American activist Rachel Corrie, 23, stands between an Israeli bulldozer and a Palestinian house on March 16, 2003, in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Corrie was run over and killed by an Israeli bulldozer as she protested the demolition of Palestinian houses.
Olympia, May 6 (RHC)-- The father of a pro-Palestine American activist, who was mercilessly killed by the Israeli regime forces in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah in 2003, has praised a move by his late daughter’s college to agree to the academic demonstrators’ demands regarding divestment from the occupying entity in support of Palestinians.
Evergreen State College administrators in Olympia, Washington, and pro-Palestine student protesters reached an agreement on Tuesday, with the former vowing to publicly call for a ceasefire in Gaza and work toward divesting from “companies that profit from gross human rights violations and/or the occupation of Palestinian territories.”
The move made the university the first across the United States to completely divest from Israel following widespread rallies by students and academics over the past couple of weeks in solidarity with Palestinians and in condemnation of Israel’s months-long genocidal war on Gaza.
Evergreen State College is the alma mater of US activist Rachel Corrie, who lost his life in 2003 when an Israeli armored bulldozer crushed her as she tried to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian family’s home in Rafah.
“I’m proud of the students at Evergreen (for) the action that they took and the way they managed to get those concerns across,” Corrie’s father, Craig Corrie, said. “I’m proud of the faculty that worked with them and the administration they negotiated with that those concerns could be acknowledged.”
Since her death, which happened at the height of the Second Intifada (uprising), the 23-year-old activist has been remembered as an icon for the Palestinian struggle against Israel’s decades-long occupation.
Rachel’s parents lodged legal challenges against the Israeli military and the Texas-based Caterpillar Inc., the bulldozer’s manufacturer, but their efforts failed. In 2012, an Israeli court ruled against the parents, clearing the regime’s military and the bulldozer’s driver of any wrongdoing. Israel’s Supreme Court also upheld the verdict.
In Olympia, Washington, the agreement, which was the result of five hours of negotiations, led to the removal of encampments and sit-ins by pro-Palestine demonstrators in Evergreen State College. Meanwhile, the academic institution stopped approving study abroad programs to Israel and said students would not be allowed to go to the occupied territories.
Evergreen State College also stated that it is committed to diversity and the prohibition of “discrimination based on shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, including Jews and Palestinians.”
Over the past few weeks, U.S. campuses have been the scene of demonstrations against the Israeli war on Gaza, resulting in a series of tense and occasionally violent encounters as well as hundreds of arrests.
The students are calling for an end to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and demanding schools divest from companies that support the Israeli regime.
Tel Aviv has failed to achieve its objectives in Gaza despite killing nearly 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
The U.S. is a willing partner in the Gaza carnage as it has offered unwavering support for Israel during the devastating onslaught, and blocked UN resolutions calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.
