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Rachel Corrie
Rachel Corrie
Born	Rachel Corrie April 10, 1979(1979-04-10)
Died	March 16, 2003 (aged 23)
Alma mater	Capital High School, The Evergreen State College (TESC)
Home town	Olympia, Washington, United States
Parents	Craig Corrie, Cindy Corrie

Rachel Aliene Corrie (April 10, 1979 – March 16, 2003) was an American member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) who traveled to the Gaza Strip during the Second Intifada. She was killed by a bulldozer operated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during a protest against the destruction of Palestinian homes by the IDF in the Gaza Strip.^[1] The details of the events surrounding Corrie's death are disputed.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Activities in the West Bank and Gaza 3 Corrie's death and subsequent controversy 3.1 ISM and other eyewitness accounts 3.2 Autopsy and investigation 4 Reaction 4.1 Criticism of Corrie's actions 4.2 Activities of Corrie's parents 4.2.1 Lawsuits 4.2.2 Possible kidnapping attempt 4.3 Memorial events 4.4 Artistic tributes 5 See also 6 References 7 Additional reading 8 External links

[edit] Early life

Raised in Olympia, Washington, United States, Rachel Corrie was the daughter of Craig Corrie, an insurance executive, and Cindy Corrie, an amateur flautist who describe their family as "average Americans — politically liberal, economically conservative, middle class".^[2] Corrie was the youngest of their three children.^[3][4]

After graduating from Capital High School, Corrie went on to attend The Evergreen State College (TESC), where she took a number of arts courses. She took one year off from her studies to work as a volunteer in the Washington State Conservation Corps; other volunteer work included making weekly visits to patients with mental disorders for three years.^[4] In her senior year, she proposed an independent-study program in which she would travel to Gaza, join protesters from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), and initiate a "sister city" project between Olympia and Rafah.^[5] Before leaving, she also organized a pen-pal program between kids in Olympia and Rafah.^[6]

Friends described her as "attractive in a plain-spoken way, the opposite of flashy, not working to call attention to herself. She was reserved in large crowds but intimate one-on-one".^[3] Colin Reese, Corrie's roommate, said she had wanted to become a writer and artist. Reese also said she was "not the most punctual or tidy person in the world," but that when it came to peace work, she "would work harder and longer than anybody else".^[3]

[edit] Activities in the West Bank and Gaza

After flying to Israel on January 22, 2003. Corrie underwent a two-day training course at ISM West Bank headquarters, before heading to Rafah to participate in ISM demonstrations.^[3][5] During her training, Corrie studied tactics of direct action. Basic rules about avoiding harm were given, which a featured article on the Corrie incident summarized as: "Wear fluorescent jackets. Don't run. Don't frighten the army. Try to communicate by megaphone. Make your presence known."^[5] On January 27, 2003, Corrie and William Hewitt (also from Olympia), traveled to the Erez checkpoint and entered the Gaza Strip.^[5]

While in Rafah, Corrie acted as a human shield in an attempt to impede house demolitions carried out by the IDF using armored bulldozers.^[1] On Corrie's first night there, she and two other ISM members set up camp inside Block J, often a target for Israeli gunfire. Israeli troops fired bullets over their tent and at the ground a few feet away. Deciding that their presence was provoking the Israeli soldiers, not deterring them, Corrie and her colleagues hurriedly dismantled their tent and left the area.^[5]

Qishta, a Palestinian who worked as an interpreter, noted that: "Late January and February was a very crazy time. There were house demolitions taking place all over the border strip and the activists had no time to do anything else."^[5] Qishta also stated of the ISM activists: "They were not only brave; they were crazy."^[5] The confrontations were not without harm to the activists; a British participant was wounded by shrapnel.^[5]

Palestinian militants expressed concern that the "internationals" staying in tents between the Israeli watchtowers and the residential neighborhoods would get caught in crossfire, while other residents were concerned that the young activists might be spies. Corrie worked hard to overcome this suspicion, learning a few words of Arabic, burning a makeshift American flag before Gaza schoolchildren, participating in a mock trial denouncing the "crimes of the Bush Administration."^[5] With time, the ISM members were taken into Palestinian family homes, and provided with meals and beds. Even so, in the days before Corrie's death, a letter gained wide circulation in Rafah, casting suspicion again on the ISM members. "Who are they? Why are they here? Who asked them to come here?" it asked. ^[5] The letter caused the activists to be preoccupied and frustrated, and on the morning of Corrie's death they planned ways to counteract its effects. According to one activist, "We all had a feeling that our role was too passive. We talked about how to engage the Israeli military."^[5]

