[Peace] op ed on Rachel

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Here's an example of what does get printed about Rachel Corrie, in
publications with a greater draw than our local papers. This appeared in
the Jerusalem Post (owned by the Canadian-US corporation that also owns
the Chicago Sun-Times, both of which it's selling). It was so bad that
even the US embassy protested (altho' I didn't hear it mentioned in this
country, by Republicans or Democrats).  --CGE]

Jerusalem Post - March 1, 2004

<http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1078113575924&p=1006953079865>http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1078113575924&p=1006953079865

A 'tribute' to Rachel Corrie
Ruhama Shattan

March 16 is the first anniversary of Rachel Corrie's death. I want to
thank Corrie for the explosives that flow freely from Egypt to Gaza, via
the smuggling tunnels under the Gaza homes that she died defending.

Perhaps it was these explosives that in the year since her martyrdom ö
oops, death ö have been strapped around suicide bombers to blow up city
buses and restaurants in Israeli cities, particularly in Jerusalem,
killing men, women, and schoolchildren (two of them classmates of my
daughter and her friend in the February 22, 2004 bombing), and leaving
hundreds more widows, orphans, and bereaved parents.

On the first anniversary of her death, I want to thank Rachel Corrie for
showing Palestinian children how to despise America as she snarled, burned
an American flag, and led them in chanting slogans, and as she gave
"evidence" at a Young Palestinian Parliament mock trial finding President
Bush guilty of crimes against humanity.

Perhaps her help in fanning the flames of violent anti-American sentiment
led to the October 2003 bombing of the Fulbright delegation to Gaza to
interview scholarship candidates, killing three. There will be no new crop
of Palestinian Fulbright scholars this fall.

ON THE first anniversary of her death, I wanted to thank Rachel Corrie for
providing her organization, the Palestinian-sponsored International
Solidarity Movement, with the opportunity to release a manipulated photo
sequence "showing" an Israeli military bulldozer deliberately crushing
her. (I would also like to thank AP and The Christian Science Monitor for
taking up the baton and immortalizing this cynical ISM stunt.)

On the first anniversary of her death, I want to thank Rachel Corrie for
showing the way to all those who seek peace in the Middle East.
Unfortunately, Corrie's peace, as anyone familiar with the PLO, Fatah,
Hamas, and Hizbullah organizations that she defended with her life knows
ö or as anyone familiar with the weekly rants of the Friday preachers in
the Palestinian mosques is aware ö means not peaceful coexistence but the
elimination of the State of Israel, and death to those they call "the
usurping Jews, the sons of apes and pigs."

Thank you, Rachel Corrie, of Evergreen State University, where the profs
wear khakis and keffiyehs at graduation ceremonies, for showing us what
peace really means.

The writer is a translator, editor, and writer who has lived in Israel
since 1976.

----

US Embassy accuses J'Post of publishing ''hateful incitement''
March 06, 2004
By Warrick Page for IMEMC

The US Embassy condemned the Jerusalem Post in a letter to the editor 
on Wednesday, saying an editorial written about the first anniversary 
of Rachel Corrie's death, was "nothing less than a hateful 
incitement".

The editorial, written by Ruhama Shattan, "thanks" Ms Corrie - a US 
peace activist killed in Rafah on March 16 last year - for 
"defending" the arms-smuggling tunnels in Gaza and "for showing 
Palestinian children how to despise America".

The response from the US Embassy, written by Paul Patin, said, "The 
author's disgusting abuse of the anniversary of the death of this 
American citizen is inexcusable".

Ms Corrie came to the country to volunteer with activist group the 
International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in March 2003 and was crushed 
by a bulldozer while trying to prevent a housing demolition in Rafah 
refugee camp, Gaza Strip.

According to Ms Shattan, Ms Corrie "perhaps" helped fan the flames 
"of violent anti-American sentiment led to the October 2003 bombing 
of the Fulbright delegation to Gaza".

"Corrie's peace . . . means not peaceful coexistence," Ms Shattan 
wrote, "but the elimination of the State of Israel, and death to 
those they call "the usurping Jews, the sons of apes and pigs'."
Ms Shattan concluded Ms Corrie was a willing martyr and that her 
activism worked under the auspicious of terrorist networks - if not 
to assist them knowingly - albeit indirectly.

Ms Shattan also "thanked" Ms Corrie for "providing" ISM with the 
"opportunity to release a manipulated photo sequence `showing' an 
Israeli military bulldozer deliberately crushing her" and included 
the Associated Press and Christian Science Monitor for "taking up the 
baton and immortalising this cynical ISM stunt".

Mr Patin said, "The article reflects a level of discourse unbefitting 
any serious newspaper" and the US Embassy was "disappointed" they had 
chosen to publish the article.

ISM has requested space in the Jerusalem Post to respond to the 
allegations and did not rule out the possibility of legal action 
should their request be denied.

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