected to shed light on the circumstances of her death and hold the Israeli military responsible for it, after the Israeli government failed to conduct a thorough, credible and transparent investigation into her killing.

Download this Press Release: Press Release: Family Seeks Accountability Seven Years After An Israeli Military Bulldozer Crushed Their 23 Year Old Daughter To Death (pdf, 73.51 KB)

“As we approach the seven-year anniversary of Rachel’s killing, my family and I are still searching for justice. The brutal death of my daughter should never have happened. We believe the Israeli army must be held accountable for her unlawful killing,” said Rachel’s mother, Cindy Corrie who will be attending the trial next week. “We hope this trial will also illustrate the need for accountability for thousands of lives lost, or indelibly injured, by the Israeli occupation and bring attention to the assault on nonviolent human rights defenders – Palestinian, Israeli, and international,” stated Ms. Corrie.

The lawsuit, filed in March 2005, is one piece of the Corrie family’s seven-year effort to uncover information and pursue truth and justice for their daughter and sister. On March 17, 2003, the day after Rachel was killed, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised President Bush a “thorough, credible, and transparent” investigation. In 2003, the Israeli military police concluded that the two soldiers who operated the D9R Caterpillar bulldozer that killed Rachel did not see her, though eyewitnesses indicate she was clearly visible, wearing a florescent orange jacket. The case was closed, no charges were brought, and the Israeli Government declined to release the investigative report. The lawsuit charges that the Israeli government violated both Israeli and international law.

“The killing of Rachel Corrie is yet another example of Israel’s unlawful attacks on unarmed civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” said attorney Hussein Abu Hussein who is representing Rachel Corrie’s family. “The Israeli soldiers and commanders acted in violation of both Israeli and international law prohibiting the targeting of civilians and the disproportionate use of force against non-violent protest with blatant disregard to human lives,” added Abu Hussein.

In 2004, Lawrence B. Wilkerson, Chief of Staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, wrote to the family of Rachel Corrie that the Israeli investigation into her killing was not “thorough, credible, and transparent,” and advised the family to “use the Israeli court system.” Several other U.S. officials have voiced concerns or raised questions about the Israeli investigation, including former U.S. Senator and now Vice President Joseph Biden, as well as other Department of State officials in the Bush and Obama Administrations.

For more information please contact:

Israel/Palestine
Gabrielle Rubin: +972-52-8332430, gabrielle.rubin@gmail.com
Rachel Leah Jones: +972-54-6564638, racheleahjones@gmail.com
Libby Lenkinski: +972-54-8001917, libbylenkinski@gmail.com
Jonathan Pollak: +972-54-6327736, jonathan@popularstruggle.org

United States
Ismail Khalidi: +1-646-824-7982, ismail@imeu.net
Rachel Corrie Foundation: http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/trial

Related Events

• Wednesday, March 10th 9:00-16:00
  Trial Begins in the Haifa District Court.
  Other trial dates are set for March 14, 15, 17, 21, 22 and 24.
• Friday, March 12th 13:00-15:00
  Screening of the film RACHEL at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque.
  To be followed by a Q & A discussion with filmmaker Simone Bitton and members of the Corrie family. A rigorous cinematic inquiry into Rachel Corrie’s killing, Naomi Klein wrote: “RACHEL is a triumph of investigative journalism, and also a stunning piece of art.” Official Selection: Berlin, Tribeca, HotDocs.
• Tuesday, March 16th 20:00-22:00
  Anniversary of Rachel Corrie’s Killing; Location TBA.
  Palestinian, Israeli and International artists and activists gather to call for truth, accountability and justice, in Rachel’s case and beyond. Additional events will be held in Gaza (at the Rachel Corrie Children and Youth Cultural Center in Rafah), in the West Bank (TBA), and around the world.

Background

When the Israeli Government did not live up to Prime Minister Sharon’s promise, the Corries lost the most logical means of finding justice for Rachel: a thorough, credible and transparent investigation and criminal trial of those responsible for her killing.

In a well-documented 2005 report, Human Rights Watch concluded that the Israeli military acted with impunity and concluded that the Israeli investigation of Rachel Corrie’s death: “fell far short of the transparency, impartiality, and thoroughness required by international law.”

Upon the suggestion of the US Department of State, the Corrie family initiated a private lawsuit against the State of Israel and Ministry of Defense five years ago. “The opportunity to pursue justice for Rachel in court comes with the responsibility to do so – to challenge the impunity that the Israeli military and government enjoy within the legal system,” said Rachel’s father, Craig Corrie who will be attending the trial as well. “We have undertaken this lawsuit with the knowledge that so many families harmed as deeply as ours cannot access the courts. Palestinians are routinely denied their petitions, or are required to post impossibly expensive bonds to file their cases.”

