Israel Court Exonerates Bulldoze Driver In Death Of American Activist
LU STOUT: We're live from Hong Kong. You are back watching News Stream. Now nine years after an American activist was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer, a civil court in Haifa has ruled that the state of Israel was not at fault for her death. The family says they will appeal the verdict. Now Rachel Corrie's mother, Cindy, called it a bad day for human rights, the rule of law, and for the country of Israel. And Frederick Pleitgen joins us now live from Haifa, Israel. And Frederik, the lawsuit, it was filed by Corrie's parents. Can you tell us more about their reaction to the ruling?</s>FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they certainly weren't happy at all with the ruling. Basically, if you were inside the courtroom you could see that the judge literally shot that lawsuit down. He was saying things like that the crew that was part of that bulldozer that crushed Rachel Corrie was not to blame for what happened, also that Rachel Corrie should not have been there in the first place. He called the place a war zone. Clearly, her parents were not happy at all with that verdict. You said what Rachel Corrie's mother said. Her father also reacted in an interview with me just a couple of hours ago. Let's listen in to what he had to say.</s>CRAIG CORRIE, FATHER OF RACHEL CORRIE: It was a war zone. But, you know, I -- I spent 11 months in Vietnam. I know about war zones. I had nine medals in 11 months there. And strangely enough, one of my jobs was to be in charge of bulldozers. So no matter where you are, you need to know what's in front of your blade. That's just one of the requirements as a decent human being and as a soldier. I think when you start talking about a war zone, that doesn't excuse attacking individual citizens.</s>PLEITGEN: Now, Kristie, the Israeli military, of course, has a very different take of what happened there. They also issued a statement after the verdict was handed down saying, and I'm going to read this to you, Othe death of Rachel Corrie is without a doubt a tragic accident. The verdict states the driver of the bulldozer and his commander had a very limited field of vision such that they had no possibility of seeing Ms. Corrie and thus are exonerated of any blame for negligence.O So they were saying essentially that these bulldozers are very, very big machines. On top of that, they're also armored and therefore the windows are very, very small, very difficult to look out of and therefore they say that the driver and the other person in that bulldozer had no possibility to see Rachel Corrie. And on top of that they say that this was a battle zone, that the activists were there at their own risk, should not have been there. And therefore they don't believe that the Israeli military has any blame -- or shares any blame for the death of Rachel Corrie. As you said, that's certainly not enough for the parents. They say they are going to appeal this verdict in Israel's supreme court, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: And can you tell us more about their daughter, about Rachel Corrie, her cause and her activism before her death in 2003.</s>PLEITGEN: Well, she was very active. She was part of the international solidarity movement for the people in Gaza. She took part in several actions in Gaza, also in the West Bank before she was killed. And on that day, she was trying to stop these bulldozers from conducting actions in the town of Rafa. Basically the Israeli military says what was going on that time was that the bulldozers were trying to clear land of tall bushes, of trees as well, where they say they were being attacked by Gaza militants. They say that both settlers and soldiers were being attacked. The peace activists, for their parts are saying that on that day the Israeli military was breaking down houses in that area. And Rachel Corrie on that day was trying to shield the house of a chemist who lives in that area. And that's when she was killed, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: Fred Pleitgen reporting. Thank you. You're watching News Stream. And still ahead, taking on U.S. President Barack Obama. Mitt Romney prepares to accept the Republican presidential nomination at his party's convention in Florida. Plus, Iran tries to reshape its public image in its role as a summit host, maybe the first big step in that direction.