Parents of Rachel Corrie
Previously Aired On: March 13, 2007 - Listen to this Show!
Rachel Corrie: Rachel Corrie was killed in the Gaza Strip in Palestine on March 16, 2003, trying to prevent the demolition of the home of a Palestinian pharmacist, his wife, and three young children.
On January 18, 2003, Corrie traveled to the Gaza Strip, where she attended two days of training in non-violent resistance and serving as human shields. Through February and March, according to ISM activists and e-mails Corrie sent to her family, she took part in a mock trial of George W. Bush; a demonstration as part of the February 15, 2003 anti-war protest against the war in Iraq, where she burned a paper U.S. flag; and helped to occupy the area around local wells, an operation designed to protect the wells and Palestinian workers from the IDF, according to the ISM.
Rachel was killed when she tried to obstruct an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Caterpillar D9 bulldozer operating in a Palestinian residential area of Rafah, next to the border with Egypt - an area the IDF had designated a security zone and which contains a network of smuggling tunnels connecting Egypt to the Palestinian side of Rafah.
Craig and Cindy Corries’ transformation into activists didn’t happen overnight. At first the couple focused on getting answers about their daughter’s death. At the time, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised a “thorough, credible, and transparent” investigation. A few days later, the US invaded Iraq and it was months before the Corries got a response. When the investigation was finally concluded, it exonerated the soldiers of wrong doing.
Like the military families who have become increasingly critical of US policy in Iraq, the Corries have gone from looking for answers to explain their daughter’s death to helping to continue her work–and in the process gaining them some peace. “Through ourselves we can bring Rachel to life,” says Craig, “and through Rachel we can bring the people she knew and what she saw to life.”
Rachel Corrie Foundation
March 13th, 2007
--Previous Guests--, Craig & Cindy Corrie |
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