Activist's mom seeks answers (The Corrie family celebrates an anniversary)

Charlotte Observer ^ | Sun, Mar. 14, 2004 | GREG LACOUR

[presidio9]

A year ago, on March 15, 2003, about 120 people gathered in the rain at Sharon Amity and Randolph roads to protest the war in Iraq. Among them were Craig and Cindy Corrie, then of Charlotte.

The next morning, the Corries received a call from their son-in-law in Washington state, telling them that their 23-year-old daughter, Rachel, had been killed in the Gaza Strip, the long-disputed Palestinian territory in the Middle East. Rachel Corrie, an activist and "human shield," had been crushed by an Israeli bulldozer as she tried to keep a Palestinian pharmacist's house from being razed.

The Corries have since moved to Olympia, Wash., where their daughter was a college student. But Cindy Corrie, 56, returned to Charlotte to deliver the keynote address Saturday at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Charlotte's fifth annual Social Justice Conference -- just up the street from the site of last year's protest.

"It's certainly bittersweet for me to arrive in Charlotte," she told a crowd of about 70. "Spring in Charlotte does have some different associations for me since a year ago."

The Corries have garnered international attention for their continued calls for peace in the Middle East -- in particular, an end to Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes Israel claims are linked to terrorists -- and for a full U.S. investigation into the circumstances surrounding their daughter's death.

A proposed resolution urging such an investigation remains in a U.S. House subcommittee. "I won't give up hope that will happen," Cindy Corrie said Saturday. "I think if people raise their voices, it can still happen."

Rachel Corrie was a member of the International Solidarity Movement, a nonviolent group protesting Israel's policy of bulldozing Palestinian homes in Gaza. The ISM claims the Israelis bulldoze the homes of innocent Palestinians; the Israelis say they destroy only homes of those with established links to terrorism.

It's still unclear exactly what happened and why: whether the bulldozer driver saw Rachel Corrie, whether he ran her over on purpose or whether it was merely an accident, as the Israeli government claims.

Cindy Corrie said she's seen part of the official Israeli report on the incident; the report has not been released to the U.S. government. She said it does not reconcile inconsistencies between Israeli accounts and those of other eyewitnesses, and it raises more questions than it answers.

"It leads us to believe," she said in her speech, "that only a U.S. investigation can lead to a result that we and others can accept."

In September, she said, she and Craig took a 2 1/2-week trip to Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to see for themselves what their daughter had seen.

They spent six days in Rafah, the city bordering Egypt where she died, and met the Palestinian pharmacist whose home she died protecting. The Corries ate and slept in the house, she said, getting to know the man, his wife and their three children.

"We went to sleep almost every night to the sound of shelling," Cindy Corrie said. "We saw destruction wherever we turned."

In January, she said, the Corries received another piece of news from Gaza: The Israelis had razed the man's home.

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[presidio9]

Peace activist Rachel Corrie is shown at the Burning Man festival in a photo from September 2002, in Black Rock City, Nev. Corrie, 23, a student at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., died Sunday, March 16, 2003, in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) city of Rafah while trying to stop a bulldozer from tearing down a Palestinian physician's home. A year ago, Craig and Cindy Corrie of Charlotte, N.C., braved the rain to join about 120 others at a major intersection to protest the war in Iraq (news - web sites). The next morning, on March 16, 2003, the Corries received a call from their son-in-law in Washington state, telling them that their 23-year-old daughter, Rachel, had been killed in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Denny Sternstein, File)

[Puppage]

I believe those answers have been ah, er...plowed under.

[Moose4]

Such a friendly-looking soul. Where's that picture showing exactly what she thinks of the country that gave her and her parents such opportunity and prosperity?

}:-)4

[presidio9]

I believe those answers have been ah, er...plowed under.

The Corries will be crushed when they hear this.

[No Blue States]

I see it hasnt dawned on this couple that they are the problem, teaching their daughter to enter war zones and to fight bulldozers is bad parenting.

[bondjamesbond]

(The Corrie family celebrates an anniversary)

Why should they have all the fun!

[Interesting Times]

Rachel Corrie was no more a "peace activist" than her blood-soaked buddy Yassar...

[End Times Sentinel]

You want answers?  Your daughter is an idiot, just like her parents.  You taught her to feel instead of think and the ramifications of that were brilliantly played out in front of the home of a homicide bomber in Gaza.  I feel no remorse for your daughter or you.  The only sadness I have is for the brave Israeli bull dozer driver who may be feeling some pangs of guilt.

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

[Blood of Tyrants]

The question they should be asking is: "How did we go so wrong as to raise a daughter too stupid to get out from in front of a bulldozer? Especially when all the other Palestinians had run away."

[Longbow1969]

"A year ago, on March 15, 2003, about 120 people gathered in the rain at Sharon Amity and Randolph roads to protest the war in Iraq. Among them were Craig and Cindy Corrie, then of Charlotte."

Ugh, so her parents are no better. Apparently this entire family was a tool of militant Islam.

Why are we supposed to feel sorry for these people again?

Longbow

[section9]

Quick! Who's first with the picture?

BTW, this is an old ad. I wonder if they still make "buckwheats"?

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[jtminton]

Rachel Corrie's parents were received by President Arafat.

[writer33]

There's nothing like the picture of a screaming liberal to sober you up in the morning. And you're right. It's those feelings that got her in trouble.

[the_devils_advocate_666]

BTW, this is an old ad. I wonder if they still make "buckwheats"?

Come and joing us here in West Virginia at the annual Buckwheat Festival!

[NHResident]

They shouldn't complain - their daughter died because she was trying to protect the right of Palestinean murderers to kill Jewish children and civilians. Look at the European/Pacifist reaction to what happened in Spain versus Israel over the weekend - enough of the Spanish voted to appease terrorists and not one word about the bombing in Israel. No comment is needed.

[reagan_fanatic]

Rachel Corrie, an activist and "human shield," had been crushed by an Israeli bulldozer as she tried to keep a Palestinian pharmacist's house from being razed.

Isn't that just like you typical college student - staying out all weekend and getting smashed.

[TheBigB]

[Jaded]

Corrie said she's seen part of the official Israeli report on the incident; the report has not been released to the U.S. government. She said it does not reconcile inconsistencies between Israeli accounts and those of other eyewitnesses, and it raises more questions than it answers.

If she thinks that she was handed a gift-wrapped official Israeli report that no one in the US gov't has seen she is a bigger idiot than has been previously suggested. Maybe a report from her friend Yessir.....