Column: Work for peace, rest in peace

This Sunday, 11 more individuals were killed in the occupied Palestinian territories. Rachel Corrie, an American volunteer working with the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine, was one of them. At age 23, her life ended at the hands of Israeli Defense Forces in Rafah, a city of over 80,000 refugees in the Gaza Strip. Rachel talked to the driver of the Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer, asking him not to destroy the home of Dr. Samir Nasrallah and his family.

When the driver refused, she placed herself between the bulldozer and the house as a shield, clearly visible in a neon orange jacket. She knew her power as an international activist and the history of Israelís respect for the ISM. She did not know that the driver would proceed to bury her as she tried to stand up, screaming for help. The other seven activists shouted to the driver to stop. He drove the bulldozer over Rachel, crushing her under the blades, pausing for a few seconds when she was directly underneath, then reversed the vehicle and ran her over again. Despite Dr. Nasrallah's efforts to sustain her, she died on the way to the hospital from skull and chest fractures.

Rachel was in Gaza because of her awareness of her privilege and power as an international in the struggle for justice and peace in the Occupied Territories. She couldn't be a bystander, living millions of miles away in a country that supports the occupation, knowing that thousands of Palestinians were being killed for simply living in their homes. Houses are constantly being demolished by the IDF, when Israel decides that yet another area must be cleared for security. In the West Bank, a 230-mile wall complete with barbed wire and guard towers is being constructed to surround two Palestinian cities, and houses are being destroyed that lie "ìn its way."

The house demolitions are used to confine the Palestinians to small areas of land and to further the displacement process. Ninety-four percent of all the destroyed homes are those of innocent civilians. For seven weeks, Rachel worked with the ISM, a movement of Palestinian and international activists working to raise awareness of the struggle for Palestinian freedom and an end to Israeli occupation in the occupied territories. The international presence of the ISM is crucial to Palestinian activists, as alone the Palestians face arrest, beatings and death by Israeli forces. Since the ISM's inception in August 2001, no ISM activists have been killed, and the movement has stood as a peaceful barrier to Israel's oppression of the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.

The murder of Rachel Corrie signifies a new level of hostility. She dedicated herself to pursuing peace in the face of violence and put her own life on the line. If she was brutally murdered, what is going to stop the IDF from pursuing a deadly onslaught against the Palestinians? What is going to stop the Palestinians from retaliating with suicide attacks? Rachel's life is rightfully remembered and honored, symbolizing the dehumanization of individuals in the West Bank and Gaza, and the IDF's disregard for whom they choose to kill. However, we cannot forget that over 2,200 Palestinians and 600 Israelis have been killed in the past two years. The ISM continues to march forward, demanding justice and peace through nonviolence and the presence of international activists who won't stand by as Israel closes further in on the Palestinians. Israel must take the first step and stop the violence.

Another American was killed in the past few days. She was on a bus that was bombed by a Palestinian suicide bomber. The people on the bus were innocent, Rachel was innocent and the Palestinians whose homes are being destroyed are innocent. We are not innocent if we sit back and watch this horror from afar, knowing that our government supports these deaths and this constant oppression. We are not innocent when we turn away from the Caterpillar bulldozers on our campus, knowing that Duke is invested in the same company that provides Israel with the bulldozers that are killing innocent Palestinians and, have killed an innocent peace activist.

Emily LaDue is a Trinity freshman. Her column appears every third Thursday.