This is the one year anniversary of the death of Rachel Corrie, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activist who was murdered in the Gaza Strip by an Israeli bulldozer. On this day, I remember her heroism and the cruelty of the Israeli occupation she witnessed, fought against, and lost her life to. Check out her memorial website with a letter from parents "to all who have paused today to remember our daughter Rachel Corrie and to call for an end to the occupation".

UNRWA reported before October 2003 that Israel had demolished 655 houses in Gaza since September 2000, rendering 5,124 homeless, along with large tracts of agricultural land. Using figures from B'tselem, the Israeli human rights organization, Israel demolished 223 houses in 2003 and 30 so far in 2004, to March 7, and that these demolitions are conducted as punishment, "against families of persons wanted by the security forces or who have been killed." Btselem reports that Israeli security forces and armed settlers have killed 540 Palestinians since March 2003, 4 of whom were killed inside Israel's borders, 109 of whom were children under 18. At the same time, 132 Israeli civilians, including 20 children, were killed by Palestinians.

When I first saw the pictures of the bulldozer bringing her down, I was struck by the sheer inutility of the murder - I mean, although I profoundly disagree when Israeli troops shooting at Palestinian kids throwing rocks, I can at least see some, albeit violent, logic behind it. But to ram a person down that is in pure non-violent protest, in the absence of any "angry, menacing protesters" is bewildering. The other was the open fields that lay behind the bulldozer. Its not as if there was a lack of space requiring the Isrealis to make room. It was a profoundly futile murder. It qualifies as evil.