Trial Press Releases | The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice

Military investigator testifies that head of IDF Southern Command instructed bulldozer operator not to cooperate with investigation

Posted on March 24, 2010

(Haifa, Israel – March 24, 2010)– On Monday, March 22 and Wednesday, March 24, 2010, the Haifa District Court heard 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. Witnesses included an Israeli military police investigator, an expert witness for the Corrie family, and Rachel’s father, Craig Corrie.

Elad, 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:

A 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.

[Read more…]

Israeli Military Investigator Admits Failures in the Military Investigation of Rachel Corrie’s Killing

Posted on March 17, 2010

(Haifa, Israel – March 17, 2010)– The Haifa District Court heard the fourth day of testimony today in the civil lawsuit filed by Rachel Corrie’s family against the State of Israel for her unlawful killing in Rafah, Gaza. Witnesses included an Israeli military police investigator and Gregory Schnabel, an American eye-witness to Rachel’s killing.

Elad, an Israeli military police investigator who was part of the team that investigated Rachel’s killing 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. [Read more…]

Eye Witness Testifies: Israeli Military Investigator Tried to Influence My Statement

Posted on March 15, 2010

(Haifa, Israel – March 15, 2010)– In 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, the Haifa District Court heard testimony from British citizen Alice Coy, a nurse, and 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.

Ms. Coy testified that:

She first came to Israel in order to visit Israeli relatives.
When the Israeli Military interviewed her about Rachel’s killing on April 1, 2003, the soldier who documented her testimony refused to record a statement that she believed the bulldozers were going to destroy civilian homes.
On the day Rachel was killed, she believed the Israeli Military were planning to demolish homes because they had begun demolishing a house that day by damaging its porch, and, in the days and weeks prior, the military had been demolishing homes along the Philadelphi Corridor.
She had spoken with many Palestinian families whose homes had been demolished by the Israeli Military in the area where Rachel Corrie was killed .
She believed the bulldozer driver who killed Rachel could see her.
She described her view of her work with ISM as promoting peace for the whole region.

[Read more…]

Autopsy doctor admits to violating court order in Rachel Corrie autopsy

Posted on March 14, 2010

(Haifa, Israel – March 14, 2010)– The Haifa District Court heard a second full day of testimony today in the civil lawsuit filed by Rachel Corrie’s family against the State of Israel for her unlawful killing in Rafah, Gaza in 2003. Testimony included that of Israel’s Chief Pathologist, Prof. Yehuda Hiss, and of British eye-witness Tom Dale.

Prof. Hiss, the Chief Pathologist and former head of the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Israel who conducted the autopsy of Rachel Corrie at the request of the Israeli military, admitted that he violated an Israeli court order requiring the presence of a representative from the U.S. State Department during the autopsy. [Read more…]

Israeli Court Begins Hearing Testimonies in the Unlawful Killing of 23 year old American Activist Rachel Corrie

Posted on March 10, 2010

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

(Haifa, Israel – March 10, 2010) The Haifa District Court began hearing eyewitness testimonies today in a civil lawsuit filed by Rachel Corrie’s family against the State of Israel for her unlawful killing in Rafah, Gaza.

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. [Read more…]

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