The 22nd anniversary of the killing of American citizen Rachel Corrie

Today, March 16, marks the 22^nd anniversary of the killing of American citizen Rachel Corrie, an American human rights activist and member of the international solidarity movement in support of the rights of the Palestinian people, under the wheels of an armored bulldozer belonging to the Israeli occupation army in Rafah in March 2003. Rachel was standing in front of a Palestinian house in Rafah trying to prevent Israeli forces from demolishing it using military bulldozers, and although she was perfectly visible wearing a bright orange jacket to attract attention, the bulldozer deliberately crushed her.

As is the case today, and in light of the absolute American support for the occupying power and the provision of military and political protection to make it immune from international accountability, Rachel’s family and friends tried to resort to the Israeli judiciary to redress her, but he rejected the case, stating that the army was not responsible for the incident. This remains the same position, despite the orders and provisional measures of the International Court of Justice in the Genocide against Israel case, and the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against the Israeli Prime Minister and his former Minister of Defence.

In this context, the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs affirms that the Palestinian people and the honorable defenders of their rights around the world, including Rachel Corrie, have objective and strong arguments to expose Israel’s systematic behavior of the genocide of the Palestinian people with American and other weapons, and to work tirelessly to displace them from their land. Israeli war criminals and their supporters will not survive if high-level documented evidence from UN agencies, humanitarian aid organizations and countless activists and experts on Israel’s atrocities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is denied. It is shameful that “civilized” powers choose to overlook this just cause, to evade its integrity or to try to minimize its grave repercussions on international peace and security and the very spirit of humanity.

A tribute to Rachel Corrie, a symbol of courage and peaceful human solidarity, on the anniversary of her tragic death, and a tribute to the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in the face of the oppression and aggression of the occupation forces that has continued for more than seven decades.