Since the Corrie family initiated legal proceedings, the State of Israel has and continues to employ procedural tactics in order to delay the hearing of the trial. Four eyewitnesses to Rachel’s killing were granted entry visas to testify in Israel, but only following external diplomatic pressure. The Israeli authorities are still refusing to allow the Palestinian doctor from Gaza, who treated Rachel and confirmed her death, to enter Israel to give testimony. The Corries’ legal team is seeking to have the doctor testify via video-conference; however, the state is arguing that he should not be permitted to testify remotely due to difficulties in supervising the procedure. Furthermore, an unconventional motion submitted by the state and approved by the court on February 28, 2010, grants the state the right to submit its testimonies up to 30 days after the plaintiffs’ testimonies have been heard.

The lawsuit charges that the Israeli government is responsible for the intentional killing of Rachel Corrie in violation of her constitutional rights under Israeli law and her rights as a protected civilian in violation of international law. Alternatively, the lawsuit charges that the Israeli government should at least be held responsible for the gross negligence of the Israeli soldiers who acted recklessly against unarmed and nonviolent civilians. The government alleges that the actions of the Israeli army in Rafah, should be considered an “Act of War” that took place in the course of an armed-conflict, thereby releasing the state from any liability and that the killing of Rachel Corrie by the military bulldozer should be considered an “Act of State,” absolving the soldiers responsible from any liability under Israeli law. Finally, the state argues that Rachel Corrie was responsible for her own death as she acted in reckless disregard of her life.

Craig Corrie: “The civil trial before us is quite limited in scope. It cannot address any criminal actions that might have taken place in Rachel’s killing. It cannot correct the lies and misrepresentations that have been made afterwards. It cannot address the repeated acts of abandonment by some in our own government, as we have looked for justice for such a very long time. It may, however, disclose some information, and may result in a finding of responsibility on the part of the Israeli military. After seven years, this process will, perhaps, yield some of the results we have been seeking in our quest for truth, accountability, and justice, in Rachel’s case and beyond.”

Craig and Cindy Corrie

As many of you know, a civil lawsuit in the case of our daughter Rachel Corrie is scheduled for trial in the Haifa District Court beginning March 10, 2010. A human rights observer and activist, Rachel, 23, tried nonviolently to offer protection for a Palestinian family whose home was threatened with demolition by the Israeli military. On March 16, 2003, she was crushed to death by an Israel Defense Force (IDF) Caterpillar D9R bulldozer in Rafah, Gaza.

The lawsuit is one piece of our family’s seven-year effort to pursue justice for our daughter and sister. We hope this trial will illustrate the need for accountability for thousands of lives lost, or indelibly injured, by occupation—in a besieged and beleaguered Gaza and throughout Palestine/Israel; bring attention to the assault on nonviolent human rights activists (Palestinian, Israeli, and international); and underscore the fact that so many Palestinian families, harmed as deeply as ours, cannot access Israeli courts.

Download this letter: Call To Action: Corrie Trial in Israel (pdf, 89.03 KB)

In order to deliver these interconnected messages as effectively as possible, we are asking for large-scale participation in the trial itself as well as in the events surrounding it. We hope you will join us for all or some of the events listed below and help us to put the call out to others.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10
9:00-16:00 – Trial Begins in the Haifa District Court (12 Palyam St. Haifa)
A strong presence of human rights observers, legal observers, and others on the first day of the trial will send the message that this case is being closely monitored and that truth, accountability and justice matter to us all. Other trial dates are: March 14, 15, 17, 21, 22 and 24. Supportive presence at all court sessions is both welcome and needed!

FRIDAY, MARCH 12
13:00-15:00 – Film Screening at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque (2 Shprinzak St. Tel Aviv)
Screening of the documentary film RACHEL followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Simone Bitton and the Corrie family. RACHEL is a cinematic inquiry into Rachel’s killing. It raises many of the questions that should be asked and addressed during the trial.

TUESDAY, MARCH 16
20:00-22:00 – Memorial; Location TBA
March 16th marks the seven-year anniversary of Rachel’s killing. We hope to mark this day as a “Day of Conscience” with a large gathering that calls for truth, accountability and justice, in Rachel’s case and beyond. There will also be events in Gaza (at the Rachel Corrie Children and Youth Cultural Center in Rafah), possibly in the West Bank (TBA), and around the world.

If you are not with us in Palestine/Israel, please think about how you and your group/community can be visible/audible on March 16.

We expect this to be a challenging time, but we know the friendship we have felt from so many of you over the years will help us navigate the weeks ahead. Though the course and outcome of the trial are unknown, we welcome the opportunity to raise and highlight many of the critical issues to which Rachel’s case is linked. Thank you for your continuing support.

In solidarity and with much appreciation,
Cindy & Craig Corrie