Rachel’s Words

By Richard Morin
Published in Seattle Weekly

The moment I turned off Mercer and onto the path leading to the Rep’s Leo K. theater Saturday night, an elderly man in a sports coat shuffled up and, not impolitely, intercepted me. “Are you going to Rachel Corrie,” he asked. I told him I was, and he shoved into my hand a pamphlet of stapled white paper. Ah, Jesus, I thought, here we go. I opened the page to see all the other Rachels besides Corrie—the Olympia native killed at the age of 23 by an Israeli-driven bulldozer while trying to protect a Palestinian home from destruction in 2003—who have been killed by Palestinian suicide bombers. Not too many steps further, I encountered a couple more demonstrators, holding signs and standing beside a wooden easel holding a large, framed poster of Corrie that said “Stop the Killing.” I accepted their literature as well, a yellow handbill eulogizing Corrie in agitprop. The moment I began to move on, a gust of wind tipped the easel, and as it crashed to the ground, I reached to save it. Before I could grab it, however, I heard the glass in the frame crash and splatter, and I yanked my hand away. “Thank you,” one of the demonstrators said. “It wasn’t me,” I protested. “It was the wind.” Then I realized he really meant it.

Four years after Rachel Corrie was killed by an Israeli soldier driving a US-made Caterpillar bulldozer, members of the Theatersquad and Palestine Solidarity Committee, along with others from Seattle community, presented sidewalk music and readings of Rachel Corrie’s writings in memory of her death.

Many stood in silent vigil with tears-of-blood masks, holding photographs and silhouettes, remembering not just Rachel but the thousands of Palestinians killed by Israel’s military occupation, including 11 Palestinians who have been killed while participating in nonviolent resistance against Israel’s Annexation Wall.

The bulldozer that crushed Rachel Corrie while she was trying to protect a Palestinian home from illegal demolition was a Caterpillar D-9, made in the USA. Seven eyewitnesses to Rachel’s death have reported she was visible to the bulldozer driver because of her bright orange vest and her high position on the mound of earth in front of him.

Though the Israeli occupation forces, investigating themselves, declared the event an “accident”, the US State Department has said that the investigation was neither transparent nor credible.

Rachel Corrie was working with the International Solidarity Movement to End the Occupation (ISM), a nonviolent Palestinian-led campaign to resist the illegal military occupation that Israel has imposed on the West Bank and Gaza since 1967.

By Misha Berson
Seattle Times theater critic

Like any proud parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie eagerly anticipate the local debut of a play about their daughter.

But the Corries are also bracing for backlash. In 2003, at age 23, their daughter Rachel died after being run over by an Israeli bulldozer while protesting treatment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. And her activism in the Middle East has become so controversial that just saying — or printing — her name can incite an argument.

No one is shouting yet at Seattle Repertory Theatre, where the West Coast debut of “My Name is Rachel Corrie” is now in previews and opens Wednesday. But quietly, offstage, the debate re-emerges with the production of the solo play based on Corrie’s e-mails and diary entries, some of which express her political concerns.

It’s a debate that mirrors the impassioned divisions between some Israelis and Palestinians, and between their American supporters and critics.

A hit in its 2005 London premiere, the play was derailed in New York and Toronto when 2006 productions were postponed and canceled, triggering claims of artistic censorship and intolerance.

From Indymedia UK

A small but dedicated contingent of Glasgow activists gathered on Friday afternoon in Glasgow city centre to mark the 4th anniversary of the tragic death of American human rights activist Rachel Corrie.

Corrie was killed on the 16th March 2003 by an Israeli army bulldozer while helping to highlight the plight of the oppressed Palestinians and prevent the unlawful demolition of homes in the Gaza strip.

At the time her death caused international outrage, and the purpose of the afternoons’ event was to commemorate her death and offer a moments reflection for both Rachel’s life and the suffering of the Palestinians living under the continuing grip of Israeli occupation.

Around 20 people braved high winds and heavy rain to attend the event, including representatives from the Glasgow Palestine Human Rights Campaign and Scottish Jews for a Just Peace.

Owing to a packed schedule and prior engagements, a brief, whistle-stop appearance at the event by the Ambassador of the Palestinian General Delegation to the UK, Professor Manuel Hassassian of Bethlehem University – who was on a visit to Scotland – failed to materialise.

By Christian Hill
McClatchy Newspapers

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Cindy Corrie never imagined losing one of her children, nor did she believe she would survive such a loss.

Then on March 16, 2003, the unthinkable happened. Her 23-year-old daughter, Rachel, was crushed beneath an Israeli bulldozer as she stood defending the home of two Palestinian families in Rafah, Gaza.

