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.
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