This evening there is only a single item, ‘Today in Palestine.’ Apart from the newspaper Yediot Ahronot, that someone left on the seat, and part of which I read on the way to Haifa this morning, have not opened a single page.
Instead, spouse and I attended the final (presumably) session of the Rachel Corrie trial. We remained for the entire prosecution questioning of the single witness (from noon till 5:00PM) but did not stay for the defense cross questioning. We’d both had enough. I would imagine that so did the Corries, but of course they stayed on.
The single witness today was Col. Pinhas Zuaretz, who when Rachel was killed in 2003 was Commander of the Gaza Division Southern Brigade, the brigade involved in her death. The bulldozer driver that killed Rachel was a reservist assigned to the unit.
From the first question that the prosecutor asked, the direction of the responses was clear. The question was, “You of course value human life,” the response was “My soldier’s lives.” After some slight prodding, Zuaretz agreed (rather than himself say) that yes he valued human life. His response to this was much less a declaration (as was his initial response) than a grudging ‘yes.’
He throughout gave the feeling that he considered himself superior to the prosecutor (a Palestinian citizen of Israel), and to Palestinians in general. Also, his responses made clear that even today when he is no longer in the military (albeit he is a vice-president of an American arms manufacturer, so is not entirely cut off from the military) that his soldiers came first, others didn’t count. He, for instance, claimed that he would kill 10 innocent civilians to save the life of one soldier. Again, he claimed that it is allowed to kill anyone who wanders into or comes into a ‘war zone,’ as was the Philadelphi line at the time that the bulldozer ran over her. Thus the bulldozer driver was not, Zuaretz claimed, working. He was at war.
And so on and so forth.
These sessions must be a terrible drain on the Corries. I feel ashamed to admit that they are an emotional drain on me.
Anyhow, the result is that I just don’t want to read any more bad news tonight, other than what is published in ‘Today in Palestine.’ Several of the articles are ones that I have already sent out—perhaps you didn’t have time to read them. Now you do. Besides there are other items that I have not distributed, for instance, a plan to have a flotilla of Palestinians returning to their homes. That’s exciting. We all know how Israel will react. But then, as one article claims, “Anti Zionism is growing among Jews” http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/anti-zionism-growing-among-jews-1.835395 (thanks to Abraham Weizfeld for calling attention to it.
Count your blessings. Tomorrow is another day, albeit I won’t be much at the computer tomorrow either. But will try to find a couple of hours to check out what is happening. I will as a whole be cutting back somewhat (baring unexpected circumstances). Have to begin preparing for presentations in the States in August and September. Fortunately, my colleagues in New Profile will keep you up to date while I’m abroad for 6 weeks, as they also do even when I’m here.
