Rachel Corrie: Answers needed

Monday, August 15, 2005

The family of English peace activist Tom Hurndall is experiencing the cold comfort of justice at last. Hurndall, 22, was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper in Rafah about two years ago while moving Palestinian children out of the line of fire. He remained in a coma for nine months before he died.

His shooter, ex-sergeant Taysir Hayb, is now the first Israeli soldier to be convicted of manslaughter since the start of the intifada five years ago. He received an eight-year sentence last week.

Hurndall was shot a month after Rachel Corrie, 23, was killed while volunteering at a Rafah refugee camp. The Olympia college student was acting as a human shield to protect a Palestinian home from being torn down when she was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer. Her death, said Israeli authorities, was an accident. Her parents disagree, and have asked for a more detailed investigation than the one conducted already.

The Hurndalls assembled a legal team and applied pressure to the Israeli state to release its reports on the shooting, and British Foreign Office Minister Ian Pearson applauded Hayb's sentence.

"The British government welcomes the decision ... We hope that the Hurndall family will draw some comfort from the conviction and sentencing," said Pearson. The U.S. government, meanwhile, has been hesitant to pressure Israel to further review the Corrie matter. U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, D-Vancouver, unsuccessfully sought a congressional inquiry last year. Since then both Baird and the Corries have been in contact with the State Department and the FBI, hoping to prompt a U.S. inquiry.

The frustrating experiences of Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a dead U.S. soldier, in seeking a meeting with President Bush illustrate the difficulties of getting leaders' attention to individual deaths. But if British leaders can devote high-level interest to the loss of one of their citizens in Israel, the Bush administration can take more interest in Rachel Corrie's tragic death.

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