The following letter was sent to the World Socialist Web Site by a relative of Rachel Corrie, the American college student who was murdered Sunday by the Israeli Defense Forces.

To the Editor,

Sad news reached my family Sunday via Internet news coverage. My second cousin Rachel Corrie was murdered in Gaza City by Israel’s IDF. Rachel had been in Palestine for about two months as part of International Solidarity Movement, and was attempting to defend Palestinian homes from demolition in the Rafah refugee camp. Despite calls to stop and a brightly colored jacket, an Israeli military bulldozer ran over her and then reversed course, crushing her body another time.

Rachel was an intelligent, sensitive, committed, and beautiful 23-year-old student at Evergreen College, in Olympia, Washington. Her murder is a tragic loss for her family and for the world.

Rachel’s letters to her family from Palestine revealed firsthand the lengths to which Sharon is willing to go in his “final solution” for the Palestinians—the complete destruction and liquidation of a nation, what our pro-Israeli media call “genocide” or “ethnic cleansing” when applied to select non-Israeli aggressors. The letters described the daily harassment, murder and destruction that the IDF administers on Palestinians.

An intelligent observer of the situation she found, Rachel attributed the crisis in the Middle East to a worldwide polarization of wealth and to US designs to undermine OPEC, dominate the region, and then control the economies of Europe and Japan. Rachel very likely saved numerous lives by her presence, but with her murder the American lackey Sharon reveals a new and heightened disregard for world public opinion. Under cover of the impending slaughter in Iraq and operating with a green light from Washington, Sharon promises to accelerate the destruction of Palestine, serving notice to internationals that they too will be targets.

Yours truly,

TDM

17 March 2003