MN BBC Statement of Solidarity, September 1, 2012
On Tuesday August 28, 2012, an Israeli court exonerated the driver of a D9 Caterpillar bulldozer of any responsibility for the March 16, 2003 crushing death of Rachel Corrie, a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and human rights activist. Rachel was attempting to prevent the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) from demolishing a Palestinian home when the Caterpillar bulldozer driver, a soldier, ran over her. Israel claimed that the driver did not see Corrie, though she was wearing a bright orange vest and speaking with a bullhorn. The driver had orders to demolish the home regardless (or rather, in spite) of the internationals trying to protect it, since if the ISM had succeeded in stopping the demolition it would have created a precedent which Israel could not contain in the futurei.
The internal military investigation regarding Corrie’s killing was flawed, amounting to a whitewashing of the soldier’s conduct, and the court hearing, in which Corrie’s family was demanding only a symbolic $1 damage award, further whitewashed the IDF and its history of killing of unarmed protesters.
Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC) expresses its profound sympathy toward the family of Rachel Corrie. Attempting to pursue justice from a fundamentally unjust society can only increase the pain and trauma from unhealed wounds. We stand with them and hope that the support of millions of people around the world will help to bring closure and some peace.
MN BBC also expresses disgust and anger at the Israeli legal system, which once again shows itself with both thumbs on the scales of justice.
The verdict is only the latest in a long string of examples showing that Israel cannot be trusted to investigate its own actions. In 1983 the Kahan Commission was set up to investigate whether Arial Sharon was responsible for the massacre of 3,000 to 5,000 civilian Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in southern Lebanon. After reducing the number of civilians believed massacred in the camps, the commission found that Sharon had “indirect responsibility.” The Israeli government never punished him. In fact he was rewarded with the cabinet position of Ministry of Housing, a position which allowed him to develop plans for colonizing the West Bank.
Operation Cast Lead, in 2008-2009, in which Israel killed about 1,400 people and injured some 5,000 in the Gaza Strip, was criticized by human rights organizations around the world. The United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, also called the Goldstone Report, found numerous cases of human rights abuses, war crimes, and possible crimes against humanity. Its credible investigative findings were accepted by many human rights organizations, however Israel’s own internal investigation found that the IDF was responsible for none of the abuses. (Israel did find one soldier guilty of stealing a Palestinian’s credit card.)
If justice cannot be achieved through the Israeli court system, one would certainly expect that at a minimum, the US State Department would do its utmost to protect American civilians from harm in a foreign country. Sadly this is not the case either. The US State Department will act to protect American citizens in almost any country except Israel. While Rachel Corrie’s parents were told in private by the American ambassador to Israel that the White House is not satisfied with Israel’s self-investigation, the State Department’s spokesperson discounted his comments and refused to make a statement regarding the verdict.
It appears that justice will come neither from the Israeli government nor the US government. It is increasingly essential that internationals who believe in human rights and justice work together in solidarity with the Palestinians to achieve it. MN BBC believes that the best and only way of achieving these goals in Palestine is by non-violent actions including boycotting, divesting from, and sanctioning Israel until it complies with international law. Join us in respecting the Palestinian call for BDS. Read more about how you can be a part of this growing movement.
i. From Battalion Operations Log on the day of Corrie’s killing, and reported in http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/08/20128267281139584.html