“Israeli” General Tried to Cover up Truth about Death of Activist Rachel Corrie
Local Editor
Seven years after the American activist Rachel Corrie was killed by an "Israeli" army bulldozer in Gaza, evidence has emerged which appears to implicate "Israel's" Gaza commander at the time, in an attempt to obstruct the official investigation into her death, reported The Independent.
The alleged intervention of Major-General Doron Almog, then head of "Israel's" southern command, is documented in testimony taken by "Israeli" military police a day after Ms Corrie was killed on March 16, 2003.
According to a military police investigator's report which has now emerged, the "commander" of the D-9 bulldozer was giving testimony when an army colonel dispatched by Major-General Almog interrupted proceedings and cut short his evidence.
The military police investigator wrote: "At 18:12 reserve Colonel Baruch Kirhatu entered the room and informed the witness that he should not convey anything and should not write anything and this at the order of the general of southern command."
The commander was a reservist named Edward Valermov. He was in the bulldozer with its driver. In his testimony, Valermov said that the bulldozers, manned by two people, were ordered to continue their work despite the presence of the ISM protesters. He said that troops in an armoured personnel carrier threw stun grenades, used tear gas and fired shots towards the ground to scare the protesters away.
Before he was ordered to stop, he told military police investigators that he had not seen Ms Corrie before she was wounded.
Ms Corrie, who was 23 when she died, was critically wounded when a bulldozer buried her with sandy soil near the border between Gaza and Egypt. The American, wearing a fluorescent orange jacket and carrying a megaphone, was among a group of volunteers from the anti-occupation International Solidarity Movement who over a period of three hours on that day had sought to block the demolition by "Israel" of Palestinian homes.
On contrary to what Valermov claimed, Alice Coy, a former ISM volunteer activist who was near Ms Corrie during the incident said in an affidavit to the court that "to the best of my knowledge the bulldozer driver could see Rachel while pushing earth over her body."
Hussein Abu Hussein, a lawyer for the Corrie family, said Major-General Almog's alleged intervention blocked the possible emergence of evidence that could have determined whether Mr Valermov's assertion that he did not see Ms Corrie was reasonable.
Another army document strongly suggests that Major-General Almog opposed the military police investigation.
Dated 18 March 2003, a military police investigator petitioning a judge for permission to conduct an autopsy on Ms Corrie's body said that "we arrived only today because there was an argument between the general of southern command and the military advocate general about whether to open an investigation and under what circumstances."
Almog narrowly escaped arrest in Britain on a war crimes charge for allegedly ordering the destruction in 2002 of 50 civilian homes in Rafah, where Ms Corrie was later killed.
Seven years after the American activist Rachel Corrie was killed by an "Israeli" army bulldozer in Gaza, evidence has emerged which appears to implicate "Israel's" Gaza commander at the time, in an attempt to obstruct the official investigation into her death, reported The Independent.
The alleged intervention of Major-General Doron Almog, then head of "Israel's" southern command, is documented in testimony taken by "Israeli" military police a day after Ms Corrie was killed on March 16, 2003.
According to a military police investigator's report which has now emerged, the "commander" of the D-9 bulldozer was giving testimony when an army colonel dispatched by Major-General Almog interrupted proceedings and cut short his evidence.
The military police investigator wrote: "At 18:12 reserve Colonel Baruch Kirhatu entered the room and informed the witness that he should not convey anything and should not write anything and this at the order of the general of southern command."
The commander was a reservist named Edward Valermov. He was in the bulldozer with its driver. In his testimony, Valermov said that the bulldozers, manned by two people, were ordered to continue their work despite the presence of the ISM protesters. He said that troops in an armoured personnel carrier threw stun grenades, used tear gas and fired shots towards the ground to scare the protesters away.
Before he was ordered to stop, he told military police investigators that he had not seen Ms Corrie before she was wounded.
Ms Corrie, who was 23 when she died, was critically wounded when a bulldozer buried her with sandy soil near the border between Gaza and Egypt. The American, wearing a fluorescent orange jacket and carrying a megaphone, was among a group of volunteers from the anti-occupation International Solidarity Movement who over a period of three hours on that day had sought to block the demolition by "Israel" of Palestinian homes.
On contrary to what Valermov claimed, Alice Coy, a former ISM volunteer activist who was near Ms Corrie during the incident said in an affidavit to the court that "to the best of my knowledge the bulldozer driver could see Rachel while pushing earth over her body."
Hussein Abu Hussein, a lawyer for the Corrie family, said Major-General Almog's alleged intervention blocked the possible emergence of evidence that could have determined whether Mr Valermov's assertion that he did not see Ms Corrie was reasonable.
Another army document strongly suggests that Major-General Almog opposed the military police investigation.
Dated 18 March 2003, a military police investigator petitioning a judge for permission to conduct an autopsy on Ms Corrie's body said that "we arrived only today because there was an argument between the general of southern command and the military advocate general about whether to open an investigation and under what circumstances."
Almog narrowly escaped arrest in Britain on a war crimes charge for allegedly ordering the destruction in 2002 of 50 civilian homes in Rafah, where Ms Corrie was later killed.
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