Congressional Investigation Of Corrie Killing

Activists Demand Congressional Investigation Of Peace Worker's Killing And U.S. Funding Of Israeli Occupation

NEW YORK - Responding to the killing on Sunday of Rachel Corrie, a U.S. peace worker from Olympia, Washington, by the Israeli Occupation Force in the Gaza Strip, three U.S. activist groups are demanding Congress to investigate Corrie's death. The three groups, Direct Action for a Free Palestine (DAP), Jews Against the Occupation (JATO), and Stop U.S. Tax Aid to Israel Now (SUSTAIN) are also calling for a wider investigation of U.S. funding of the murderous Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. In the past year and a half this has resulted in the killings of over 1,900 Palestinians and three international peace workers.

Corrie, 23, was killed by an American Caterpillar D-9 military bulldozer that ran her over while she and seven other peace workers were trying to rescue a family's house from being destroyed by the IOF. The next day, 10 Palestinians were killed when Israeli troops invaded the Nusseirat refugee camp and the nearby town of Beit Lahiya - like Corrie's death, part of an escalating campaign of Israeli terror in the Occupied Territories.

JATO, DAP, and SUSTAIN are calling on the U.S. senators from Corrie's state, Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, to take the lead in pushing for a full investigation and accounting for her death at the hands of Israeli forces. Says Angela Bukowy, a DAP member, "The representatives from Corrie's state must physically go to Rafah and understand the terror people live under, which Rachel Corrie was trying to alleviate and bring to the world's attention, and not just accept the Israeli government's excuses for what happened."

Despite Israeli claims to the contrary, eyewitness accounts and photographic evidence indicates that Corrie's death was not an accident: the bulldozer driver was able to see her and her companions were shouting for the driver to stop.

A wider investigation of U.S. aid to Israeli terror is also needed, says Bukowy, "because the U.S. is equally culpable in that we subsidize Israel's purchases of military equipment with our tax dollars." DAP, JATO, and SUSTAIN are urging all U.S. citizens to demand that their senators and representatives conduct a full investigation of both Corrie's death and the U.S. role in Israel's war of terror in the illegally occupied territories.

Jews Against the Occupation (www.jewsagainsttheoccupation.org) is an organization of progressive, secular and religious Jews of all ages throughout the New York City area advocating peace through justice for Palestine and Israel. Direct Action for a Free Palestine works in coordination with the International Solidarity Movement and, through the ISM, with the 60,000-member network of Palestinian NGOs (PNGO) to organize, train, and in some cases fund US peace workers in Palestine. SUSTAIN (www.sustaincampaign.org) is a non-hierarchical, grassroots organization committed to supporting and sustaining the Palestinian movement for justice, human rights and self-determination.

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