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ISM Denies Israeli Findings on Corrie's Death
‘No Steps Will Be Taken’ against IOF Soldiers Involved in US Activist’s
Death
28/06/2003
Palestine Media Center- (PMC)
The ISM denied the Israeli findings on the death of US peace activist Rachel Corrie after Israel said it has concluded its investigation into her death, saying it was an “accident” and closed the file “without any steps being taken against those involved”, according to a statement by the Israeli occupation army.
ISM spokesman Ghassan Andoni said he was not surprised by the IOF findings.
“We have received so many negative signals from them,” he said. “Their only concern is to protect their people and not arrive at the truth.”
The ISM is a non-violent group, which monitor Israeli atrocities in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Corrie, 23, was volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). She was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in the town of Rafah as she was trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian house.
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) statement said the investigation showed Corrie was killed “while disturbing the field operations being carried out by IDF bulldozers" in an area under full Israeli control.”
“From the findings it is clear that Rachel Corrie was injured as a result of earth and building rubble falling on her as she tried to climb on a pile of earth during the field work that was being carried out by an armored IDF bulldozer,” the IOF said.
“The armored bulldozer team that was involved in the incident did not see Ms. Corrie, who was standing behind the mound of earth, and it was not possible to see her or to hear her voice,” it said.
As a result, “it was found there is no place for taking disciplinary action against the soldiers involved,” the statement said, expressing the IOF’s “sorrow over every incident in which innocent people are harmed.”
The ISM denied the findings and said that at the time of the incident, Corrie was visible to the bulldozer driver and that her death was malicious.
“When the bulldozer refused to stop or turn aside, (Rachel) climbed up onto the mound of dirt and rubble being gathered in front of it ... to look directly at the driver, who kept on advancing,” the ISM said in a statement.
Witnesses are adamant that Corrie, who was standing on a mound of earth wearing a fluorescent orange jacket, was deliberately killed.
Fellow ISM activists who witnessed Corrie’s death described the incident as “a deliberate act of murder”.
The ISM said the bulldozer ran over her and then backed up.
The ISM activists who were with the young pacifist said the driver had seen her and had deliberately killed her and drove over her twice before pulling away.
Pictures taken by the ISM also showed Corrie, who was wearing a florescent vest in broad daylight, was in full view of the driver.
ISM has welcomed over 1,000 observers from all over the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, and elsewhere.
Recently, the group has been facing increased Israeli violence as the Jewish state.
Despite this, the ISM seems determined to continue its work in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Just last week, it said that more 2,000 people from all over the world will join forces this summer to protest the “brutality of the [Israeli] occupation and the injustices perpetrated by the Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians.”
Activists from many countries are expected to join a “Freedom Summer” campaign from July 1 to August 15 in a non-violent confrontation with IOF in an attempt to draw attention to the suffering of the Palestinian people, ISM officials said.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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