Oski: What, militants and their supporters don't have families? Neither you nor I have any intelligence as to what the nature of the family's supposed links to the militants were. The IDF and Israeli intelligence typically has very good intelligence in these matters. I would bet that this doctor was somehow linked, either financially or organizationally, to either Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or PFLP. Such groups cannot exist without affluent support... But either way, we don't know. I personally doubt that they were innocent; contrary to popular belief, the Israelis don't just go around destroying the houses of innocent civilians. There is usually a direct and specific reason why the particular targeted house is demolished. As for "knocking down refugee camps", the Israelis have yet to demolish one. They demolish specific targets inside of the camps when they have intelligence that the owner is linked to terrorism. There is a difference. BTW, what exactly do you suggest that they do to fight terrorism? I suggest removing the settlements, granting statehood, and leveling a city block inside a Palestinian city every time a suicide bomber strikes. Would you like my or their method better? You can't play soft with these people.
This particular home may or may not have been a militants home. Whether this particular one is or not there is no doubt that Israel regularly bulldozes homes of people who aren't terrorists. Also if it's a militants home, stake it out, and when the militant arrives get him. The bulldozer isn't the right way to do it.
Exactly, maybe more people will reconsider going overseas to protest. Just because you can do a certain type of protest in America doesn't exactly mean it will work elsewhere.
This is a picture the OMJP website linked to. I still feel that the IDF is completely unjustified in killing her, an unarmed woman no less. Based on additional reports we've seen so far, this incident might even be considered wanton murder. However, this picture does raise some unsettling quesions. a picture of Rachel Corrie.
The Isreali side's story. Monday, March 17, 2003 Adar2 13, 5763 Israel Time: 02:16 (GMT+2) Back Home IDF: Death of U.S. activist in Gaza was 'regrettable accident' By Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondent, and Agencies Rachel Corey (Photo: Reuters) Friends of Rachel Corey crying in Rafah on Sunday (Photo: AP) The killing of an American woman peace protester Sunday by an IDF bulldozer, which ran her over during the demolition of a house at the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, was a "regrettable accident," a spokesman for the the IDF said. "This is a regrettable accident," said IDF spokesman Captain Jacob Dallal. "We are dealing with a group of protesters who were acting very irresponsibly, putting everyone in danger." Rachel Corey, 23, from Olympia, Washington, was killed when she ran in front of the bulldozer to try to prevent it from destroying a house, doctors in Gaza said. Another activist was wounded in the incident. Hours later, two Palestinians were shot dead by IDF troops in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources said. A Palestinian youth was shot in Khan Yunis, according to the sources, while another man was shot in southern Rafah on the Egypt- Israel border. "Corey was killed in the al-Salam neighbourhood when an Israeli bulldozer covered her with sand as she stood in front of a bulldozer," said Dr Ali Musa, a doctor from the al-Najar hospital in the southern Gaza Strip. He said she died from skull and chest fractures. Greg Schnabel, 28, from Chicago, said the protesters were in the house of Dr. Samir Masri. "Rachel was alone in front of the house as we were trying to get them to stop," he said. "She waved for bulldozer to stop and waved. She fell down and the bulldozer kept going. We yelled 'stop, stop,' and the bulldozer didn't stop at all. It had completely run over her and then it reversed and ran back over her." Since the start of the Intifada, groups of international protesters have gathered in several locations in territories, setting themselves up as "human shields" to try to stop IDF operations. Corey was the first member of the groups, called "International Solidarity Movement," to be killed in the conflict. Schnabel said Corey was a student at Evergreen College and was to graduate this year. He said there were eight protesters at the site, four from the United States and four from Great Britain. "We stay with families whose house is to be demolished," he told the Associated Press by telephone from Rafah after the incident. The U.S. State Department had no immediate comment.Haarez
Giving that Bush is beating the war drum right now, I do not expect the Bush Admin to make any in depth comment. The Bush Admin certainly will not hold the Israelis accountable, now or after the war.
