Activist tells israeli court how bulldozer crushed Rachel Corrie to death

The final moments of Rachel Corrie, the American peace activist crushed to death beneath a pile of earth and rubble in the path of an advancing Israeli army bulldozer, were described to an Israeli court by an eyewitness yesterday.

The parents of the 23-year-old, who was killed by the bulldozer in March 2003, were present to hear the harrowing account on the first day of hearings in a civil lawsuit they have brought against the state of Israel. The country has never acknowledged culpability over Corrie's death.

Richard Purssell, a British activist with the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement (ISM), said he watched in horror as Corrie was dragged four metres by the bulldozer moving forward at a "fast walking pace."

He told how her fluorescent orange jacket became invisible beneath a pile of earth churned up by the blade of the 56-tonne D9 Caterpillar machine. Purssell explained that he and two other ISM volunteers had been summoned from the Rafah neighbourhood of Tel Sultan earlier in the day to help five activists prevent bulldozers from carrying out what they feared would be the demolition of Palestinian homes. The five, including Ms Corrie, were in the suburb of Hai Salaam, close to the border with Egypt. More

A clip from the documentary "occupation 101", a film which details the Israli invasion and occupation of the Palestinian lands. If this story of Rachel Corrie, and activist killed while trying to prevent Palestinian homes from being demolished by Isralis, doesn't touch your heart, you're just not human. This girl is a real American hero, I can't believe I've never heard of this before.