Kathleen and Bill ChristisonRamallah, Palestine23 March 2003
Hanan Ashrawi tells us bluntly that the principal aim of Israeli Prime Minister Sharon and his right-wing, Zionist fundamentalist government is to make sure that no Palestinian state ever exists as a viable entity. Their goal, she says, “is not just dismantling the infrastructure, the structures of Palestinian statehood, but dismantling an identity: not just preventing formation of a viable Palestinian state but eliminating a nation and a people.” The message that Ashrawi sees is clear wherever you go in the occupied West Bank. Bill and Kathleen Christison write from Ramallah. Read more about Palestinians: long-term hopefulness still dominates
Bill Christison and Kathleen ChristisonJerusalem21 March 2003
We sit in a Jerusalem hotel on Friday night — the third night of the war — watching what looks like the beginning of Operation Shock and Awe, or some variation of it, in Baghdad, wondering how our former colleagues on the Iraq Peace Team are faring under this massive bombardment, wondering how frightened they must be, wondering how we would be responding ourselves if we were there. We are not there, but we have another war to report on, another civilian population under attack and siege. We went to Jenin in Palestine on Thursday. Bill and Kathy Christison report on what they are finding on their tour around Palestine. Read more about War in a very small place
“I am deeply saddened at the loss of a good friend and a brilliant activist. I am outraged that these soldiers have murdered my friend, as they have murdered thousands of Palestinian civilians. I am terrified at what they will do to internationals and other dissenting voices in the future. I now feel how every Palestinian family must feel. I am determined to continue to resist this brutal occupation, and have learned from the courage and dedication that Rachel displayed.” Joe Smith, an ISM volunteer in Rafah who was with Rachel Corrie when she was murdered, honors her spirit, details the events leading up to her killing, and worries that Israeli impunity may triumph again. Read more about Rachel Corrie: Detailed eyewitness account, remembrance, and thoughts about the future
On the 18th of March, three of Rachel Corrie’s friends from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) were delivering her body to Tel Aviv as three friends and I entered the Gaza Strip. Her brutal murder by the Israeli solider, fortified in a bulldozer, was the first topic of discussion with community members from the Palestinian police officers who checked our passports to the children in south Rafah who live beside the place where Rachel was killed. Read more about Israel violently disrupts Rachel Corrie memorial service in Gaza
Rachel Corrie and Craig CorrieRafah, Olympia20 March 2003
On Tuesday the British Guardian newspaper ran a series of emails from Rachel Corrie, the American peace activist killed by an Israeli army bulldozer. Here the Guardian publishs her final exchange with her father. Read more about Rachel's last mail
IDF uses $10.2 million shopping center project under construction in Ramallah/Al-Bireh as temporary military base. Sam Bahour writes from Ramallah. Read more about What a Week!
“The tragic death of American peace activist Rachel Corrie in Rafah refugee camp, killed when an Israeli bulldozer ran over her, came one day after millions of Americans demonstrated peacefully against war in Iraq, and only one day after I received similar tragic news from my family.” Benaz Somiry-Batrawi writes from Columbia, Missouri. Read more about Neither the living nor the dead
Sundes, an eight year old girl living in Qalqiliya, lead me upstairs to the room where her mother, Suher al Hindi, was killed last fall when shot by Israeli soldiers through a window in their home. Read more about Fury from Qalqiliya
Kathleen Christison and Bill ChristisonAmman, Jordan14 March 2003
We have a picture taped above a computer at home, sent to us a month ago on the email circuit, of a naked Palestinian man who has just been strip-searched by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Ramallah and relieved of his clothes altogether, now surrounded by other Palestinian men trying to cover him. Read more about Heading for Jerusalem
