Rachel Corrie, We Will Not Forget You!
Published on April, 04 2018
Dove, artist unknown, left at Rachel’s memorial. Courtesy Rachel Corrie Foundation.
By Odile Hugonot Haber
Co-chair, Middle East Committee
On March 16-17, the Rachel Corrie Foundation organized a gathering to remember Rachel Corrie and to celebrate 15 years of Palestinian solidarity and community organizing. It was the 15th anniversary of Rachel’s death.
Rachel Corrie, an American activist, was 23 in March 2003 when she was killed while undertaking nonviolent direct action to protect a Palestinian house from being destroyed by an Israeli-driven military bulldozer. She was crushed to death by the Caterpillar bulldozer.
Rachel had responded to a call by the group International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in 2001. ISM was founded in part by Huwaida Arraf, an American Palestinian born in Detroit. Huwaida Arraf is a lawyer who is married to Adam Shapiro, a Jewish Activist. Huwaida was invited to speak for this anniversary.
Since Rachel's death, multiple activism and organizing efforts have been carried out in her name around the world. The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice was created by her parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, in Olympia, Washington.
After her death, Rachel’s parents sued the State of Israel, first in a civil suit, and then in an appeal to the Supreme Court, but in both cases they were denied justice. In response they have been quoted as saying, “We had hoped for a different outcome through we have come to see through this experience how deeply all of Israel institutions are implicated in the impunity enjoyed by the Israeli Military.”
In 2017 alone, Israel forcibly displaced more than 650 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, demolishing their homes and a total of 400 structures. From 1967 to 2015, it had been estimated by the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) that the Israeli forces have razed 48,488 Palestinian homes.
The Rachel Corrie Foundation put out this alarm on Gaza in particular:
“For over a decade, the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza have lived under a brutal Israeli-imposed blockade. The impact has been devastating, so much so that the United Nations has said that Gaza could become uninhabitable by 2020. Impoverishment, high unemployment, housing shortages, overcrowded schools, inadequate health services, and lack of sufficient access to electricity are among the daily challenges facing Palestinians in Gaza.”
From "To Gaza with Love," AFSC.
Foundation representatives also disseminated other information on Palestinian Children Under Attack #FreeAhed Tamimi and all Child Detainees. We recently learned that Ahed Tamimi was condemned to eight months in prison. There are over 300 Palestinian children currently imprisoned by the Israeli occupation.
A flyer passed at the Rachel Corrie Foundation event explained: “Ahed Tamimi is not alone; indeed she is one of over 300 Palestinian children prisoners currently by the Israeli occupation. Every year, over 700 Palestinian children face military trials and occupation. Palestinian children are subject to torture and abuse under interrogation, arbitrary military trials, denials, denial of their right to education, physical and psychological violence, and imprisonment without charge or trial on a regular basis.”
Child’s art left at Rachel’s memorial. Courtesy Rachel Corrie Foundation.
Call your representatives to support H.R.4391 the promoting of Human Rights by ending military detention of Palestinian Children Act. Ask them to release Palestinian children.
Call the House switchboard (202) 224-3121 and ask to speak to your representative's office.
To learn more and take action, go to samidoun.net (Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network).
We also want to remind everyone that there is another flotilla to Gaza that is being prepared needing support. E-mail: 2018sailtoGaza@gmail.com Facebook, click here.
Sources: Rachel Corrie Foundation, Electronic Intifada.
Photo of Rachel Corrie: Courtesy Rachel Corrie Foundation
