Wednesday, 16 March 2010 marked the eighth anniversary of the death of American peace activist, Rachel Corrie.
Corrie was 24 years old when she was killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) while trying to prevent Israeli bulldozers from demolishing Palestinian houses in Rafah town, near the Gaza-Egypt border.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Al Dameer Association for Human Rights, and Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP) reiterate their condemnation of the Israeli killing of Rachel Corrie.
They assert that the failure to criminally investigate this case and bring the perpetrators to justice represents Israel’s insistence on providing immunity to its soldiers in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).
Corrie's family filed a civil lawsuit before the Haifa District Court.
The hearings are scheduled for the third and sixth of April 2011.
A number of involved Israeli soldiers and commanders as well as Corrie’s colleagues who were present when the murder occurred will testify.
Al Mezan, Al Dameer, and GCMHP express their full solidarity with Corrie's family in their attempts to achieve justice for their daughter.
Achieving justice for Corrie and bringing those who are responsible for her killing to justice, is considered a part of achieving justice for all victims of Israeli violations of international law and human rights.
Field investigations indicated that at approximately 4:45pm on Sunday 16 March 2003, the IOF killed Rachel Corrie while she was trying to prevent Israeli bulldozers from demolishing Palestinian houses in the As-Salam neighborhood, in the town of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli soldier who was driving the bulldozer ran over Corrie while she was alive.
She was wearing civilian clothes and a fluorescent jacket to ensure clear visibility and make sure that the soldiers saw that she was a civilian peace activist.
She was holding a megaphone attempting to speak to the driver of the bulldozer, which was demolishing Palestinian houses in that area.
Despite  the clear evidence in Corrie's case, the large number of eyewitnesses,  photos that show the IOF killing of Corrie, and the relentless efforts of Corrie's family and human rights organizations and activists to achieve justice, sadly it is still absent.
The Israeli court is expected to hold hearings in the civil lawsuit about Corrie's killing next week.
Al Mezan, Al Dameer, and GCMHP take advantage of this opportunity to assert that Corrie's case forms a new test for the Israeli judicial system.
This case will give this system another chance to show that it is able to work as an independent system that seeks to achieve justice and apply the law, rather than continue to entrench its politicized attitude by seeking to shield IOF, even when it commits serious violations and defend Israel and its image and interests at the expense of the rule of law and justice.
Al Mezan, Al Dameer, and GCMHP reiterate their strong condemnation of the killing of Rachel Corrie as a clear violation of international law and human rights principles.
-We call the international community to ensure justice and respect human rights, and to confront the policy of immunity by applying the principles of international law to prevent further violations from being committed in the future.
End   Al Mezan Center for Human Rights Al Dameer Association for Human Rights Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP)