Thank you for finding and posting it, blogger.
Also see: The Martyred Saint Rachel Corrie
Rachel Corrie: Remembered With Love
Here's what the blogger found, with his comments:
"Let Me Stand Alone"
"I learned only yesterday that the name Rachel is jewish meaning, "the ewe". A lamb sacrificed....That ring a bell for someone?
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Thursday 3 April 2008, by Faryal Awan
On March 16, 2003, Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American peace activist was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer as she tried to prevent the home of a Palestinian pharmacist from being destroyed. Yesterday, 5 years and a few days later, her parents Cindy and Craig Corrie, of the ’Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice’ gave a poignant and heart wrenching talk about ’Rachel’s Cause’ as well as the ’Cause of Rachel.’ Hosted by the Dalia Centre in West Jerusalem, the talk was part of the ’Last Wednesday Forum,’ introduced and supported by Jeff Halper from the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (IACD). The Corries spoke about their daughter’s life in Gaza illuminated by emails she wrote during her time there; as well as their own five year struggle and search for truth about their daughter’s killing in Rafah, Gaza. The talks took an unflinching look at the life of their daughter and simultaneously documented their own search for truth as they continue to campaign for answers over her death. They spoke with intermingled pride in their daughter’s life rooted in a deep sense of loss.
Rachel was run over by an Israeli-driven, U.S.-made Caterpillar D9 bulldozer while attempting to prevent the destruction of a civilian Palestinian home. In the five years since she was brutally murdered by the IDF, the Corries have adopted as their own the cause in which their daughter lost her life. Losing a child beneath a 60-ton armored IDF bulldozer and coping gracefully with a such a senseless and devastating loss and, moreover, investing it with meaning, is not something every human has the courage or ability to undertake. Their response to her killing has been to honour her by educating others and embracing nonviolent activism on behalf of peaceful dialogue, rather than allowing their daughter’s death to be in vain. As humanity’s torchbearers, they really light the path of those who seek a way out of the darkness and despair of this conflict. Their aim is not to denounce the ’other’: as Craig Corrie insisted, the soldier (only known to the family by his initials) is also a victim, a victim who lost humanity when Rachel lost her life. He went as far as to say that he would like to get to the point where he would be able to give his daughter’s killer a ’hug.’ This kind of human compassion and empathy inspired by their own daughter is inspiring to a region overshadowed by revenge and a deep-rooted hatred for the ’other.’
Rachel Corrie went to Gaza as part of the human shield action of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). ISM is a Palestinian-led, internationally respected non-violent movement that protects civilians under occupation, documents human rights abuses and publicizes what is happening in Palestine under the Israeli occupation. As an ISM volunteer, Rachel stood there in Rafah, the most ’forsaken part’ of the Occupied Territories protesting illegal home demolitions that even her own government, Israel’s most steadfast friend, opposes in theory, however never stops. Hypocritically, the US actually supports these demolitions with billions in annual military aid to Israel. Mrs. Corrie found the courage to comment that Rachel’s death could have been paid for by ’our very own tax money.’ Without knowing, US citizens have been paying and dying for Israel since the latter’s creation.
This special relationship between Israel and the United States in this case, as many others, has proven to be extremely detrimental to the US. One of the US’s key responsibilities overseas is to ensure the welfare of its citizens. However, in the case of Israel, the close ally comes above and beyond its own citizens. The Corries informed us that Sharon’s promise to Bush about a ’thorough, credible and transparent’ investigation was not honored: the Israeli government exonerated the soldiers, closed the case, and refused to release the complete investigation report to the US government. The IDF concluded after an inquiry (which was widely criticized as being unfair) that the driver did not see Rachel, and that therefore no charges would be brought against him. The case was closed despite the testimony of seven eye witnesses who said that since Corrie was pushed as high as the cab of the vehicle, it was impossible for the driver to miss her. On the suggestion and advice of the noted Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery, the Corries ’returned to the US to lobby Congress.’ This became their cause, a cause which highlights the dual loyalties of the US Congress, towards its citizens and towards the state of Israel.
In response to inquiries from the Corrie family regarding the Israeli Military Police investigation, the US State Department found the investigation to be ’insufficient’ and not reflective of the whole picture. However, the US government shied away from acting and in the end the ultimate trauma of ’upsetting the Israelis’ stopped the case from being pursued. This clearly shows that as things stand today, Israel has the US Administration firmly in its grip, to the extent that this Administration blatantly and obediently ignores its key responsibilities to the welfare of its own citizens. This case raises wider issues of Israel’s maddening influence and control of American political institutions. As is obvious to many people around the world, and even to some Israelis, the US places the interests of Israel above the security of its own citizens and allies. Therefore, the supposedly mutually beneficial relationship with Israel has proved to be more of a liability than an asset. While the US certainly derives benefits from its partnership with Israel, the downsides are huge.
Mrs. Corrie pointed out that the allegiance and loyalty of AIPAC (America’s pro-Israel lobby) is to Israel, rather than to the US. She said this was proven by the fact that AIPAC completely dismissed Rachel’s death and backed the Israeli report, according to which Rachel could not be seen as she was ’lying on the sand.’ AIPAC was also able to convince a New York Theatre company to cancel the play ’My name is Rachel Corrie,’ further alluding to the great power that AIPAC and the neo-conservative lobbies have acquired in the US. The play based on Rachel’s writing opened in London to great acclaim, has been translated into Arabic, and is currently staged (though not in Hebrew) in Israeli cities such as Haifa and Nazareth. Thus a play shown in Britain and Israel could not be staged in NY due to pressure on the theatre. The argument given was that the play was flawed: Instead of trying to save a civilian house, as the play suggested, she was actually killed while trying to stop the IDF from collapsing a tunnel used to smuggle weapons.
The power of the Israeli lobby in the US and media brainwashing explains the Corries’ pro-Israel/Jewish outlook prior to Rachel’s work in Gaza. Mrs. Corrie told how the family had always been sympathetic to Israel. They had read the Diary of Anne Franke and other stories of the holocaust to their children as bedtime stories. It took Rachel’s emails - a passionate eyewitness account of the atrocities in Gaza - to initially open their eyes to the Palestinian plight. Some of the emails were read out by Mrs. Corrie and most constituted a searing indictment of the treatment of the Palestinian people by Israel and in turn the US. Rachel’s emails and her journal entries have been published by the Corries under the name ’Let me Stand Alone.’ It was her words, her life, her death that asserted to the Corries that citizens of the US and the rest of the western world need to wake up and realise our own role in the conflict. The position of privilege we enjoy must come with a certain level of responsibility. Thus began their own political activism and unfaltering support for the Palestinian people.
(The photo of Rachel Corrie at the head of this article is from Wikipedia)"
