Rachel Corrie

Rachel Corrie
Born(1979-04-10)April 10, 1979
Olympia, Washington, United States
DiedMarch 16, 2003(2003-03-16) (aged 23)
Rafah, Gaza Strip, Israeli-occupied Palestinian Territories
Cause of deathCrushed by an Israeli armored bulldozer
NationalityAmerican
Alma materEvergreen State College
Occupations
  • Activist
  • diarist
Years active1997–2003
MovementInternational Solidarity Movement

Rachel Aliene Corrie (April 10, 1979 – March 16, 2003) was an American nonviolence activist and diarist.[1][2] She was a member of the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement (ISM)[3] and was active throughout the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. In 2003, Corrie was in Rafah, a city in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military was demolishing Palestinian houses at the height of the Second Intifada. While protesting the demolitions as they were being carried out, she was killed by an Israeli armored bulldozer that crushed her.[4][2][5][6]

Corrie was born in Olympia, Washington, the United States in 1979. After graduating from Capital High School, Corrie went on to attend Evergreen State College. She took a year off from her studies to work as a volunteer in the Washington State Conservation Corps, where she spent three years making weekly visits to mental patients. While at Evergreen State College she became a "committed peace activist" arranging peace events through a local group called "Olympians for Peace and Solidarity". She later joined the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) organization in order to protest the policies of the Israeli army in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. She had gone to Gaza as part of her college's senior-year independent-study proposal to connect Olympia and Rafah with each other as sister cities.[7] While in Rafah on March 16, 2003, she joined other ISM activists in efforts to nonviolently prevent Israel's demolition of Palestinian property,[2][8][9] where she was killed by an Israeli bulldozer that crushed her.

Physicians present and fellow ISM activists claimed that Corrie was wearing a high visibility vest and deliberately driven over, while the Israeli army claimed that it was an accident because the bulldozer operator did not see her.[10][11][12][13] Following the incident, an Israeli military investigation concluded that Corrie's death was the result of an accident and that the bulldozer operator had limited visibility. The ruling attracted criticism from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B'Tselem, and Yesh Din.[14][15][16] HRW stated that the ruling represented a pattern of impunity for Israeli forces.[14]

In 2005, Corrie's parents filed a civil lawsuit, charging the Israeli state with not conducting a full and credible investigation into the case and therefore holding responsibility for her death.[17] They contended that she had either been intentionally killed or that the Israeli soldiers on scene had acted with reckless neglect.[5] They sued for a symbolic US$1 in damages. However, an Israeli court rejected their suit in August 2012 and upheld the results of the military's investigation, ruling that the Israeli government was not responsible for Corrie's death,[5] again attracting criticism from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and various activists.[14][15][16] An appeal against this ruling was heard on May 21, 2014, but was ultimately rejected by the Supreme Court of Israel on February 14, 2015.[18]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Haaretz American peace activist was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c "Profile: Rachel Corrie". BBC News. August 28, 2012. Archived from the original on December 20, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
  3. ^ Sherwood, Harriet (August 28, 2012). "Rachel Corrie's death was an accident, Israeli judge rules". The Guardian. Archived from the original on October 5, 2013. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  4. ^ "Rachel Corrie: a memory that refuses to die". The Guardian. August 28, 2012. Archived from the original on October 5, 2013. Retrieved September 7, 2012.
  5. ^ a b c "Court dismisses damages claim in Rachel Corrie case". The Times of Israel. August 28, 2012. Archived from the original on August 30, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2012.
  6. ^ "Israeli bulldozer kills American protester". CNN. March 25, 2003. Archived from the original on July 24, 2013. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  7. ^ Gordon, Neve (September 5, 2012). "No justice for Rachel Corrie". Opinion. Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on September 13, 2012. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
  8. ^ Abu Hussein, Hussein (September 2, 2012). "Rachel Corrie: Blaming the victim". Opinion. Haaretz. Archived from the original on October 1, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  9. ^ "Rachel Corrie verdict highlights impunity for Israeli military". Amnesty USA. August 28, 2012. Archived from the original on March 10, 2013. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  10. ^ Urquhart, Conal (April 14, 2003). "Israeli report clears troops over US death". The Guardian. Archived from the original on August 27, 2013. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
  11. ^ Webley, Kayla (June 4, 2010). "Who Is Rachel Corrie?". Time. Archived from the original on June 5, 2010. Retrieved June 6, 2010.
  12. ^ "Rachel Corrie: A worldwide symbol of the Palestinian struggle". arabnews.com. March 16, 2011. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  13. ^ Tarnopolsky, Noga (September 1, 2012). "Rachel Corrie's death: 'it's a no brainer that this was gross negligence'". Alaska Dispatch. Archived from the original on September 6, 2012. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  14. ^ a b c "Rachel Corrie verdict highlights impunity for Israeli military". Amnesty International. August 29, 2012. Archived from the original on September 2, 2012. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
  15. ^ a b Lynfield, Ben (August 2012). "Israeli court dismisses Corrie family's lawsuit, ending effort to put army on trial (+video)". Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on January 5, 2016. Retrieved October 26, 2015.
  16. ^ a b Hass, Amira (August 23, 2012). "U.S.: Israeli probe into Rachel Corrie's death wasn't 'credible'". Haaretz. Archived from the original on September 4, 2012. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
  17. ^ Pollard, Ruth (August 28, 2012). "Israeli army cleared of activist's death". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on August 30, 2012. Retrieved September 7, 2012.
  18. ^ Beaumont, Peter (February 13, 2015). "Rachel Corrie's family loses wrongful death appeal in Israel's supreme court". The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 15, 2015.