Evergreen College student Rachel Corrie, a peace activist/”human sheild” in the Gaza Strip, was killed yesterday when she was run over by a bulldozer.
Joseph Smith, 21, of Kansas City, Mo., said he, Corrie and five other British and American protesters who are part of the pro-Palestinian “International Solidarity Movement” had spent the afternoon “trying to disrupt the work of the Israeli bulldozers” at the Rafah Refugee Camp.
Wearing a fluorescent orange vest for visibility, Corrie then “sat down in front of them like we had done all day,” Smith said. “But this time the bulldozer didn’t stop.” Protesters heard her scream, then “we were hollering and waving our arms.” The bulldozer then backed over her again and retreated, he said.
On the one hand, this is a tragic incident, and my condolences go out to Rachel’s friends and family.
On the other hand — and I’m certainly not trying to belittle Rachel, her ideals or work, or her death — I have to admit that I’ve always found the idea of “human shields” to be naïvely optimistic, at best, and quite possibly downright suicidal at worst. You’re placing yourself in an extremely volatile and dangerous situation, between two factions that have repeatedly shown very little regard for human life, be it military or civilian. As horrible as any resulting deaths may be, I can’t see them as unexpected or surprising in the least. If you’re going to stand in between two warring sides, you’re knowingly taking the chance that one or the other (or both) is going to end up killing you.
I’m very sorry this happened, but some of the indignation I’m hearing from other people strikes me as a rather ludicrous response to an event like this. Being sad, upset, or even angry makes sense — being indignant doesn’t. At least, not to me.