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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: A. Geiche who wrote (373093)	3/18/2003 2:52:26 AM
From: A. Geiche	Respond to of 769670

The murder is typical Israel's murder. Obvious.Expressly deliberate. The vile crime perpetrated in the midst of the perpetual criminal activity. Army Deliberately Killed Peace Activist’ Agencies RAFAH, Gaza Strip, 18 March 2003 — Rafah’s small bunch of international peace activists were yesterday more determined than ever to keep up their perilous protection work after one of them was killed by an Israeli bulldozer as she tried to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home in the Gaza Strip. On Sunday, US national Rachel Corey, 23, was buried alive and then crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer as she and a group of seven young Americans and Britons from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) were acting as human shields on the flash point Israeli-controlled border with Egypt. The Israeli Army promised an investigation into the incident but said her death was not intentional. Rachel’s ISM colleagues, all of whom witnessed the scene, are adamant it was a case of murder. “She was standing in front of Dr. Samir Nasrallah’s house to protect it. The bulldozer was some 30 meters away from her. She was wearing a fluorescent orange jacket and was plainly visible,” said Greg Schnabel. “The bulldozer approached but she stood her ground. Then it pushed up a pile of dirt beneath her feet. She struggled to stay on top of the mound. “At that point she was raised up to a level where she was probably looking the bulldozer driver in the eye,” Schnabel said, ruling out any possibility the Israeli destruction team could have failed to see the young woman. “Then she stepped back, the bulldozer continued and sand started covering her legs and was gradually buried up to her waist. We were shouting to the soldiers as she tried to pull herself out but she got sucked under the blade. “The blade went over her body and the bulldozer stopped when she was completely underneath. Finally it withdrew, but without lifting the blade, dragging it over her once more,” said Schnabel, a 28-year-old American. A dozen eye-witness accounts of the incident collected by AFP yesterday confirmed Schnabel’s version of events. She was given first aid by the doctor whose house she tried to protect but Ali Mussa, who heads Rafah hospital, said she was already dead by the time she was brought in. The ISM’s modest headquarters in Rafah city was filled with the somber faces of all those who knew Corey and came to pay their last respects. Corey was the first foreign peace activist to be slain by the army since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising more than 29 months ago. She was killed in front of the last row of Palestinian houses before the border with Egypt which the Israeli Army controls and where it has been demolishing houses on a weekly basis, creating an ever-widening no man’s land acting as buffer zone on autonomous Palestinian territory. “We had spent three hours on the post before Rachel’s death. The soldiers had been very aggressive and reckless,” said Joseph Smith, another ISM volunteer who witnessed the scene. “We had already had many close calls. One of us had his legs buried and was pushed against a roll of barbed wire. Another’s foot was caught under the blade. But we did think they were conscious we were there,” said the 20-year-old American student. “We have loudspeakers and we can communicate with the Israeli crew and maintain eye contact,” he explained. “I don’t think the driver and the commander inside the bulldozer murdered her just to murder her. They had probably received orders to do their job regardless. I don’t know which is most disturbing.” But none of the “internationals” in Rafah is planning to leave and they all hope the attention drawn by Rachel’s death will boost their mission to protect civilians in the Palestinian territories. For his part, Nasrallah was still in shock. “I had packed all 12 members of my family into the courtyard because my house was about to be destroyed,” he recounted. “I watched the whole tragedy unfold through a crack in the wall. I was hysterical. She often slept in our house to protect it and she would play with the children. I considered her a part of the family. Later, hundreds of Palestinians held a symbolic funeral for Rachel. Holding a stretcher draped with an American flag, around 1,000 Palestinians marched through the refugee camp as a sign of mourning for the 23-year-old American. “We fly a US flag today to show our support to all American peace lovers, those like Rachel,” said Palestinian farmer Hassan Abu Toa’ma, 24. In Gaza City, dozens of Palestinian and foreign activists held a vigil for Rachel, holding banners saying, “(Israeli) Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is a war criminal.” Schoolchildren befriended by Rachel during her time in Rafah filed past the American woman’s body at the local morgue.