trial | The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice

Corrie family appeals decision allowing soldiers to testify behind screen

Posted on October 10, 2010

Updated October 14 to reflect new court dates.

(Haifa, Israel – October 10, 2010) – Lawyers for the family of Rachel Corrie filed an appeal with the Israeli Supreme Court on Sunday, challenging a decision to allow soldiers to testify behind a screen in the lawsuit filed against the State of Israel for the unlawful killing of the American peace activist in Rafah, Gaza.

State attorneys made the highly unusual request in court on Thursday, October 7 arguing that they were necessary to protect the soldiers’ safety and prevent their images from being circulated. Haifa District Court Judge Oded Gershon granted the request, ruling that all but two soldiers, who were both already known to the public, would be permitted to provide their testimony hidden from public view. […]

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Israeli soldiers to testify behind screen in Corrie Case

Posted on October 7, 2010

  Extraordinary state secrecy motion is granted

Witnesses in Corrie trial to testify behind a screen.

(Haifa, Israel – October 7, 2010)– The Haifa District Court on Thursday granted a government request to allow soldiers to testify behind a screen in the lawsuit filed by Rachel Corrie’s family against the State of Israel for her unlawful killing in Rafah, Gaza.

The order includes the driver of the bulldozer that killed Rachel, who is slated to testify later this month. However, Judge Oded Gershon ruled that both the commander of the unit and the second soldier in the bulldozer that hit Rachel would testify in plain view, because their faces were already publicly known. […]

Download this press release: Israeli soldiers to testify behind screen in Corrie Case (1715 downloads ) , Israeli soldiers to testify behind screen in Corrie Case (1782 downloads ) , Israeli soldiers to testify behind screen in Corrie Case (1894 downloads ) , Israeli soldiers to testify behind screen in Corrie Case (1759 downloads )

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Israeli military Colonel states, “There are no civilians in war zones.”

Posted on September 6, 2010

(Haifa, Israel – September 6, 2010)– Several State witnesses testified in Haifa District Court on Monday, in the civil law suit 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, WA, was crushed to death on March 16, 2003, by a Caterpillar D9R military bulldozer. She had been nonviolently demonstrating against the demolitions of Palestinian homes.

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One of the witnesses, known to the court as Yossi, was a Colonel in the Engineering Corps. He was responsible for writing operating manuals for military bulldozers and other equipment. He also conducted a simulation of what the bulldozer driver would have been able to see. In his testimony:

He repeatedly insisted that there are no civilians in a war zone. His assertion disregards the reality in the Palestinian Occupied Territories as well as international humanitarian law, which was created to protect civilians in armed conflict situations.

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Military police investigator’s testimony reveals additional flaws in the investigation into Rachel Corrie’s killing

Posted on September 5, 2010

(Haifa, Israel – September 5, 2010)– The civil law suit filed by Rachel Corrie’s family against the State of Israel for her unlawful killing in Rafah, Gaza, resumed Sunday in the Haifa District Court. In March, the Corrie family called their witnesses to the stand. Today marked the beginning of the State’s testimony.

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The first state witness, a Military Police investigator known to the court as Oded, was part of a three-person team that investigated Rachel’s killing. Oded corroborated much of the testimony provided by El’ad, an investigator who testified in March, and added additional details about the inadequacy of the investigation.

Oded confirmed that a commander of the unit involved in Rachel’s killing interrupted the questioning of the bulldozer operator, telling him that Doron Almog, head of the Israeli military’s Southern Command, had ordered that the questioning cease. He also said that, in his experience, interference of this nature from military commanders was not uncommon.
When asked why he did not challenge the intervention, Oded said that as a junior investigator, it was not his place to do so. He was 20-years-old at the time, with only a high-school education and three-months of training in investigation.
Corrie’s case was the first civilian killing that Oded investigated from beginning to end. [Read more…]

Israeli court resumes trial in killing of American activist Rachel Corrie

Posted on September 1, 2010

(Haifa, Israel – September 1, 2010)– On Sunday, September 5th, the Haifa District Court will resume hearing 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 demolitions with fellow members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). The second phase of the trial is expected to shed more light on the circumstances of her death and the Israeli government failure to conduct a thorough, credible and transparent investigation into her killing.

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Thirteen affidavits have been submitted by the State, including those from both the driver and commander in the bulldozer that ran over Corrie, and from other military personnel involved.

“As the trial in the killing of our daughter Rachel resumes in Haifa, we look forward to hearing from the State’s witnesses,” said Rachel’s father, Craig Corrie. “For seven years our family has asked the Government of Israel to provide a complete, credible, and truthful explanation for the killing of our daughter. We hope and demand they will take this opportunity to provide one.”

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