Corrie wrote to her mother, "The vast majority of Palestinians right now, as far as I can tell, are engaged in Gandhian nonviolent resistance."^[7] While in Gaza, she took part in a demonstration as part of the February 15, 2003 anti-war protest against the invasion of Iraq, where she was photographed burning a mock US flag.^[8] On March 14, 2003, during an interview with the Middle East Broadcasting network, Corrie said: "I feel like I'm witnessing the systematic destruction of a people's ability to survive ... Sometimes I sit down to dinner with people and I realize there is a massive military machine surrounding us, trying to kill the people I'm having dinner with."^[9]

[edit] Corrie's death and subsequent controversy

On March 16, 2003, an IDF operation in the land between the Rafah refugee camp and the border with Egypt was engaged in house demolition, which the IDF claims is necessary to destroy guerrilla hideouts and smuggling tunnels.^[10] The IDF says the tunnels are used for arms, explosives, and cash;^[5][11] a recent Al Jazeera article says the tunnels are used for consumer goods impossible to acquire due to Israel's blockade.^[11] Corrie was part of a group of seven ISM activists (three British and four US) attempting to disrupt the actions of Israeli bulldozers. Corrie, who had positioned herself in the path of a Caterpillar D9R armored bulldozer, was fatally injured. In June 2003, a military investigation by the Israel Defense Forces Judge Advocate’s Office concluded that her death was accidental. “The driver at no point saw or heard Corrie,” an army source told the Jerusalem Post. “She was standing behind debris which obstructed the view of the driver and the driver had a very limited field of vision due to the protective cage he was working in.”

Smith recounted afterward; "We were horribly surprised. They had been careful not to hurt us. They'd always stopped before."^[12] Corrie was transported to a Palestinian hospital. Accounts vary as to whether she died at the scene, in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, or at the hospital.^[12]

The events surrounding Corrie's death are disputed. ISM eyewitnesses assert that the Israeli soldier driving the bulldozer deliberately ran Corrie over twice while she was acting as a human shield to prevent the demolition of the home of local pharmacist Samir Nasrallah.^[13][14] The ISM said she was interposed between the bulldozer and a wall near Nasrallah's home, in which ISM activists had several times spent the night.^[5] The Israeli Government and the IDF denied that version of events and described Corrie's death as an accident. The official Israeli response stated that Corrie was killed by debris pushed over by the bulldozer, that the driver did not see her, and that the bulldozer was clearing brush and not engaged in a demolition when Corrie blocked its path. Other reports say the Israeli government charged that the house being demolished contained a tunnel used for smuggling weapons from Egypt.^[15]

The major points of dispute are whether the bulldozer driver saw Corrie, and whether her injuries were caused by being crushed under the blade or by the mound of debris the bulldozer was pushing. An IDF spokesman has acknowledged that Israeli army regulations normally require that the drivers of the armored personnel carriers (APCs) that accompany bulldozers are responsible for directing the drivers towards their targets, because the Caterpillar D9 bulldozers have a restricted field of vision with several blind spots.^[16] However, the Israeli army commander of the Gaza Strip said in an interview broadcast on Israeli television that on the day of Corrie's death, soldiers had to stay in their armored vehicles and were not able to direct the bulldozer or arrest the protesters, because of the threat of Palestinian sniper fire. He also said that Israeli soldiers may have been handling other ISM activists instead of watching over the bulldozer.^{[citation needed]} In a statement issued the day after Corrie's death, the ISM said that, "When the bulldozer refused to stop or turn aside she climbed up onto the mound of dirt and rubble being gathered in front of it... to look directly at the driver who kept on advancing."^[17]

The IDF produced a video about Corrie's death that includes footage taken from inside the cockpit of a D9. It makes a "credible case", Joshua Hammer wrote of this video in Mother Jones, that "the operators, peering out through narrow, double-glazed, bulletproof windows, their view obscured behind pistons and the giant scooper, might not have seen Corrie kneeling in front of them."^[5]

[edit] ISM and other eyewitness accounts

Joe Carr, an American ISM activist who used the assumed name of Joseph Smith during his time in Gaza, gave the following account in an affidavit recorded and published by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR):

