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Peace activist, Rachel Corrie, was murdered on Sunday March 16 2003 when she was purposely run over by an Israeli-driven, US-made (Caterpillar D9) bulldozer, while trying to prevent a Palestinian civilian home from being demolished by the Israeli military in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip. Rachel was in Rafah volunteering for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a Palestinian-led movement of both Palestinians and internationals working together for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. Rachel and the ISM have chosen nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles to resist the daily brutality of Israel's 38-year-old military occupation and its ongoing and illegal land confiscation and settlement of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Demolishing civilian homes is an atrocious act of violence that violates Articles 12 and 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 33, 53, and 54 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Despite this clear international prohibition, the Israeli military government has carried out thousands of these home demolitions with impunity; resulting in thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians left without basic shelter and experiencing a cataclysmic blow to their lives, some becoming refugees for the second or third time in their lives. For further information, please see website www.rachelcorrie.org |
Message from Rachel Corrie's mother, May 2005 From: Cindy Corrie Dear Mr. Kirkby, At a recent campaign event for Reg Keys at his Sedgefield campaign office, you met Wes Hamilton from Olympia, Washington, a member of the Veterans for Peace, Rachel Corrie Chapter, and a friend. Wes recently forwarded to me your newsletter article and photo about the Caterpillar action at the Peterlee Caterpillar facility. Thank you very much for passing it along. It was a pleasure to read your account of the event and its coverage in the media. I appreciate the very kind reference to our family. The photo is marvelous and the model of the bulldozer very impressive. I’m glad to hear that it may continue to be used in future events. I have passed the article and photo along to a few in our local Caterpillar action group knowing that they will be inspired by it. Would you mind if I sent it to a couple of the larger groups that have organized on this issue here in the U.S.? I am thinking that friends at Jewish Voice for Peace and the Stop Cat campaign would love to see this, as well. Most of all, though, I simply want to thank you and the others who participated in making this powerful, nonviolent statement. I strongly feel that the work we do to hold Caterpillar, Inc. responsible for knowingly continuing to provide equipment used in human rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza can have a significant and far-reaching impact. Thank you for being a part of this, and please pass along my appreciation to others, as well. Sincerely, Cindy Corrie |