Isn't it funny how the Israelis live in neighborhoods, while the Palestinians live in refugee camps in war zones. How different would the reaction be if Rachel Corey was killed in an Israeli coffee shop by a suicide bomber?
From indymedia.org, a.k.a. glynchcentral Rachel was a beloved member of our community in Olympia, Washinton. She was so mush more than this article and her photo reveal, and we will miss her smile, her courage, her talented writing terribly. However, I believe that she would have wanted this to shed light on the system of brutality that killed her and so many other innocent people. She was not anti-semetic, and those who defend the IDF's genocidal operations (or the U.S.'s military support) with the lame excuse that protesters are "anti-semetic" are only brutalizing themselves and the memory of others who died in all-too-recent, state sponsored genocidal campaigns. Or has 60 years been enough time to forget? This is from one of her first emails home to Olympia from Rafah. "...Even then you are always well aware that your experience of it is not at all the reality: what with the difficulties the Israeli Army would face of they shot an unarmed US citizen, and with the fact that I have money to buy water when the army destroys wells, and the fact, of course, that I have the option of leaving. Nobody in my family has been shot, driving in their car, by a rocket launcher from a tower at the end of a major street in my hometown. I have a home. I am allowed to go see the ocean. Ostensibly it is still quite difficicult for me to be held for months or years on end without a trial (this because I am a white US citizen, as opposed to so many others). When I leave for school or work I can be relatively certain that there will not be a heavily armed soldier waiting half way between mud bay and downtown olympia at a checkpoint with the power to decide whether I can go about my business, and whether I can get home again when I'm done. So, if I feel outrage at arriving and entering briefly and incompletely into the world in which these children exist, I wonder conversely about how it would be for them to arrive in my world. They know that children in the United States don't usually have their parents shot and sometimes get to see the ocean. But once you have seen the ocean and lived in a silent place, where water is taken for granted and not stolen in the night by bulldozers, and spent an evening when you didn't wonder if the walls of your home might suddenly fall inward waking you from your sleep, and met people who have never lost anyone-- once you have experienced the reality of a world that isn't surrounded by murderous towers, tanks, armed "settlements" and now a giant metal wall, I wonder if you can forgive the world for all the years of your childhood spent existing--just existing-- in resistance to the constant stranglehold of the worlds fourth largest military apparatus--backed by the worlds only superpower-- in its attempt to erase you from your home. That is something I wonder about these children. I wonder what would happen if they really knew." We love you Rachel, and we'll try to honor your memory as best we can by continuing to fight for justice.
It would probably be different because I am assuming that she would have been in the coffee shop to drink coffee, not stop suicide bombers. Or bulldozers. If you intentionally put yourself in the line of fire (or in this case, line of 'dozer), then expect to get shot. Or 'dozed. BTW, nice going trying to blame her death on George Bush. You never cease to amaze me... That hatred will eat you up if you're not careful, ya know.
I imagine it would be a lot different, since in this instance she was putting herself in harm's way and in the instance you describe, she would be an innocent bystander to an act of terror. I have never quite understood the parallel some people try to draw between Hamas and the IDF. To me the IDF is to Hamas as the US Army is to Al Queda.
All the Clinton haters seem pretty well adjusted to me, or are they. . . Funny, my dad was listening to Rush the other day and he said the exact same thing about people hating Bush. It was this past Wednesday. I guess you were listening too.
OK, so you didn't specifically blame her death on Bush, just threw a chunk of culpability for the whole mess his way with: Oski: Just for the record, I have never listened to Rush Limbaugh. I am not a Republican. And I voted for Clinton (OK, I feel duped... ) Don't assume too much.
The point that I was making was the Palestinians live a war zone, while the Israelis do not. Or least that is the US/Israeli perception. I suspect the Palestinians perception is that they both live in war zones. They would see deaths of innocents via suicide bomber, not a whole lot different from "someone who should have known better since it was a war zone after all".
