This week’s deplorable verdict on the murder of Rachel Corrie sheds a negative light on Israel&#8217;s civil and military justice system, and the search for justice globally 
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Rachel Corrie’s short life was a testament to the power and importance of international solidarity, human rights activism and direct action resistance. Her death was an example of the brutal carelessness and callousness that the state of Israel exhibits towards human lives. The <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19391814">court verdict</a> on Tuesday 28 August, at Haifa District Court, that criticised Rachel herself for not getting out of the way and blamed everyone but those with blood on their hands, was a brazen &#8211; but sadly not at all surprising &#8211; miscarriage of justice. 
However, the fact that this outcome was not surprising illustrates the crux of the problem. The ruling was entirely in keeping with a pattern of impunity that exists because Israel’s discriminatory government and criminal justice system fail to uphold the law. Every time an Israeli court ignores the illegal eviction of a Palestinian family in East Jerusalem, orders villagers in the West Bank to hand over acres of land which belong to them, or fails to hold to account soldiers who injure and kill peaceful demonstrators, the message is same: there is no justice for Palestinians. Indeed, the government inquiry into the flotilla attack which cleared those who killed the nine activists, as well as the Corrie ruling on Tuesday and countless other cases, underline the fact that anyone trying to challenge the oppression of Palestinians will be met with similar inhumanity. 
Rachel’s mother, Cindy Corrie, called the day of the verdict “a bad day for human rights, for humanity, for the rule of law and also for the country of Israel.” 
It is to be hoped, though sadly not awaited with baited breath, that the long struggle of the Corrie family for a justice which remains elusive &#8211; which, to a British audience, echoes of the Lawrence family’s indefatigable pursuit of the truth against an institutional apparatus that was inherently biased against them &#8211; will awaken the conscience of people in Israel, America and the UK. 
Clearly sad but true, the killing of a white, middle class American in the occupied Palestinian Territories was considered more newsworthy than the unceasing but unheard of murders of Palestinians, who are dehumanised or simply ignored by the global media regularly in Gaza and elsewhere. 
Only a very heartless and twisted Israeli apologist (unfortunately, there are quite a few) would suggest that Corrie “wanted to die” or that the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), the non-violent human rights activist group she was working with, “puts activists in danger” and then “exploits media coverage” if they are injured. Corrie went to work in Palestine because her politics was rooted firmly in humanitarianism and she wanted to use her opportunities and privilege as an American citizen to help defend the lives and livelihoods of a people under attack; because she understood their common humanity and wished to protect it. The first line of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK8Z3i3aTq4">speech she made in fifth grade</a>, “I’m here because I care”, which she delivered even at such a young age with the idealistic conviction of an activist, sums that up. 
Blame for Corrie’s death must be placed firmly on the shoulders of those who caused it – which is the only place the court, itself part of the state apparatus responsible, failed to point the finger. To do anything else is perverse, but sadly blaming the victim has become all too common in Israel&#8217;s political, military and judicial culture. 
No Palestinian or solidarity activist takes any glory in this outrageous verdict which adds insult to injury for the long-suffering Corrie family, who fought the case to try to show Israel that it could not continue killing with impunity. But it confirms, yet again, that Israel does indeed intend to reserve for itself, and all those involved in continuing the occupation, the right to kill without consequence. And although with hasbara and spin it denies the Palestinian narrative, disowns the damage it does and tries to convince the world that it is a progressive country with &#8216;a moral army&#8217;, with absurd rulings like this, Israel is increasingly becoming seen as the emperor who has no clothes. 
Let&#8217;s not forget that just a few weeks later <a href="http://www.tomhurndall.co.uk/">British activist Tom Hurndall</a> was also fatally shot and his killer, Taysir Hayb, served just six and a half years in jail. And just weeks after that, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/apr/06/israel.middleeastthemedia">Welsh cameraman James Miller</a> was also shot and killed by the Israeli military who then refused to indict the man responsible. Most persistently yet least noticed, especially during the intifada, but continually today, Palestinians whose deaths don&#8217;t hit the headlines in the West are killed and injured with impunity by Israel&#8217;s war machine. For these families there is no chance of publicity and little hope of pursuing real justice in Israeli courts, as even <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/double-take/what-the-rachel-corrie-case-reveals-about-israeli-justice.premium-1.461938">some commentators in Israel</a> recognise, noting that, appallingly, 96% of cases of unlawful harm to Palestinians are closed by the military police without indictment. 
In an interview shortly before she was killed, Rachel bore witness to what she called “the systematic destruction of a people&#8217;s ability to survive”. This project is ongoing and Rachel opened the eyes of many in America and across the world. The aftermath of her death has helped to expose the flawed Israeli justice system. 
Citing Palestine as a key example, British activists &#8211; who in their youth were recruited by Ronnie Kasrils of the ANC <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/01/london-activists-anti-apartheid-anc">to help with anti-apartheid activities in South Africa</a> &#8211; have said, the world needs more international solidarity. Corrie&#8217;s case prominently illustrates that the world cannot expect the Israeli government to uphold justice. Indeed her mother argued that the state, by stalling, obfuscating and maligning the ISM, had worked to cover up the truth. And as for the courts, as ICAHD&#8217;s <a href="http://www.icahd.org/node/419">Jeff Halper put it</a>, “When justice and law become separated as they have in Israel, the law is demeaned and becomes merely another tool of oppression.” 
Tuesday was, indeed, a very bad day for human rights and a very sad day for justice, in Israel, Palestine and the entire world. But Rachel has inspired millions to work to end such injustice and this ruling will only galvanize their resolve. As her mother has observed “Rachel brought a different face of the United States to the Palestinian people”, who up until then knew America almost exclusively as the subsidiser of the tanks and bombs that terrorise them. That&#8217;s why graffiti in Gaza says: “Rachel, who came to Rafah to stop the tanks. We remember her with love and honour as an inspiration.”
<pre>Image from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:D9-idf_pic661.jpg#filehistory</pre>

