[Peace] op ed on Rachel

Tue Mar 9 22:13:41 CST 2004

Hi Susan et al,

I think that the DI might be a good bet.  The opinions page seems to be more open than in the past.  I'm not sure what their policy might be on printing a long column by a non-university member, but I think in this case a couple of arguments could be made.  Personally, I've had poor luck getting things printed.  Anyone know how to approach this?  Would the Public I print it?

Tom   

---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2004 19:51:25 -0600
>From: sparenti <sparenti at staff.uiuc.edu>  
>Subject: [Peace] op ed on Rachel  
>To: peace at lists.groogroo.com, sdas at onthejob.net
>
>Hello! Mark Enslin and I, plus the current students at SDaS, are at Evergreen 
>College in Olympia Washington, doing a 2 week residency.
>
>This is also the home, and school, of Rachel Corrie, the activist who was bull 
>dozered and killed in Palestine last year.
>
>Friends and family of hers are looking for more ways and places to disseminate 
>the following article.
>
>Does anyone have any ideas? Daily Illini? Local papers?
>Public announcements on WEFT and WILL?
>
>Susan
>===== Original Message From "Lori Blewett" <blewettl at evergreen.edu> =====
>Hi Susan,
>This is an article from Steve Niva.  (He was at your performance tonight).
>He is looking for people and papers that might print the article.  Perhaps
>there is someone in Urbana who could get it into the paper there.  Any
>suggestions/emails?
>--Lori Blewett
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Niva, Steve" <NivaS at evergreen.edu>
>To: "Current Events" <mecrisis at lists.evergreen.edu>
>Cc: "Nguyen, Phan" <NguyenP at evergreen.edu>
>Sent: Monday, March 08, 2004 4:05 PM
>Subject: [mecrisis] op ed on Rachel
>
>
>> Folks,
>> I've just written this op-ed and want to get a northwest paper (seattle)
>to
>> run it. Ed Mast is going to take a look and may use his group to put out
>> some op eds. But if you all want to use it or suggest other ways to
>> configure it for use... feel free.  I've got it down to 850 words, which
>is
>> still too long for some places and I have a longer version as well.
>> Best, Steve
>>
>>
>> Rachel Corrie:  An American Victim of Israel's Wall
>> Steve Niva*
>>
>>
>> A year has passed since Rachel Corrie, a 23 year-old American peace
>activist
>> from Olympia, Washington, was killed by an Israel army bulldozer while
>> nonviolently trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian house in
>the
>> city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
>>
>> The Israeli government has refused to release its June 2003 final military
>> police investigation report to the United States and continues to claim
>that
>> her death was simply an "unfortunate accident" despite the testimony of
>six
>> eyewitnesses who that claim that Rachel was clearly visible to the
>bulldozer
>> drivers with her bright red jacket and that it lifted her up and drove
>over
>> her repeatedly with its plow down.
>>
>> It is no wonder that the Corrie family is urging Congress to pass House
>> Concurrent Resolution 111, the Rachel Corrie Resolution, which calls upon
>> the "United States government to undertake a full, fair, and expeditious
>> investigation into the death of Rachel Corrie."
>>
>> Yet while questions remain about the details of Rachel's death, there
>should
>> be no question about its ultimate cause.  Rachel was killed by Israel's
>> wall.
>>
>> Palestinian homes in Rafah, including the one Rachel was killed defending,
>> are being demolished daily by Israeli bulldozers to make way for a massive
>> 6-meter high steel wall Israel is building along the Egyptian border with
>> Rafah.
>>
>> According to United Nation's officials, over the past three years Israel
>has
>> destroyed nearly 900 houses in Rafah in order to create a one hundred
>meter
>> "buffer zone" between Palestinian homes and the wall.  Daily shelling and
>> armed raids over the past three years have killed nearly 300 Palestinians
>> and have left more than 8,600 people homeless.  In addition, British
>> activist Tom Hurndall and the BBC cameraman James Miller were also killed
>in
>> Rafah last year near the wall.
>>
>> This wall is the Gaza version of the massive wall and fence barrier that
>> Israel is building deep within Palestinian lands in the West Bank, which
>> herds Palestinians into tiny enclaves, separating hundreds of thousands
>from
>> their families and land.  The International Court of Justice is widely
>> expected to declare this barrier both illegal and unwarranted by the end
>of
>> this month.
>>
>> The Israeli army's specious justification to the international community
>for
>> the systematic degradation of Rafah has been the ongoing search for
>tunnels
>> across the Egyptian border which it claims are used to smuggle weapons for
>> Palestinian militants to kill Israeli civilians.   Some Israeli apologists
>> even claim that Rachel was knowingly defending these tunnels and, thus,
>> suicide bombers.
>>
>> While no one disputes the existence of a small number of tunnels that
>funnel
>> weapons to militants, Israeli security justifications for destroying Rafah
>> in order to find these tunnels cannot be taken at face value.  Nor can
>> callous claims that Rachel was defending tunnels and suicide bombers.
>> First, the Israeli army does not even claim that any tunnels were found
>> under the home of Dr. Samir Nasrallah, or others in the bloc of houses
>> Rachel was defending when she was killed.
>> Second, any weapons that get through tunnels are only used in guerrilla
>> actions against soldiers and settlers within the Gaza Strip, not against
>> civilians within Israel.  One of the main arguments Israeli officials use
>to
>> justify building the barrier in the West Bank is the fact that no
>> Palestinian suicide bombers have come from Gaza in the past three years
>due
>> to the heavily monitored 30-mile electrified fence that keeps its 1.3
>> million impoverished Palestinians isolated from the world, and Israel.
>> Third, Israel possesses ample equipment to discover and unearth these
>> tunnels without resorting to widespread destruction and violence.  The
>> governor of Rafah, Majid Ghal, rejects Israel's claims about tunnels as
>> nonsense.  "What they are doing is to carve out a buffer zone between
>Rafah
>> and the border. The Israelis have always said they do not want Palestine
>to
>> control its borders or to have borders with other countries. They are
>trying
>> to drive people out."
>> The wall that killed Rachel, and has destroyed the lives of thousands of
>> Palestinians in Rafah, is being built for one reason:  to protect the
>> security of the 7,000 Israeli settlers with green lawns and swimming pools
>> who illegally occupy 30 per cent of Gaza's land.  The wall and home
>> demolitions in Rafah, as elsewhere, are merely an ongoing land-grab
>> masquerading as a justifiable security policy.  A wall built on Israel's
>> recognized 1967 borders, by contrast, would be both legitimate and
>> defensible.
>> While Israel has every right to defend itself against horrific and
>> unjustifiable suicide bombings, it has no right to kill civilians and
>> destroy homes in order to secure its illegal settlements.  As Amnesty
>> International stated in October, 2003, Israeli actions in Rafah constitute
>> war crimes; a reign of terror on innocent civilians unwarranted by
>security
>> concerns.
>> In order to honor Rachel's life, as well as the lives of all Palestinians
>> and Israelis who have been killed in this conflict, we must speak out and
>> demand an end to Israel's walls, settlements and occupation.
>> *Steve Niva teaches international politics and Middle East studies at The
>> Evergreen State College in Olympia and worked with Rachel Corrie before
>she
>> was killed.
>>
>>
>> ---
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>
>
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