Posted on 18-3-2004

Remembering Rachel

Home demolitions are a violation of international law, by Justin Podur,
March 16, 2004

On March 16, 2004, people will hold vigils and rallies in different parts
of the world to remember Rachel Corrie, a young American woman, part of
the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), who was murdered in the Gaza
Strip by a bulldozer on this day last year.

Many other Palestinians, and some internationals, including the ISM's Tom
Hurndall, have been murdered in the Gaza Strip since. Figures from
B'Tselem, the Israeli human rights organization, show that Israeli
security forces and armed settlers have killed 540 Palestinians since
March, 2003, four of whom were killed inside Israel's borders, 109 of whom
were children under 18. At the same time, 132 Israeli civilians, including
20 children, were killed by Palestinians.

B'Tselem's figures were last updated on March 5. The recent killings in
Jenin and Rafah, as well as the suicide bombings in Ashdod over the past
weekend, were not included.

Rachel Corrie was trying to prevent one of Israel's military bulldozers
from destroying a house in Rafah, a city that has been virtually razed to
the ground by such bulldozers in the year since she was killed. B'Tselem
reports that Israel demolished 223 houses in 2003 and 30 so far in 2004,
to March 7, and that these demolitions are conducted as punishment,
?against families of persons 'wanted' by the security forces or who have
been killed.?

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) reported before October
2003 that Israel had demolished 655 houses in Gaza since September 2000,
rendering 5,124 homeless, along with large tracts of agricultural land. In
operations in October, Israel destroyed another 200 homes and made 2,000
more people homeless. B?Tselem emphasizes that the persons who actually
suffer from the demolitions are not people even suspected of having
committed any offense. In other words, the demolitions are collective
punishment, a violation of international law.

In 2003, the UN Special Rapporteur for food reported that over 22 per cent
of Palestinian children under five are suffering from malnutrition and
15.6 per cent from acute anemia, which brings permanent negative effects
on development. This malnutrition is a direct result of Israel's
?closures? policy, which has effectively shut down the Palestinian economy
and frequently prevents emergency food aid from entering the territories.

There is much more to this conflict, as Rachel herself well understood,
than the figures on innocents killed or children starving, or houses and
fields demolished. In a letter to friends and family in the U.S., she
described her difficulty in trying to convey the larger picture without
using ?charged? words: ?The assassinations, rocket attacks and shooting of
children are atrocities ? but in focusing on them I'm terrified of missing
their context. The vast majority of people here ? even if they had the
economic means to escape, even if they actually wanted to give up
resisting on their land and just leave (which appears to be maybe the less
nefarious of Sharon's possible goals), can't leave. Because they can't
even get into Israel to apply for visas, and because their destination
countries won't let them in (both our country and Arab countries). So I
think when all means of survival is cut off in a pen (Gaza) which people
can't get out of, I think that qualifies as genocide. I don't like to use
those charged words. I think you know this about me.?

After March 2003, Israel denied responsibility for Rachel's murder and
took the opportunity to attack the young woman's organization, the ISM,
for acting ?irresponsibly.? The Israeli Army investigated and acquitted
itself of any wrongdoing.

The ISM is an organization based on an alliance among Palestinians,
Israelis and internationals who are trying to resist the Israeli
occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip using nonviolent tactics.
In the year since Rachel's death, Palestinians and their friends in ISM
and other groups have mobilized against the massive wall Israel is
building in the West Bank, against house demolitions in places like Rafah,
and against the hundreds of military checkpoints that dot the landscape of
the Occupied Territories, choking the Palestinian society and economy.

Palestinians and Israelis who want the occupation and violence to end
agree that international support and international pressure is needed. For
that reason, ISM members work in their own countries as well.

The helicopters and warplanes that have killed Palestinian civilians in
bombing raids in Gaza are made in the United States. The bulldozers that
demolish houses for collective punishment are made by Caterpillar
Corporation. In Toronto, the March 16 actions will include a stop at
Caterpillar Corporation's offices.

Rachel Corrie was well aware that the destruction in Israel/Palestine is
an international issue in which everyone plays a role. In some sense, this
was her last will. ?When I come back from Palestine,? she said, ?I
probably will have nightmares and constantly feel guilty for not being
here, but I can channel that into more work if the Israeli military should
break with their racist tendency not to injure white people. Please pin
the reason squarely on the fact that I am in the midst of a genocide which
I am also indirectly supporting, and for which my government is largely
responsible.?

To try to channel the nightmares into more work for justice and peace for
everyone involved: that is the way to honour Rachel's memory.

Justin Podur is a member of the International Solidarity Movement.