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.

The handwritten affidavit effectively puts the entire state of Israel on trial. Is it willing to tolerate Maj-Gen Almog’s gross interference in the investigation or will it hold him to the three years’ imprisonment the law accords for such an offence?

In the affidavit, the commander of the D-9 tells military police investigators that he did not see Ms Corrie before she was wounded.

However, Alice Coy, now a nurse in Glasgow, and an ISM volunteer activist who was near Ms Corrie during the incident, said in an affidavit to the court that “to the best of my knowledge the bulldozer driver could see Rachel while pushing earth over her body”.

The D-9 commander, a reservist named Edward Valermov, was in the middle of his testimony when a colonel dispatched by Maj-Gen Almog entered the room and ordered him to stop speaking, according to the document.

The military police investigator wrote: “At 18:12 reserve Colonel Baruch Kirhatu entered the room and informed the witness that he should not convey anything and should not write anything and this at the order of the general of southern command.”

In his testimony before he was stopped, Mr Valermov said that the bulldozers, manned by two people, were ordered by their company commander to continue their work despite the presence of the ISM protesters.

He said that troops in an armoured personnel carrier threw stun grenades, used tear gas and fired shots toward the ground in order to scare the protesters away.

“It didn’t help and therefore we decided to continue the work with all possible delicateness on the orders of the company commander,” he added.

Mr Valermov testified that the protesters nearly touched the bulldozers, making it impossible to advance, but that after the company commander’s order “we started moving with the D-9, we continued laying bare the area from all of the things that were there.

“It was only when we moved the D-9 backwards that I saw her. The woman was lying in a place where the instrument had not reached. As soon as we saw the harmed woman we returned to the central corridor, stood and waited for orders.”

Mr Valermov’s last statement before Maj-Gen Almog’s interdiction was, “my job was to guide. The driver cannot guide himself because his field of vision is not large.”

In a phone interview from Olympia, Washington, Rachel’s father Craig Corrie termed Maj-Gen Almog’s intervention in Mr Valermov’s testimony “outrageous”.

Maj-Gen Almog has angrily denied halting Mr Valermov’s testimony.

Moshe Negbi, legal commentator for the state-run Voice of Israel radio, said of Maj-Gen Almog’s interdiction: “If a commander prevents a witness from testifying than it is disruption of an investigation, a criminal offence whose penalty is three years’ imprisonment.”

By deciding Maj-Gen Almog’s fate, Israel will be deciding if it is a state of law or a state of the generals – past and present.

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.

Although the bulldozer commander later gave further testimony, Abu Hussein said the Corrie family took the interference of such a senior officer very seriously. “This makes it absolutely clear there was at least an attempt, no matter how effective, to intervene in the investigation,” he told Haaretz. “The documents proves it, black on white, that there was an attempt to prevent the bulldozer driver from giving a full testimony on the circumstances in which the deceased was killed.”

Abu Hussein also said that this violated a promise by then prime minister Ariel Sharon to then American president George W. Bush to carry out a thorough, in-depth investigation.

Claims about attempts by Almog to influence the investigation were also made at a hearing in the Rishon Letzion Magistrate’s Court on March 18, 2003. Military Police approached the court to obtain an autopsy order for Corrie’s body, to determine whether she was indeed crushed by the bulldozer or killed by hand-grenades soldiers were alleged to have thrown during the incident.

The court record states that one of the investigating officers said the Military Police had been delayed “by an argument between GOC Southern Command and the military advocate general about whether to investigate and on what charges.”

Corrie, 23, whose hometown is Olympia, Washington, was killed in Rafah on March 16, 2003, while standing in front of a bulldozer that was demolishing structures along the Philadelphi route. The IDF claims the 65-ton bulldozer never touched Corrie, while eyewitnesses insist it crushed her deliberately.

Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog told Haaretz that he had no knowledge of the claims and no intention to comment. He said he had no idea what documents were in question or how reliable they were, as seven years have passed since the event. Almog noted that while he did not wish to discuss the details of this particular event, he had never covered up any investigation and a full internal investigation was carried out in his command at the time and submitted to the chief of staff. The IDF spokesperson was not available for comment.

Scotsman: State of Israel now on trial over US protester’s death

Haaretz: Army documents suggest general cut short probe into Rachel Corrie’s death

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