Rachel Corrie (right) defending a Palestinian well (ISM Handout)
An Israeli court has ruled in a civil case that the Israel army was not at fault in the death of American pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie in 2003 as she stood in front of a bulldozer to try to prevent the Israeli army from demolishing Palestinian homes around Rafah.
Corrie was a 23 year old member of activist group the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) when she died after standing as a “human shield” to protect the homes of Palestinians. At the Haifa District Court in northern Israel, Judge Oded Gershon found such actions meant that her death was not due to the negligence of the bulldozer driver, saying:
“The deceased put herself into a dangerous situation, she stood in front of a giant bulldozer in a place where the operator could not see her. She did not distance herself as a reasonable person would have done…Her death is the result of an accident she bought upon herself.”
The Corrie’s parents brought the civil suit against the Israeli army after a 2003 israeli military police investigation found their daughter had been killed by falling earth as a result of her own irresponsible behaviour, a report criticised by senior US officials. The Corries had requested a symbolic $1 in damages and legal expenses.
Israel’s far-right Yisrael Beitenu party, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, heralded the verdict, calling it “vindication after vilification.”
Since her death, Corrie’s story has been dramatised on stage in a number of countries and told in the book Let Me Stand Alone. An aid ship intercepted by the Israeli military in 2010 while trying to break the blockade of Gaza was also named after her.
