Henry Imler March 17th, 2006
In reading more today about the circumstances around Rachel Corrie’s death, I came across the Wikipedia article: Rachel Corrie. I would hate to be an ideologue on this issue, so I am reading what I can and I want to share a little of my thought process with you.
The Israeli military frequently used armored bulldozers
to demolish buildings and farmland in Rafah, inside what Israel called
a “security zone” (”no man’s land”) near the border with Egypt. The IDF
said that the demolitions were intended to uncover explosive devices,
and destroy smuggling tunnels and firing positions. Palestinians were
sometimes killed in demolition operations, which critics regarded as a
form of collective punishment, while proponents saw them as a
legitimate and essential measure of self-defense. Some Israeli soldiers
were killed while conducting these operations. [5]
On March 16, 2003, Corrie was in a group of seven ISM activists (three
British and four Americans) attempting to disrupt the actions of the
bulldozers. The IDF later said it was not intending to demolish houses
but was clearing debris and shrubbery to expose explosive devices.
Were the soldiers trying to hurt people? Listen to this from Joseph Smith’s account:
[Between 15:00 and 16:00], one bulldozer pushed Will, an
American activist, up against a pile of barbed wire. Fortunately, the
bulldozer stopped and withdrew just in time to avoid injuring him
seriously, but we had to dig him out of the rubble, and unhook his
clothing from the wire. The tank approached to see if he was ok. One
soldier stuck his head out of the tank to see, and he looked quite
shocked and dumbfounded, but said nothing …
If that describes the general intent of the soldiers, then it is
reasonable to assume that they meant no harm to the ISM members. The
rest of Smith’s account is horrifying, but it is hard to accept his
claim that the Israelis were tried to kill Rachel, deliberately running
over her twice.
“The driver at no point saw or heard Corrie.
She was standing behind debris which obstructed the view of the driver
and the driver had a very limited field of vision due to the protective
cage he was working in.
“The driver and his commanders were interrogated extensively over a
long period of time with the use of polygraph tests and video evidence.
They had no knowledge that she was standing in the path of the tractor.
An autopsy of Corrie’s body revealed that the cause of death was from
falling debris and not from the tractor physically rolling over her. It
was a tragic accident that never should have happened.
“The International Solidarity Movement, to which Corrie belonged, was
directly responsible for illegal behavior and conduct in the area of
Corrie’s death and their actions directly led to this tragedy.” [12]
The Israeli army’s report, which was seen by the The Guardian, said
that Corrie was: “struck as she stood behind a mound of earth that was
created by an engineering vehicle operating in the area and she was
hidden from the view of the vehicle’s operator who continued with his
work. Corrie was struck by dirt and a slab of concrete resulting in her
death … The finding of the operational investigations shows that
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,” (The Guardian, April 14, 2003). [13]
Blind Spots:
Was Corrie in a blind spot? From my 9 years of experience running bobcats on my parent’s farm, I know that there are a lot of blind spots. Now consider the D9:
The visibility is so bad in the D9’s that the IDF requires that
other people on the ground help with visibility. According to
Wikipedia, these soldiers were unable to help because of the snipers in
the area.
Because the Caterpillar D9 bulldozers have a restricted
field of vision with several blind spots, Israeli army regulations
normally require that other soldiers assist in directing bulldozer
drivers, but the Israeli army commander of the Gaza Strip said in an
interview broadcast on Israeli television that, on the day of Corrie’s
death, soldiers had to stay in their armored vehicles and were not able
to direct the bulldozer, or arrest the protesters, because of a
potential threat from Palestinian snipers. He also said that Israeli
soldiers may have been handling other ISM activists instead of watching
over the bulldozer. The ISM activists in the vicinity say they were not
being “handled” by soldiers at the time of the incident.
All of this furthers my suspicion that her death was an accident. A
horrific and tragic accident, but not a murder. You should read the
whole article.
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