Still wearing her fluorescent jacket, she knelt down at least 15 meters in front of the bulldozer, and began waving her arms and shouting, just as activists had successfully done dozens of times that day... When it got so close that it was moving the earth beneath her, she climbed onto the pile of rubble being pushed by the bulldozer... Her head and upper torso were above the bulldozer’s blade, and the bulldozer driver and co-operator could clearly see her. Despite this, the driver continued forward, which caused her to fall back, out of view of the diver.[sic] He continued forward, and she tried to scoot back, but was quickly pulled underneath the bulldozer. We ran towards him, and waved our arms and shouted; one activist with the megaphone. But the bulldozer driver continued forward, until Rachel was all the way underneath the central section of the bulldozer.^[18]

Joe Smith, as recorded by the Israel Resource Review: "Rachel had two options. When the bulldozer started to dig in the dirt pile, the pile started to move, and she could have rolled sideways quickly or fallen backwards to avoid being hit. But Rachel leaned forward to climb to the top of the dirt pile. The bulldozer's digging drew her downward, and its driver could not see her anymore. So without lifting the scoop, he turned backward and she was already underneath the blade."^[19] According to the Seattle Times, "Smith, who witnessed Sunday's incident, said it began when Corrie sat down in front of the bulldozer. He said the driver scooped her up with a pile of earth, dumped her on the ground and ran over her twice."^[20]

British ISM activist Tom Dale, who was standing yards away from Corrie, told journalist Joshua Hammer, Jerusalem bureau chief for Newsweek:

The bulldozer built up earth in front of it... She tried to climb on top of the earth, to avoid being overwhelmed. She climbed to the point where her shoulders were above the top lip of the blade. She was standing on this pile of earth. As the bulldozer continued, she lost her footing, and she turned and fell down this pile of earth. Then it seemed like she got her foot caught under the blade. She was helpless, pushed prostrate, and looked absolutely panicked, with her arms out, and the earth was piling itself over her. The bulldozer continued so that the place where she fell down was directly beneath the cockpit... The whole [incident] took place in about six or seven seconds.^[5]

An individual giving the name Richard, who stated that he witnessed Corrie's death, as recorded by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz:

There's no way he didn't see her, since she was practically looking into the cabin. At one stage, he turned around toward the building. The bulldozer kept moving, and she slipped and fell off the plow. But the bulldozer kept moving, the shovel above her. I guess it was about 10 or 15 meters that it dragged her and for some reason didn't stop. We shouted like crazy to the driver through loudspeakers that he should stop, but he just kept going and didn't lift the shovel. Then it stopped and backed up. We ran to Rachel. She was still breathing.^[21]

British ISM activist Richard Purssell gave the following account, in an affidavit made in a manner similar to Carr's:

As the bulldozer reached the place where Rachel was standing, she began as many of us did on the day to climb the pile of earth. She reached the top and at this point she must have been clearly visible to the driver, especially as she was still wearing the high visibility [ fluorescent orange with reflective strips ] jacket. She turned and faced in my direction and began to come back down the pile. The bulldozer continued to move forward at [5-6 mph]. As her feet hit the ground I saw a panicked expression on her face... The pile of earth engulfed her and she was hidden from my view.^[18]

Some eyewitness accounts indicate that when Corrie slipped and fell, the driver may have been looking behind him.^[22]

The bulldozer driver, a Russian immigrant to Israel, was interviewed on Israeli TV and insisted he had no idea she was in front of him. "You can't hear, you can't see well. You can go over something and you'll never know. I scooped up some earth, I couldn't see anything. I pushed the earth, and I didn't see her at all. Maybe she was hiding in there."^[5]

[edit] Autopsy and investigation

Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon, promised President Bush a "thorough, credible, and transparent investigation."^[5] Later, Capt. Jacob Dallal, a spokesman for the Israeli army, called Corrie's death a "regrettable accident" and said that she and the other ISM activists were "a group of protesters who were acting very irresponsibly, putting everyone in danger — the Palestinians, themselves and our forces — by intentionally placing themselves in a combat zone."

