(Atlanta) On Aug. 28, the district court in Haifa, Israel, ruled that the State of Israel was not responsible for the 2003 killing of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old U.S. peace activist who was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer as she attempted to nonviolently prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. Israel’s policy of home demolitions has been widely criticized by human rights organizations as a form of collective punishment. It violates Israel’s obligations under the Geneva Conventions. The Corrie family had requested $1 in symbolic damages and legal expenses.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro and human rights groups and have criticized Israel’s investigation of the case for a lack of thoroughness, transparency, and credibility.
“The killing of an American peace activist is unacceptable,” said former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. “The court’s decision confirms a climate of impunity, which facilitates Israeli human rights violations against Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Territory.”
