Being that is was only one person this could have been prevented, but she knowingly put herself in harms way, so naturally this was a possible outcome. She played the odds and lost. You'd like to see her arrested and hauled away. No doubt. But she put herself in a position that anything could have happened. Maybe the driver couldn't see her. Maybe his brakes weren't working. Maybe anything could have gone wrong. It was a risk she took for her cause. Like the other poster said. Get out of the way. A bulldozer is coming at you.
The woman died. It could have been prevented but I don't think that was the point on her part. I think she was willing to die, standing up for something that she believed in. She died a valiant death, for a cause she obviously felt very deeply about. People can say she was stupid for not getting out of the way, but I think she was smart for having a cause she was willing to pay the ultimate price for. I'm not saying she wanted to die for it, but that she was willing to if it came down to that. Soldiers are often willing to die for causes too. People don't call them stupid for going into harms way and putting their lives on the line. People call them heroes. If it was an accident that doesn't make it OK. Drivers who accidentally run over people are still punished. It isn't as severe of a punishment but if their negligence caused a death, they are punished. If she was accidentally backed over a second time, then it's really in question whether it was an accident or not.
p.s. - On Ripleys they had an infant (maybe 2 years or less) accidentally fall out of her father's bulldozer. They couldn't find her anywhere. So they backed up the bulldozer and the girl had been run over by it with tread marks and everything. Not a scratch on her. Unbelievable.
A very good point and thank you for thinking for yourself and not assuming b.s. like some posters do in being quick to see a point of view they want to see.... Very refreshing!
I got the impression that the girl fell down in front of the bulldozer (ie that she was not willing to die, she meant to get out of the way). As for her being smart, I very much doubt her sacrifice will stop Israel from prosecuting its war on terrorists in Palestine. If I'm right, then she died for nothing. I call that stupid.
really? so if you die fighting for what you believe is right...even if your cause fails...you ultimately die for nothing? that's a pretty rough standard!
Thanks, you made the point I was going to make. Also the fact that she is a 'human shield' seems to indicate she's willing to stand in harms way to stop what she feels is unjust. And that she is willing to put her life on the line. If this incident happened to be an accident it doesn't mean she wasn't willing to give her life. Like I said someone who is a voluntary human shield seems willing to give their life. Just to back up what Mad Max said, you must believe that the students who stood for freedom in Tieneman square are stupid? They didn't achieve their goal, and many died for what they believed in.
I get the feeling some people think that she just stood there and let the bulldozer run her down like in the first Austin Powers movie. My guess is she fell or tripped, I don't think she layed herself on the ground infront of it. Then she had some earth dumped on her before she was ran over. That explains why she wasn't flattened like a pancake. I read that one of the other protesters said that she was caught by the blade of the bulldozer lifted into the air, and then dropped. I can understand how the driver may not have heard her bullhorn over the dozer's engine, or how he didn't pay attention to the others when they yelled at him that she was about to be ran over since he probably hears that everyday while he's crushing people's homes, but those pictures show her far in front and in plain view, or so it seems. As for the lack of images of her actually being killed, I imagine the people taking pictures arent' gonna continue when they see their friend getting runover.
My Mom and I did the same thing in the 70's to protest a dump being put in our area. She was taken to jail and I to a halfway house. She was released later that day, the city scratched the plans for the dump.
not a pretty way to set the stage for war on iraq, when the fundamental reason we're doing all this in the first place bites us in the ass... all i can say is that this is one f***ed up situation, and the israelis sure don't make it any easier for us...
Tieneman square put Chinese human rights atrocities into the public eye. What did this girl accomplish? Everyone knows that the Israelis bulldoze homes. She isn't generating awareness. She is just dead. I wouldn't say dying for a cause and failing to acheive your goals is stupid. I would say dying for a cause where you have no chance to acheive your goals is stupid. Looking at the Israel/Palestine conflict, I would say that her chances of changing Israel's policies are nil. Even if they weren't a regime very set in their ways, some American college student trying to stop them from bulldozing a home is not going to make them forget all of the innocent civilians killed by Hamas, IJ, etc.
So, we have a peaceful protestor martyred. Shocker, shocker. She joins the ranks of innocent children on both sides. What's going on there is horrible beyond imagining. If we really want to intervene somewhere, I'd prefer there than Iraq, to be honest. There's so much sadness in the Middle East, today. I hope that Bush's actions lead to some sort of regional stability that support viable economies and sustained development. That would probably lead to democracy, eventually. I don't think it will happen... but since war seems inevitable, one might as well hope for the best...
AB's example illustrates perfectly the dramatic contrasts between American and Middle-Eastern political cultures. Both the Isreali and Palestinian societies have been thoroughly brutalized. There might really be no way out of this mess. It is a very good thing this coming war will provide a new focus in the Arab world that will hold much brighter potential than Palestine, which drained the imagination of Arab nations for the last fifty years.
This is sick and disgusting. Anyone defending this act in any way is equally sick and disgusting. I can't really add more to it than that.
That she has zero chance is your opinion. There are plenty of others saying that peaceful protest and not terrorism is the best chance to stop these kind of incidents from Israel.
I agree that peaceful protest is the Palestinians only chance. I do not agree that the way to protest is to stand in front of the house of a suspected militant as it is being bulldozed. From the Israelis veiwpoint, she is supporting terrorism. The Palestinians need to renounce terrorism. Renounce Hamas and Arafat. Then peaceful protest won't seem like such a sham to the Israelis. Peaceful protest accompanied by continued terrorism is less than meaningless.
If by dying in front of a bulldozer illustrates that Israel views peaceful protests and trying peacefully to stop the destruction of Palestinian homes as supporting terrorism, then It does serve purpose indeed.
If that was a militant's home, how could you not view protecting it as supporting terrorism? Wouldn't she be aiding a terrorist?
It's never been shown that it was a militants home. If it was a militants home Israel must not have felt to threatened by him because there was IDF presence at the time. Again if they know where his home is, they could have staked it out and nabbed him when he came home. They wouldnt' have to bulldoze the whole thing.
SM, To my way of thinking, the hovel owner is innocent until proven guilty in something even vaguely resembling a court. A random pointed finger from the Israeli military is not enough to convince me of such dire accusations. Just my take.
