Testimonies in Israeli military’s killing of Rachel Corrie get hearing seven years on
“Seven years after my daughter Rachel was killed, I was finally able to hear Rachel’s friends, who were with her, testify in a court of law. Despite some disheartening procedural challenges, we remain hopeful that the truth about what happened to Rachel will be revealed, and that the people responsible for her killing will be held accountable.” — Rachel’s mother, Cindy Corrie
via International Solidarity Movement.
I had been following with growing frustration the issue of Israel’s U.S. sponsored occupation and annexation of Palestinian lands since the outbreak of the second Intifada, and my own tepid beginnings as an activist on the issue were spurred by two killings in Gaza, really. The first was the shooting of Mohammed al-Dura, a 12-year-old boy hunkered behind is father as the pair were trapped in the middle of a shooting fight. I watched the boy get killed on TV along with others in the same news room where I worked back then, and it was one of those images that lingered on.
“Our real enemies are not those living in a distant land whose names or policies we don’t understand; The real enemy is a system that wages war when it’s profitable, the CEOs who lay us off our jobs when it’s profitable, the Insurance Companies who deny us Health care when it’s profitable, the Banks who take away our homes when it’s profitable. Our enemies are not several hundred thousands away. They are right here in front of us.”