ZGram - 3/5/2004 - "One year ago: Rachel Corrie"

[zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org]

Zgram - Where Truth is Destiny:  Now more than ever!

March 5, 2004

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

Get this:  Last night Ernst told me that he is not allowed to speak 
with other prisoners who might pass by his cell, or on his way to his 
shower or his 10-minute walk in the yard! 

It's now been more than a year in solitary without a charge, much 
less conviction.  For thirteen months, Ernst has not had one night 
where he was permitted to sleep in the dark - a physical necessity 
for the body to restore itself from the stresses and wear and tear of 
the day.  There is no watch or clock or even a calendar.  He never 
knows if it is night or day - his only gauge for time is when his 
meals, such as they are, are passed to him through the "feeding slot."

Somewhere I read that deprivation of normal sleep is called "torture 
lite" (pun intended?) by the Israelis as one of their methods to 
assault the human spirit by breaking down body resistance.

"Don't worry about me," Ernst wrote to a supporter.  "I can take it." 
To me, he said last night:  "Most people couldn't take it, I am 
sure."  A very rare admission how much he is hurting inside.

Those of you, who have not yet faxed your protest about the Zundel 
kidnapping and subsequent inhuman treatment to Canadian Prime 
Minister, Paul Martin, please do so.  Tell him the world is watching, 
and there is an election coming up.

Once again, Prime Minister Paul Martin's fax number is 613-941-6900. 

You may have to try several times since the lines seem to be busier 
than normal.

My thanks to those of you who have sent a fax and sent me a copy for 
our archives.  I sent several copies to Ernst, and he said, "They 
really gave me a lift.  They show that I am not forgotten."

Remember:  Today, it is Ernst Zundel.  Tomorrow, it could well be you.

=====

Now to another story - the martyrdom of Rachel Corrie.  I must admit 
that the silence of the American public a year ago to the brazen 
murder of this young, idealistic girl has shocked me to the core. 
When it happened, I thought there would be Rachel posters from sea to 
shining sea.  Instead, nothing but a yawning silence.  Words fail me 
to describe how I feel at the moral chasm of our world.

Here, one of Rachel's cousins honors Rachel in a simple, yet stark article:

[START]

A year of silence since Rachel Corrie died
by
Elizabeth Corrie /  ATLANTA, Georgia
International Herald Tribune, Thursday, March 4, 2004

Killed in Israel

Only a year ago, the month of March would have held the same positive 
associations for me as it has for many - the beginning of the end of 
winter, the promise of springtime and even summer. This year, and for 
every year for the rest of my life, the approach of March will mean 
something else entirely - the anniversary of the brutal death of my 
cousin, Rachel Corrie.

.On March 16, 2003, an Israeli soldier and his commander ran over 
Rachel with a nine-ton Caterpillar bulldozer while she stood - 
unarmed, clearly visible in her orange fluorescent jacket - 
protecting a Palestinian home slated for demolition by the Israeli 
army. The death of Rachel Corrie, and the response that her case has 
- and has not - received, reveal several disturbing, indeed immoral 
and criminal, truths.

First, Rachel died while attempting to prevent the demolition of a 
home, a common practice of the Israeli Army's collective punishment 
that has left more than 12,000 Palestinians homeless since the 
beginning of the second uprising in September 2000. This practice 
violates international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Second, Rachel was run over by a Caterpillar bulldozer, manufactured 
in the United States and sent to Israel as part of the regular U.S. 
aid package to Israel, which amounts to $3 billion to $4 billion 
annually, all of it from U.S. taxpayers. The use of Caterpillar 
bulldozers to destroy civilian homes, not to mention to run over 
unarmed human rights activists, violates U.S. law, including the U.S. 
Arms Export Control Act, which prohibits the use of military aid 
against civilians.

Third, the self-acquittal of the Israeli army for Rachel's death and 
the resistance of the state of Israel to an independent investigation 
into this case reveals both the Sharon administration's unwillingness 
to take responsibility for the death of a U.S. citizen and the Bush 
administration's cowardice in allowing another nation to attack U.S. 
citizens with impunity.

Fourth, Rachel's death was in fact only the first of several Israeli 
attacks on foreign citizens in the West Bank and Gaza. Brian Avery, 
from New Mexico, was shot in the face on April 5; Tom Hurndall, a 
British citizen, was shot in the head on April 11 and died Jan. 13, 
and James Miller, another British citizen, was also shot and killed 
in April. To date, only in Hurndall's case will the Israeli soldier 
responsible for the attack face trial, and this is because the 
British government, after several months, finally responded to the 
overwhelming evidence presented by the Hurndall family.

.As we approach March 16, residents and citizens of the United States 
should ask themselves how it is that an unarmed U.S. citizen can be 
killed with impunity by a soldier from an allied nation receiving 
massive U.S. aid, using a product manufactured in the United States 
by a U.S. corporation and paid for with U.S. tax dollars. When three 
Americans were killed, presumably by Palestinians, in an explosion on 
Oct. 15, 2003, as they traveled through Gaza, the FBI came within 24 
hours to investigate the deaths. After one year, neither the FBI nor 
any other U.S.-led team has done anything to investigate the death of 
an American killed by an Israeli.

.Why the double standard? Perhaps this reveals the most disturbing 
truth of all.

=====

.Elizabeth Corrie is an administrator and teacher in a school in Atlanta.

[END]

Reminder: 

Help free Ernst Zundel, Prisoner of Conscience.  His prison sketches 
- now on-line and highly popular - help pay for his defence.  Take a 
look - and tell a friend.

http://www.zundelsite.org/gallery/donations/index.html