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Rachel Corrie

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Rachel Corrie (1979 - March 16, 2003) was an American peace activist who was crushed to death while attempting to block an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bulldozer in a Gaza Strip refugee camp.

Corrie grew up in Olympia, Washington, and graduated from Capital High School. She had been a senior at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, where she studied the arts and international relations. She took a leave of absence to participate in resistance against the IDF as a member of the Palestinian-led International Solidarity Movement (ISM). In her home town, she was known in the local peace movement and was an active member of the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace. She played soccer, gardened and read the poems of Pablo Neruda. She was the daughter of Craig Corrie, an insurance executive, and Cindy Corrie, a school volunteer and flutist.

Arrival in Gaza

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Corrie burning flag at protest

On January 18, 2003, Corrie left the United States for the Gaza Strip. Once there, she received two days of training in non-violent resistance techniques and philosophy before joining other ISM activists to participate in direct action. Through February and March she participated in a variety of actions including:

As well as direct action, Corrie was a human rights observer, attempting to document the actions of Israeli troops in the area, such as the destruction of 25 greenhouses, and the digging up of the road to Gaza City. She also documented shots being fired at Rafah Municipal Water Authority workers attempting to rebuild the "Canada Well" and "El Iskan Well" that were bulldozed by the Israeli military on January 30. During her stay, she communicated by email with "Danny", a reserve first sergeant in the IDF, who urged her to "document as much as you can and do not embellish anything with creative writing".

Her third role was simply talking to the local Palestinians - she spent several nights sleeping with various Palestinian families. In emails to her mother, she mentions such comparatively mundane pursuits as watching Gummi Bears dubbed in Arabic, and helping a Palestinian boy with his English homework. She was also involved in a children's pen pal program between Gaza Strip and United States. She wanted Olympia to become a "sister city" of Rafah.

Fatal incident in Rafah

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Corrie hours before incident

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Corrie immediately after incident

On March 16, 2003, Corrie was one of a group of seven ISM activists (made of three British and four Americans) who were attempting to disrupt IDF demolition operations where armored bulldozers are used to level buildings and vegetation. These operations are part of a larger Israeli project to construct a wall separating the Rafah refugee camp from Egypt, a project which is opposed by Palestinians.

On this particular day, two bulldozers, supported by a tank, were either ripping up shrubbery (according to Israeli officials) or demolishing homes (according to the protestors). HonestReporting.com claimed that the bulldozers were destroying smuggling tunnels - a theory not supported by Israeli government statements or by eyewitnesses. Corrie was wearing a red reflective jacket.

Most eyewitness accounts of Corrie's death have come from her fellow ISM activists, while a couple came from Palestinian witnesses. These accounts have changed over time and continue to differ on key details.

According to these accounts, the group had been attempting to obstruct the bulldozers for roughly two hours. These attempts consisted primarily of kneeling or standing in front of the bulldozers, and shouting at the bulldozer operators through a megaphone. The protesters report that the bulldozers had generally ignored their presence and that only by diving out of the paths of the bulldozers at the last minute had they avoided being crushed. Roughly an hour before the fatal incident the IDF used tear gas and fired warning shots to disperse the ISM protesters, who later regrouped.

A fellow ISM activist stated that she was "kneeling in front of the bulldozer and tried to scramble out of its way , said Tom Dale, 18, a British protester who said he was standing several yards away. "She thought they'd stop, but they kept going," Dale said. "She tried to stand up and fell over backwards. The bulldozer dragged her under its blade. About four of the internationals [protesters] gestured to the driver . . . but it kept going, and she was under the main body of the bulldozer."

Crushed beneath the debris and the bulldozer, Corrie suffered massive internal injuries. The bulldozers and tank withdrew, and Corrie was rushed by a Red Crescent ambulance to the local Al-Najar hospital where she died of suffocation due to her injuries. She became the first ISM volunteer to die in the conflict in over two years of ISM activities in the Palestinian territories.

Reactions to Rachel's Death

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Palestinian memorial

Capt. Jacob Dallal, a spokesman for the Israeli army, called the incident a "regrettable accident," but said Corrie and the other ISM activists were "a group of protesters who were acting very irresponsibly, putting everyone in danger - the Palestinians, themselves and our forces - by intentionally placing themselves in a combat zone". The Israeli government is conducting an investigation into her death.

On March 17, Amnesty International USA condemned the killing of Rachel Corrie and called for an independant inquiry. Christine Bustany, their Advocacy Director for the Middle East, said that "US-made bulldozers have been 'weaponized' and their transfer to Israel must be suspended".

In Rafah and elsewhere in the Palestinian territories, Rachel has been treated as a shahid or "martyr" - the first non-Palestinian to treated in this way. On March 18, there was a memorial service at the place where Rachel died, attended by between 40 and 100 people, which was interrupted by an Israeli APC which fired tear gas and stun grenades.

Quotes by Rachel Corrie

  • "I think I could see a Palestinian state or a democratic Israeli-Palestinian state within my lifetime". (February 28, 2003)
  • "[We] stood in the path of the bulldozer and were physically pushed with the shovel backwards, taking shelter in a house. The bulldozer then proceeded on its course, demolishing one side of the house with [us] inside." (from a February 14th email)
  • "I don't know if many of the children here have ever existed without tank-shell holes in their walls and the towers of an occupying army surveying them constantly from the near horizons." (from a February 7th email)
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