Rachel Corrie Memorial

Mar 16, 2010

Rachel Corrie Memorial

Two days after Rachel Corrie was crushed by an Israeli military bulldozer while trying to protect a Palestinian home from demolition on March 16 2003, her friends and colleagues gathered to remember her on the spot she was killed in Rafah, Gaza Strip. This is a video record of that event, flimed by members of ISM Vancouver.

But Rachel would be the first to say that her death was not exceptional, and that we must also remember each of the 3262 Palestinian civilians killed in the Gaza Strip by Israel's Occupation Forces since September 2000 (including more than 600 children) as documented by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza http://www.pchrgaza.orgĀ .

While Rachel's death caused headlines around the world, no one outside Rafah heard about the killing of Samir, also on March 16, 2003. He was shot on his porch by an Israeli sniper when he went outside after dinner to have a cigarette. Samir was a city street cleaner who supported his entire family in a region with more than 60% unemployment. Samir's shaheed (martyr) ceremony took place at his very modest house with family and a few friends. His elderly father was clutching his broken heart in despair and his sister was in a numb state of shock. Samir has become just another forgotten statistic among the thousands of Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli occupation forces.