Rachel Corrie verdict due tomorrow
A member of the International Solidarity Movement waves a picture of Rachel Corrie in front of an Israeli tank during a demonstration where Corrie was killed on March 18, 2003. ISM members and Palestinians protested the killing of Corrie who was crushed to death 16 March by an Israeli army bulldozer in Rafah as she and other activists tried to prevent the destruction of Palestinian homes, Palestinian officials and a US witness said.
More than nine years ago activist Rachel Corrie, from Olympia, Washington, died while trying to prevent an Israeli military bulldozer from demolishing a Palestinian home in the Gaza Strip. Now, the civil lawsuit her mother and father brought against Israel's military in 2005 will to end tomorrow.
Her parents are seeking from the state of Israel $1 US dollar, the amount it cost to try the case and accountability for their daughter's death.
"We are here with a great deal of anticipation for Tuesday," Corrie's mother, Cindy, told the Associated Press. "We are hoping for some accountability here for what happened to Rachel."
The driver of the Caterpillar D9R armored bulldozer said he couldn't see Corrie. Israeli Defense Forces' investigation found:
"Rachel Corrie was not run over by an engineering vehicle but rather was struck by a hard object, most probably a slab of concrete which was moved or slid down while the mound of earth which she was standing behind was moved."
Eyewitness Richard Purssell disagreed:
"She was standing on top of a pile of earth. The driver cannot have failed to see her. As the blade pushed the pile, the earth rose up. Rachel slid down the pile. It looks as if her foot got caught. The driver didn't slow down; he just ran over her. Then he reversed the bulldozer back over her again."
Israel's Justice Ministry has said:
"Rachel Corrie was injured as a result of her prohibited action, for which she is solely responsible, due to her considerable negligence and lack of caution."
Corrie was member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a group that nonviolently supports the Palestinian cause. She was not the first or the last foreign activist to be killed or seriously injured in "confrontations with the Israeli military," the Associated Press reported