Corrie, Rachel (d. 2003)

Revision as of 15:01, 11 October 2011

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2003 Jun 9 p. 5

Birth date:

text of obituary:

Tragic end to a young life

WORLD NEIGHBORS

Kathleen Kern

An Israeli reserve officer taught Rachel Corrie a few Hebrew phrases to appeal to the humane side of soldiers she would encounter in Gaza. Such as, "What would your mother think about what you're doing?"

After the Israeli military crushed Rachel with a bulldozer on March 16, 2003, this Israeli reserve officer wrote her parents, telling them how sorry he was he had taught Rachel that these soldiers had a conscience.

Rachel died trying to save Palestinian houses from demolition the week before the U.S. invaded Iraq. So her death dropped out of the news quickly. But it has continued to haunt Israelis, internationals and Palestinians working as human-rights advocates in the Occupied Territories.

So many of them have stood in front of Israeli bulldozers, assuming that the worst consequence would be their arrest and failure to save Palestinian homes and farmland from destruction.

But the photos of the event provided stark proof to these activists that the bulldozer driver intended to kill Rachel. in one taken just before she was run over, she stands on a mound of dirt wearing a florescent orange jacket and talking through a bullhorn. She is at eye level with the man driving the bulldozer.

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2003 Oct 13 p. 5