Israeli bulldozer kill American activist defending a Palestinian home
The Israeli forces yesterday committed a new crime targeted at the international solidarity teams that are expressing support for the Palestinian people. This occurred when an Israeli bulldozer buried an American woman activist who tried with other activists to prevent acts of demolishing houses of the Palestinians and leveling their lands in Rafah to the south of Gaza.
Meantime, two Palestinians were killed and other three wounded by the Israeli army bullets in Gaza.
The Seattle Times said today "Perhaps it was her unshakeable passion for political causes that compelled Rachel Corrie to stand firm yesterday afternoon as an Israeli bulldozer advanced on the home of a Palestinian doctor in the perilous Gaza Strip. Wearing a fluorescent jacket, Corrie, a 23-year-old The Evergreen State College student, stood alone atop a mound of dirt and rubble when she was crushed and killed by the military bulldozer."
"She waved for the bulldozer to stop. She fell down, and the bulldozer kept going," said Greg Schnabel, 28, of Chicago. "We yelled, 'Stop, stop,' and the bulldozer didn't stop at all," The Seattle Times reported.
Ali Mousa, the director of Abu Youssef al-Najjar in Rafah said that the American Rachel Corrie ( 23 year old) was murdered when she tried to stop an Israeli military bulldozers which came to level Palestinian lands in al-Salaam quarters but the bulldozer crushed her.
The said American woman activist was among other 7 American and European activists trying to prevent demolishing practices carried out by the Israeli army in Rafah.
Palestinian and foreign witnesses said that the Israeli bulldozer "buried this activist when she was sitting on the ground in an attempt to prevent the demolishing operation, but the bulldozer crushed and buried her." A Palestinian security source said that two Israeli bulldozers escorted by several tanks "demolished two houses owned by the two brothers Midhat and Ali al-Shaaer in al-Salaam quarters and leveled vast area of citizens lands in al-Salaam quarters in Rafah under an intensive fire."
This is, however, the first American to be killed by the Israeli forces since the beginning of the Palestinian Intifada in September 2000. In 2002, the Israeli forces killed a German doctor in Beit Jala, an Italian journalist in Ramullah and a British employee in UNRWA.
The US abstained from denouncing the crime committed by Israel and confined to demanding an immediate investigation on the killing of the American activist.
The US Department Of State said that the US expresses its "deep regret" over the killing of Rachel Corrie. Meanwhile, Palestinian sources and eye witnesses said that sources of Israeli tanks and armored vehicles on Saturday evening invaded Jenin's camp and city. The sources indicated that violent clashes took place between Palestinian fighters and the Israeli soldiers. No casualties were reported.