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The Lie about the Tunnels
On Mar. 1, 2004 a woman named Ruhama Shattan who lives in Israel wrote a disgusting attack on Rachel Corrie, a snide sarcastic "tribute" to Rachel Corrie in the Jerusalem Post. It starts, "March 16 is the first anniversary of Rachel Corrie's death. I want to thank Corrie for the explosives that flow freely from Egypt to Gaza, via the smuggling tunnels under the Gaza homes that she died defending." It goes on to blame Rachel for showing Palestinian children how to hate Americans as she "snarled" and burned an American flag, etc., etc. This was too much for the U.S. embassy which wrote the following:
Disgusting 'tribute'
Sir, – I want to pass on the US Embassy's reaction to the article "A 'tribute' to Rachel Corrie" (March 2). This article is nothing less than hateful incitement. The author's disgusting abuse of the anniversary of the death of this American citizen is inexcusable. The article reflects a level of discourse unbefitting any serious newspaper.
We're disappointed that you chose to publish this article.
PAUL PATIN
US Embassy
Tel Aviv
Unfortunately Patin did not answer any of the lies in the letter. For instance the IDF claims its housing demolitions in Rafah are needed to deal with Palestinian tunnels through which they smuggle weapons.
The International Solidarity Movement points out that "Rachel was run over while attempting to save the house of a pharmacist, Dr. Samir Nasrallah of Rafah in the Gaza strip. Strangely, given the publicity that attended this tragedy, the Israeli Army has never shown any evidence of a tunnel in Dr. Nasrallah's house, or even in the surrounding area."
Adam Shapiro of the ISM made the following points about the tunnels.
1. As far a he knows the Israelis have never asked the Egyptians to do anything about supposed tunnels.
2. If there are tunnels there is no reason to destroy houses. The tunnels could be found and collapsed.
As of late Jan. 24 Rebuilding Homes stated they've destroyed 1240 homes in Rafah. It reported that on Jan 10, 2004 the home Rachel Corrie tried to protect was demolished. Amnesty International reported that 10,000 Palestinian homes have been demolished since 1967.
The tunnels are the excuse. The reality is that Sharon wants more and more land and believes that the worse it is for Palestinians the more they will leave Palestine and the more will surrender. Destroy and kill enough and the Palestinians will surrender. In fact the resistance has never stopped. Sharon is a failure.
The Israelis don't belong in Gaza, any inch of Gaza. They were ordered out of Gaza by the Security Council over 35 years ago.