Remembering Rachel Corrie and the thousands of Palestinians killed by Israel.

Dear friends,

today, 16 March 2013, marks 10 years since American activist, Rachel Corrie was murdered in Occupied Gaza by the Israeli military.  Rachel, a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was in Rafah and was attempting to non-violently stop the demolition of a Palestinian home when she was crushed to death when an armoured Israeli military caterpillar bulldozer ran over her twice.  

Rachel was the second international to be killed protesting Israel's military regime and the first ISM activist to be killed.  Between 2002 and 2013, Israel has killed at least 11 international activists involved in protests against Israel's occupation and apartheid regime.  During this same time, the Israeli state has killed thousands upon thousands of unarmed Palestinian civilians.  

As the 2005 Human Rights Watch report, "Promoting Impunity: The Israeli Military’s Failure to Investigate Wrongdoing" notes in relation to the disparity between the way in which the murder of Palestinian and internationals are treated by Israel: 

Incidents in which Israeli forces have killed Westerners are investigated more frequently than the deaths of Palestinian civilians. This is partly because the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israeli government are highly sensitive to the media impact of such killings. It is also because the victims’ families have greater access to financial, media, and technical resources. But even investigations into the deaths of prominent foreign victims show clearly how the IDF’s delays, equivocation, and lack of transparency result in investigations that fall badly short of the “effective remedy” required by international law

For full HRW reported, click here 

Please find below an interview which was done with Rachel in Rafah, two days before she was killed in 2003.

Today on the anniversary of Rachel's murder, it is important to remember the thousands of Palestinians killed by Israel and whose names we may never know.   It is also a time to commit or recommit to the struggle for a Free Palestine and take action to demand an end to Israel's occupation and apartheid regime and support justice and freedom for the Palestinian people.

Write letters to your local papers, hold information stalls at your local shopping centre, get involved with your local Palestine solidarity group, join the Palestinian civil society Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, get your church group, union, school etc to support the struggle for a Free Palestine by passing motions in support of BDS and take to the streets with flashmobs, rallies and marches and say no to Israeli apartheid, occupation and war crimes.

In solidarity,
Kim

Rachel Corrie, 10 April 1979 - 16 March 2003