Cindy, 59, and her husband, Craig, made up their minds then to keep their daughter’s words and message alive, despite their loss.

“In fact, within the hour, we did start making decisions,” Cindy Corrie said, “and one was because Rachel’s words (in diaries and e-mails) had had such an impact on us, that those words needed to be available to people. She had worked on that. That was something she wanted to see happen.”

Rachel Corrie’s voice can still be heard four years after her death, with last week’s opening of the controversial play “My Name is Rachel Corrie” in Seattle.

And her voice continues to resonate, in her hometown of Olympia, Wash., and elsewhere.

For some, it’s a message of peace, a calling for nonviolent protest to right what’s wrong in the world.

This article was originally published in Arabic by the Palestinian daily newspaper Al-Ayyam on March 16, 2007, and translated by Mazin Qumsiyeh.

Children from the Mini Palestinian Parliament in Rafah commemorated the fourth anniversary of the killing of Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). Corrie, 23, lost her life under an Israeli army bulldozer on March 16, 2003 while attempting to stop the bulldozer from demolishing a home belonging to a Palestinian citizen near the Brazil neighborhood southeast of Rafah city.

The children installed a permanent exhibit to honor her life that included pictures and personal belongings at the parliament site in the center of Rafah governorate. The exhibit includes pictures of Rachel and statements and other documents released upon her loss, some personal belongings, as well as a symbolic coffin covered by the Palestinian flag.

Nadeem Al-Mahaydeh, 11, and Islam Abu Sharkh, 12, read commemorative poems they’d written in English. The two girls spoke about Rachel’s heroic stand in front of an Israeli bulldozer in an attempt to stop the demolition of a Palestinian home in Rafah—a stand that cost her life.

published in Arabic by Al-Ayyam Newspaper
translated by Mazin Qumsiyeh.

Rachel we need you,
Rachel Corrie died as a Palestinian,
We welcome her in the highest esteem and honor.
by Palestinian children in Rafah

Children from the Mini Palestinian Parliament commemorated the fourth anniversary of the loss of the American solidarity activist Rachel Corrie by enacting a permanent exhibit for her that includes pictures and personal belongings at the parliament site in the center of Rafah governorate. The exhibit, which was attended by a large number of children and others concerned, included pictures of Rachel and statements and other documents released upon her loss, as well as some personal belongings and a symbolic coffin covered by the Palestinian flag. The exhibit was opened by reading commemorative poems two girls wrote in English: Nadeem Al-Mahaydeh (11 years old) and Islam Abu Sharkh (12 years old). The two girls spoke about Rachel’s heroic stand in front of an Israeli bulldozer in an attempt to stop the demolition of a Palestinian home, a stand that cost her life.

Below are events happening on March 16, 2007, commemorating Rachel Corrie. If you organized an event, please let us know by contacting us.

Washington, DC
Poets Against The War
Note from organizer, Reuben Jackson:
My wife and I are planning a March 16th event (we plan to red from Rachel’s letters) at our house in DC. We saw “My Name Is Rachel Corrie” in NYC in November of last year, and at the risk of uttering a cliche, I have not been the same.

Vienna, Austria
Women in Black and Jewish Voice for a Just Peace (Austria)
Note from organizer, Paula Abrams-Hourani:
We have held vigils for Rachel Corrie every year since she was killed and will do so on Friday, 16 March 2007. This time we will extend the memorial vigil to all of the thousands of victims of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land….we think she would agree with this.

Molly Gilmore
published by The Olympian

While the play has inspired protest and controversy, “My Name Is Rachel Corrie” is, essentially, the story of one woman.

A Seattle Repertory Theatre production of the play, adapted from the writings of Corrie, The Evergreen State College student who was killed while standing in the way of an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza, opens Thursday. It already has played in London and New York amid controversy centered on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“This is a play about a young woman growing up and discovering who she is and discovering her voice as a writer,” said Craig Corrie of Olympia, Rachel’s father. “It’s disconcerting to see all this political storm around simply what somebody saw. It’s her experience, and in a sense, that’s undeniable.”

“What you get here is a stunning account of one woman’s passionate response to a particular situation,” wrote Michael Billington in a review of the play in the London newspaper The Guardian. “And the passion comes blazing through in Corrie’s eloquent reaction to her father’s inquiry about Palestinian violence. As she says, if we lived where tanks and soldiers and bulldozers could destroy our homes at any moment and where our lives were completely strangled, wouldn’t we defend ourselves as best we could?”