Ruling on Rachel Corrie case
Ruling met with disappointment
A ruling earlier this week that the state of Israel was not to blame for the death of US activist Rachel Corrie has been met with disappointment by leading Quakers involved in nonviolent peaceful protest.
Rachel Corrie was killed in the Gaza Strip in 2003 while involved in a peaceful protest. Her family brought a civil claim for negligence against the Israeli Ministry of Defence. She had been trying to stop Palestinian homes from being pulled down and had stood in front of a bulldozer that was clearing ground.
The judge, at the hearing in Haifa, said that Rachel Corrie had been protecting terrorists in a designated combat zone. It had been a ‘regrettable incident’, he said, for which the Israeli state was not responsible.
Steve Whiting, nonviolence project manager with Quaker Peace and Social Witness, said he was ‘hugely disappointed but not surprised’ by the decision.
He said: ‘This response from the “powers that be” is typical in this kind of tragedy. We only have to look at the recent decision made in the case of Ian Tomlinson, who died at the hands of the police in the G20 protests in 2010. The police officer responsible was found not guilty’.
Steve added: ‘Nonviolent resistance to injustice often requires great courage and sacrifice.
‘Rachel Corrie and many others throughout history have been prepared to put themselves on the line to make the world a better place for those who come after. The example of Rachel and those others is not forgotten, and actually inspires many others to work nonviolently for change’.
