Rachel Corrie's memory, Israel's image (Neve Gordon)

[Violet_Crumble]

Seven years ago today, Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by a Caterpillar D9R Israeli bulldozer while nonviolently protesting the demolition of Palestinian homes in Rafah, Gaza Strip, along with other members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). Now her parents, sister and brother are suing the State of Israel and the defense minister, claiming wrongful death.

The suit's objective, according to Rachel's mother, Cindy, "is to illustrate the need for accountability for thousands of lives lost, or indelibly injured, by occupation.... We hope the trial will bring attention to the assault on nonviolent human rights activists (Palestinian, Israeli and international) and we hope it will underscore the fact that so many Palestinian families, harmed as deeply as ours or more, cannot access Israeli courts."

The State's attorneys have decided to use any and all ammunition to undermine Corrie's suit. They claim that there is no evidence that Rachel's parents and siblings are indeed her rightful inheritors; they argue that she "helped attack Israeli soldiers," "took part in belligerent activities" and accompanied armed men who attacked Israeli soldiers. In defense of the soldiers, the lawyers even write that the state "denies the deceased's pain and suffering, the loss of pleasures and the loss of longevity."

The Israeli state attorneys demonstrate yet again that when winning is everything, shame becomes superfluous.

As Corrie's civil suit is being heard in a Haifa court, Simone Bitton's movie Rachel is being shown at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. Rendering, as it were, the trial public, Bitton's subtle and nuanced movie also presents two narratives, one offered by the state of Israel and the other by the ISM activists and the Palestinian eyewitnesses who were with Rachel on that tragic day.

In a self-reflective moment, the film reveals that about an hour after Rachel was crushed to death, Salim Najar, a Palestinian street cleaner, was killed by an Israeli sniper in Rafah. The incident is important because it emphasizes that Palestinian blood is cheap--no media outlet bothered to cover the killing, and, as Bitton herself notes, no one will likely be making a movie about Najar. This incident also helps underscore that Rachel has become an iconic "Palestinian" of sorts as well as a symbol of the struggle for social justice. She dedicated the last part of her short life to the Palestinian cause, and, after she was killed, the memory of her human rights work in Rafah has helped internationalize the struggle. Rachel's memory has thus itself become a site where several struggles continue to be played out.

The Israeli government has always recognized the importance of the fight over narrative; it is particularly sensitive to stories--like Rachel Corrie's death--that take on global proportions and therefore influence Israel's international image.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100329/gordon

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Kurska]

2. You're completely out of line.

I don't believe the conspiracy theories that Israel intentionally killed Rachel Corrie, lets get that right out of the way. That said, I think it was a ACCIDENT, the driver didn't see her and the Rachael Corrie thought it would stop and probably couldn't see the bulldozer all that well either. There isn't any need to curse the driver or spit on Rachel's grave. I don't agree with the efforts to attack Israel with this anymore then you do, but you're lashing at a person who was long dead before any of that even started (Rachel herself).

[Violet_Crumble]

5. Well said, Kurska...

That said, I think it was a ACCIDENT, the driver didn't see her and the Rachael Corrie thought it would stop and probably couldn't see the bulldozer all that well either.

I came to that conclusion a long while ago. I think it was a preventable accident, though, and that the IDF was negligent in not taking care that there were no people in front of the bulldozer...

[Kurska]

7. I'm glad to see you hold that opinion.

All accidents are preventable, from what I hear the biggest issue was how heavily armored the bulldozer was, which was to protect it from attacks, but also decreased visibility. Negligence is a hard thing to determine, especially in extraordinary circumstances.

But I'm toeing the line here, I'm not qualified to comment on that.

[Violet_Crumble]

15. Well, it's really the only reasonable explanation when I thought about it...

While under Nutty's dysfunctional excuse for a govt it does look like Israel goes out hunting bad publicity by crapping on countries it has good relations with, I doubt the IDF went 'look! A young American student! Let's show the US how impotent they are by crushing her with a bulldozer!' I'm pretty sure there was no hunt for bad publicity, as while dead Palestinians don't get much publicity individually, dead Westerners are a whole different story....

[TexasProgresive]

18. How about Thomas Hurndall

I suppose the IDF didn't intentionally shoot him in the head while he was with children?

[Violet_Crumble]

3. Bullshit neatly sums up that post of yrs...

I'm not surprised that someone with a habit of posting revolting and bigoted comments about Arabs would be the type to blame Rachel Corrie's death on herself....

Why on earth am I supposed to be concerned about the man that killed her? Did someone run over him with a bulldozer or something?

