Human rights activists captured Israel’s appalling human rights abuses that took place last summer under Operation Protective Edge in Gaza that for the first time in a long time the Palestinian plight garnered international headlines because it could no longer be ignored. But these atrocities of course, are nothing new.
Twelve years ago, another tragedy was caught on camera: the moment a peace activist met her own grisly end when she came up against the Goliath of Israeli occupation.
Rachel Corrie has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance since 2003, the year the 23-year old American peace activist was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer while non-violently blocking a Palestinian family’s home that was scheduled to be demolished in Rafah, Gaza. She made herself known by wearing an orange hazmat suit. The driver of the bulldozer even communicated with her, but that didn’t stop him from crushing her to death — with the horrifying incident all caught on camera.
Twelve years have passed since that tragedy — 12 years which have been marked by a lengthy legal battle and repeated calls for an investigation into Rachel’s death by activists, her parents, and even the Bush and Obama administrations.