Breathe
By Cristina Gutiérrez
On March 16, 2003, Rachel Corrie was crushed to death in Gaza by an Israeli military bulldozer while she and other members of the International Solidarity Movement were peacefully attempting to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home. Rachel, an American activist, was 23 years old and traveled to Gaza to help and stand in solidarity with Palestinians who have been living under Israeli occupation for more than 50 years. During her time in Gaza, Rachel participated in several protests against actions carried out by the Israeli army, which included arbitrary demolitions of Palestinian homes. On March 16, as on several previous occasions, Rachel stood in front of an Israeli bulldozer hoping to prevent the demolition of a local Palestinian family's home but this time she was crushed to death when the driver repeatedly ran over her. Despite lawsuits filed by her parents against the Israeli authorities, this crime remains unpunished to this day.
Last September 6, twenty-one years later, Turkish-born American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was shot and killed by Israeli troops while participating in a demonstration against the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank city of Beita. Eygi, 26, who was also part of the International Solidarity Movement, traveled to Gaza to participate in a campaign to protect Palestinian farmers from Israeli settler violence and was shot dead in cold blood by a sniper.
In response, the Israeli army declared that the victim "was probably hit indirectly and unintentionally by shots that were not aimed at her". For his part, the spokesman for the White House National Security Council stated that the United States is "deeply disturbed" by this "tragic death" and indicated that they would contact the Israeli government to demand an investigation into what happened. Eygi's family called for an independent investigation into his death, believing that an Israeli-led inquiry would not be fair or adequate. We will have to wait and see if this time there will be consequences for those responsible or if once again the criminal actions of the Israeli army will go unpunished.
Eygi's killing comes amid a surge in violence in the West Bank since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas last October, with an increase in Israeli raids, Israeli settlers' assaults on Palestinians and tougher military offensives against Palestinian demonstrations. It is estimated that nearly 700 Palestinians have been killed since October 7 in the West Bank, a territory governed by the Palestinian National Authority and with no Hamas presence.
Over the past 57 years, since the beginning of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories in 1967, the Israeli government has systematically violated the basic human rights of the Palestinian population in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The recent murder of Eygi, coupled with that of Rachel Corrie in 2003, underscores Israel's disregard for the lives and basic human rights of anyone who opposes its colonialist project of abuse and oppression against the Palestinian population, regardless of their nationality. The right to peaceful demonstration is a fundamental right inherent to every human being and no one, under any circumstances, should be killed for participating in a protest. Just as no one, anywhere in the world, should get away with such a crime. No one, including Israel.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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