[Alamuti Lotus]

10. That filth was still a notch above their normal "pancake" jokes, I suppose.. *nt

[Violet_Crumble]

13. I think they've gone visual this year and feel restricted by DU's no-image policy in this forum..

I saw one DUer posting images along the pancake queen line on a forum away from DU...

[oberliner]

16. "Pancake queen" ?

That is really in poor taste.

[Violet_Crumble]

17. I think the vast majority of DUers would feel that way...

I don't understand why anyone at DU would feel otherwise, but unfortunately there's one poster who is into that sick sort of stuff. I guess it's another reason to be glad that there's a no-image rule in the I/P forum so we can be spared from that stuff...

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Jefferson23]

29. Holy mackerel, there is a griddle thing going on. Sorry, I just don't understand why anyone would

feel that threatened and be so hateful. I'm sorry I looked.

[LeftishBrit]

19. I haven't seen such images this year, thank God or Mods, but some troll posted one here last year

It is utterly sick and disgusting IMO.

[polly7]

6. Myth.

Uh huh ....... poor driver. Plenty of people move heavy equipment with buckets, forks on farms here and manage to avoid cats and dogs running around every day, ...... either he was at best incompetent, or worse - she meant nothing more to him than the dirt he was moving. imo.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

22. Not Myth. The IDF dozers are heavily armored and have a restricted field of regard

The operator was also working without a spotter. Like others here, I believe it was an accident on the part of the driver.

[polly7]

26. Well Yeah.

I see tracjhoe's, bulldozers, etc operate here all the time - I know they most often do not have a spotter. She was killed tragically and in my opinion it was one that could have been avoided.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

30. Most accidents are avoidable

D9 Cats are very large earth movers with not a lot of close in forward visibility. Armor only makes that worse. Link to pic since pics are not allowed in this forum: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/D9R_rpg-armor06a.jpg

[TomClash]

8. Other "arrogant" people include

The monk who burned himself to protest the Vietnam War and the Tiannamen Square protester who stood in front of the tank.

[polly7]

4. She was a compassionate, empathetic friend to the Palestinian people

and truly wanted their lives to be better. She'll never be forgotton.

[TomClash]

9. Rachel Corrie

The only young blond American woman ever killed who the American media refused to cover incessantly.

Brand Israel at work.

[oberliner]

11. How about Marla Bennett?

Young American woman killed in Israel around the same time as Rachel Corrie. Haven't heard much from the American media about her.

And certainly nothing from DU commemorating her death.

Is it because she is a brunette?

Or is it because she was murdered by Hamas?

[Violet_Crumble]

12. I didn't realise the US media hadn't covered Rachel Corrie...

She was covered in the media here, as were Israeli victims of terrorist attacks. I think Tom would have been absolutely spot on if he'd said that Rachel Corrie is one of the few American women who are deemed to be unworthy victims. I'd have to dust down my copy of Manufacturing Consent and grab the details but a similar thing happened to a few US nuns in South America where they were murdered by a militant group that the US govt was supporting. In their case the US govt ignored what had been done to its own citizens because it had been done by a *friend*, and a similar thing happened when it came to Rachel Corrie's death. It's her family that pushed and pushed to get answers, not the US govt...

Also, it's important to note that while there's plenty of unanswered questions about the death of Rachel Corrie, terrorist groups take responsibility for the killings they carry out and hence there's not as much for journalists to write about...

[oberliner]

14. The US media did cover it

"Incessantly" - probably not.

The Natalee Holloway coverage, for instance, was wall-to-wall at the time.

[TomClash]

21. It was a blip on the screen here

It got less coverage here than the horrific and pointless cafeteria bombing Oberliner mentioned.

[oberliner]

24. Not true

It was covered in the press at the time. There wasn't all the nonsense such as what surrounded the Natalee Holloway incident, but it certainly had significant coverage and continues to be discussed in the media today - certainly moreso than the cafeteria bombing I mentioned.

[TomClash]

27. I agree and disagree

It was covered at the time but in New York the cafeteria bombing was covered much more. Since then, you are right - the cafeteria bombing has been forgotten, but because of Rachel's family, Alan Rickman, ISM and others, Rachel Corrie's murder has had a more lasting effect.

[TomClash]

20. Sure

It's probably because Hamas has so much support in the US and so much influence in the US media. All the lads at DU support Hamas. Plus the American taxpayer funds so much of Hamas. Yeah, that's fekkin' it,

:eyes:

[oberliner]

25. Hamas doesn't have much support in the US at all

Only on DU are folks more critical of the Israeli government than of Hamas.

In the US generally, or among Democrats in particular, that is certainly not the case.

[TomClash]

28. I guess you didn't notice the sarcasm nt