The day after the American activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by the armored Israeli bulldozer she was trying to stop from destroying a Palestinian home, then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised U.S. President George W. Bush "a thorough, credible and transparent investigation." It was the least that could be expected after the death of a U.S. citizen at the hands of its closest ally.
Seven years, two Prime Ministers and one President later, Corrie's parents sat in the front row of Haifa District Court on Sunday, a white-haired couple struggling to get to the bottom of their daughter's death. Corrie v. the State of Israel, a civil suit, is also putting a withering spotlight on Israel's conduct since March 16, 2003.
"She was hurt by a grenade; this is the information that was given to us," said Oded (his last name was withheld for security reasons), one of the three military police investigators who conducted the official inquiry into the death — an effort the testimony painted as slipshod at best. "I don't remember who said it."
"How many grenades were there?" asked Hussein Abu Hussein, an attorney for the Corrie family. Oded: "I don't remember." Hussein: "You didn't record it?" Oded: "I don't know."
Hussein: "Who threw the grenade?" Oded: "I believe hostile forces, but I don't know."
As the attorney bore down, Oded shot a look at the table where two lawyers for the state of Israel sat. The look said, Can you believe this? But with a wave of his hand, the judge spared the witness from digging through the case file for answers. "No," said Judge Oded Gershon from the bench, "we know that it is untrue that a grenade was thrown."