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<h1><font face="arial" size=3><b>March 16, 2004<br><br>
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</b></font></h1><h2><font face="arial" size=2><b>Message from Craig and
Cindy Corrie</b></font></h2><font face="arial" size=2><b> <br><br>
</b></font><font face="arial" size=1>Thank you to all who have paused
today to remember our daughter Rachel Corrie and to call for an end to
the occupationan occupation which took her life, as surely as it has
taken the lives of thousands of Palestinians and Israelis.<br><br>
</font><font face="arial" size=2> <br><br>
Rachel looked for purpose and found that in Gaza when she went there in
January 2003. Brutally killed one year ago today, she was an
unarmed, nonviolent, peace activist trying to prevent the demolition of
the home of a Palestinian pharmacist, his wife, and three children.
She believed that the nonviolent activism that she was doing and
supporting would make not only Palestinians but also Israelis and
Americans more secure-- by supporting Palestinians who practice
nonviolent rather than armed resistance and by speeding an end to this
conflict that has so damaged both U.S. and Israeli images in the
world. Rachel stood there that day because the United States
government and Israel rejected a proposal in the UN to send international
human rights monitors to the region. She and other activists went
in their place, and they continue to go. Rachel stood there that
day protesting illegal home demolitions that the U.S. opposes on the
record, yet fails to stopdevastating demolitions that we, in fact,
contribute to with billions of U.S. tax dollars annually that fund the
Israeli military with its bulldozers, apache helicopters, F-16s, and
more. In fact, the U.S. Government, with our tax dollars, surely
purchased the Caterpillar D9R bulldozer that killed Rachel.
.<br><br>
Rachels case is closed in Israel and only the Conclusionsto the military
police report have been given to the U.S. We have been able to view
the report at the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco. It contains
inconsistencies and fails to satisfactorily reconcile the differences
between the Israeli soldiers who say they did not see Rachel and the
seven international eyewitnesses who say she was clearly
visible. We believe that only an independent U.S.
investigation can produce a result that we can trust. We continue
to call for support and passage of House Concurrent Resolution 111
(HCR111) that calls for such an investigation and now has fifty-six
co-sponsors.<br><br>
</font><font face="arial" size=1>Rachel wrote, When I am with Palestinian
friends I tend to be somewhat less horrified than when I am trying to act
in a role of human rights observer, documenter, or direct-action
resister. They are a good example of how to be in it for the long
haul. I know that the situation gets to them-- and may ultimately
get them-- on all kinds of levels, but I am nevertheless amazed at their
strength in being able to defend such a large degree of their humanity--
laughter, generosity, family-time-- against the incredible horror
occurring in their lives and against the constant presence of death...I
wish you could meet these people. Maybe, hopefully, someday you
will.<br><br>
</font><font face="arial" size=2>In September we traveled to Gaza and
visited the families in whose homes Rachel had stayed. All were
threatened with demolition because of their location near the Egyptian
border and the giant steel wall being built there. We shared meals
with these families and played with their children. In recent
months all of their homes have been demolished. <br><br>
In the West Bank, we witnessed the strategy of separation taking physical
form in the web of fences, walls, identification cards, and checkpoints
that separate not only Palestinians from Israelis, but Palestinians from
Palestinians, farmers from their fields, children from their classrooms,
workers from their jobs, the sick from their healthcare, the elderly from
their grandchildren, municipalities from their water supplies, and
ultimately a people from their land. In Jerusalem we met members of
an Israeli-Palestinian organization Bereaved Parentswho have lost
relatives to the conflict and now work together to end the occupation,
and then for peace and reconciliation. In Israel, we met with peace
activists who asked us to return home and work to end U.S. funding of the
occupation.<br><br>
After a year spent learning more, and after experiencing so personally
the loss that thousands of Palestinians and Israelis share with us, we
echo once again Rachel's plea for it all to end, This has to stop.
I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our
lives to making this stop. I dont think its an extremist thing to
do anymore. I still really want to dance around to Pat Benetar and
have boyfriends and make comics for my coworkers. But I also want
this to stop. <br><br>
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