Rachel Corrie and the Extermination of Justice in Israeli Courts

In the run up to 2010, what direction was Britain moving in and how can we progress in the next decade of the 21st century? 
In October 2009, the BBC allowed Nick Griffin of the BNP to claim on television that ‘Islam is an evil religion’. Judging from the rather muted reaction this comment received, it was as if this wasn’t a particularly outrageous statement to make. 
About a month after this, on November 5th 2009 three Muslim students from City University in London were badly hurt in a violent attack by a mob of about 30 people armed with metal poles and bricks. The attackers are said to have shouted ‘get the Muslims’ and ‘terrorists’. 
More recently, in Switzerland, a vote to ban minarets was a wake-up call to many, highlighting just how mainstream discriminatory attitudes towards Islam had become and how often it was being unfairly singled out. 
An incident at the London School of Economics in December 2009 recently offended many people, especially Muslims, after student sports players chose to paint their faces black and dress up like inmates of Guantanamo Bay – in orange jumpsuits – at a Christmas party. Their defence was that it was just ‘a bit of fun’ and was not intended to be ‘racist, religiously insensitive or demeaning’ as it was later branded by the Student Union president. But not many people were laughing. 
Unfortunately, Islamophobia is clearly on the rise in Britain. And whether it is severe prejudice, or mere thoughtlessness, if we don’t challenge it, it will become accepted as a social norm. 
It is in everyone’s interest that we do better to tolerate, respect and co-exist with other races, religions and ideologies. This is not only so we can hold on to the benefits of a multicultural, multi-faith society. It’s also because racism (such as attacks on Muslims &#8211; or anyone else) increasingly feeds its twin barbarism: terrorism (in the name of Islam &#8211; or anything else). 
On Christmas 2009 day a former UCL student is accused of attempting to commit mass murder by blowing up a plane in Detroit. 
A flurry of media reports suggesting that he may have been ‘radicalised’ whilst at university in London followed. Although there is no evidence of this, some newspapers presented the fact that he had organised events on the War on Terror as some sort of early warning sign. The absurdity of this is staggering and dangerous. 
It is clear that ‘extremist’ is such a vaguely defined conceptual term that in some minds any Muslim with an opinion, especially one critical of Britain or America’s foreign policy, is suspect. This mentality threatens to curtail freedom of speech by intimidation and silence of dissent, and turn into a McCarthyist witch-hunt against left-wing Muslims. A distinction has to be drawn between voicing anger at the suffering caused by the violence of Western governments and espousing violence as a response. 
There are reasons to be fearful that more Islamophobic attacks will follow this attempted act of terrorism by one grossly misguided individual. 
But the disturbing polarisation that seems to be starting to occur can be reversed in the next ten years. No one wants a continued destructive cycle of racism, terrorism, alienation, injustice and bloodshed. 
The government’s Preventing Violet Extremism programme is counter-productive, itself stigmatising Muslims and exacerbating the sense of disaffection some feel by treating their religion as the problem, and ignoring the bigger picture. 
It also feeds Islamophobia, and groups like ‘Stop the Islamisation of Europe’ – who openly boast of their Islamophobia with their slogan ‘Racism is the lowest form of human stupidity, but Islamophobia is the height of common sense’. 
The media also bears some responsibility for the climate of heightened racism. The City University attacks in London were, according to witnesses, carried out by both black and white youths. It is patently obvious that this was a specifically anti-Muslim hate-crime, yet it was reported only as ‘racially motivated’. But much worse are the newspapers who, since 9/11, have become obsessed with the word ‘Muslim’ treating it as carrying some automatic connotations – mostly negative. The implicit message is: here is a group of people the rest of us should be worried about. 
It is vital that the media don’t use their power irresponsibly. Equal prominence must be given to a story where a Muslim is an innocent victim, not a guilty party. Despite the dramatic, tragic and shocking circumstances, the case of Marwa el-Sherbini &#8211; stabbed to death in Dresden, Germany &#8211; was not widely reported upon, seemingly because it did not fit the dominant narrative of ‘Muslims as baddies’. 
Vilification of Muslims as uniformly ‘extremist’, dangerous, sexist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, irrational and violent panders to the BNP’s lie that Muslims do not ‘fit’ in British society and this view cannot be allowed to creep any further into the mainstream. 
Opposing violent fanaticism can only be effective if we fight racism and discrimination at the same time. Suspicion of all Muslims is a symptom of the tendency to make lazy generalisations. If a handful of terrorists succeed in making us so very terrified that we turn on innocent people in Muslim communities, we will be wilfully participating in our mutual self-destruction by tearing up the trust and respect that are so hard to recover. 
This decade we should demand some sophistication from the government, an end to hysterical stereotyping in our media, and universal recognition that no form of racism – including Islamophobia – is respectable.

This piece was part of our pilot project envisioning &#8216;Britain 10 Years On&#8217; with the turn of the decade (2010).

Hilary Aked