An autopsy was conducted on March 24 at the Israel's National Center of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv. The final report was not released publicly, but in their report on the matter Human Rights Watch asserts a copy was provided to them by Craig Corrie, with a translation supplied by the U.S. Department of State. In the report they quote Professor Yehuda Hiss, who performed the autopsy, as concluding that "her death was caused by pressure on the chest (mechanical asphyxiation) with fractures of the ribs and vertebrae of the dorsal spinal column and scapulas, and tear wounds in the right lung with hemorrhaging of the pleural cavities." ^[23]

According to a correspondent for Gannett News Service, the IDF document, "The Death of Rachel Corrie" made no mention of the pathologist's conclusion, though, according to Corrie's parents, the entire document has not been released.^[24]

On June 26, 2003, the Jerusalem Post quoted an Israeli military spokesman as saying that Corrie had not been run over and that the driver had not seen her:

"The driver at no point saw or heard Corrie. She was standing behind debris which obstructed the view of the driver and the driver had a very limited field of vision due to the protective cage he was working in... The driver and his commanders were interrogated extensively over a long period of time with the use of polygraph tests and video evidence. They had no knowledge that she was standing in the path of the tractor. An autopsy of Corrie's body revealed that the cause of death was from falling debris and not from the tractor physically rolling over her. It was a tragic accident that never should have happened."

"The International Solidarity Movement, to which Corrie belonged, was directly responsible for illegal behavior and conduct in the area of Corrie's death and their actions directly led to this tragedy."^[25]

The Israeli army's report, which was seen by the The Guardian, said that the army was searching for explosives in the border zone when Corrie was "struck as she stood behind a mound of earth that was created by an engineering vehicle operating in the area and she was hidden from the view of the vehicle's operator who continued with his work. Corrie was struck by dirt and a slab of concrete resulting in her death ... The finding of the operational investigations shows that Rachel Corrie was not run over by an engineering vehicle but rather was struck by a hard object, most probably a slab of concrete which was moved or slid down while the mound of earth which she was standing behind was moved," (The Guardian, April 14, 2003).^[26]

In later IDF operations, the house was damaged (a hole was knocked in a wall) and was later destroyed. By that time, the Nasrallah family had moved into a different house. It was reported in 2006 that the house that Corrie was trying to protect was rebuilt with funds raised by The Rebuilding Alliance.^[27]

A spokesman for the IDF told the Guardian that, while it did not accept responsibility for Corrie's death, it intended to change its operational procedures to avoid similar incidents in the future. The level of command of similar operations would be raised, said the spokesman, and civilians in the area would be dispersed or arrested before operations began. Observers will be deployed and CCTV cameras will be installed on the bulldozers to compensate for blind spots, which may have contributed to Corrie's death.

The IDF gave copies of the report, entitled "The Death of Rachel Corrie," to members of the U.S. Congress in April 2003, and Corrie's family released the document to the media in June 2003, according to the Gannett News Service.^[28] In March 2004 the family said that the entire report had not been released, and that only they and two American staffers at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv had been allowed to view it. The family said they were allowed to look at the report in the Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest in San Francisco.^[29] The ISM rejected the Israeli report, stating that it contradicted their members' eyewitness reports and that the investigation had been far from credible and transparent.^[30]

[edit] Reaction

Corrie's death sparked controversy and led to international media coverage, in part because she was an American, and in part because of the highly politicized nature of the conflict itself.

Amnesty International USA called for an independent inquiry, with Christine Bustany, their advocacy director for the Middle East, saying that "U.S.-made bulldozers have been 'weaponized' and their transfer to Israel must be suspended."^[31] U.S. Representative Brian Baird introduced House Concurrent Resolution 111 in the U.S. Congress on March 25, 2003, calling on the U.S. government to "undertake a full, fair, and expeditious investigation" into Corrie's death. The House of Representatives took no action on the resolution.^[32] The Corrie family joined Representative Baird in calling for a U.S. investigation.^[33] Baird, though reelected in 2004, 2006, and 2008, has not reintroduced the resolution in the Congress.

In the report Promoting Impunity: The Israeli Military's Failure to Investigate Wrongdoing, Human Rights Watch raised several issues related to the impartiality and professionalism with which the Military Police investigation was conducted. Among them were what Human Rights Watch described as the investigators' lack of preparation; "hostile," "inappropriate," "mostly accusatory" questions they asked witnesses; omitting to get witnesses to draw maps or identify locations on a map of how it occurred; and their asserted disinterest in reconciling soldiers' testimonies with those of other eyewitnesses. The report was not limited in scope to Corrie's death; it described a number of similar instances in which one-line summary findings were reported to the media after closed investigations in which neither non-military witnesses nor victims or their families were involved.^[34]

Yasser Arafat offered his condolences and gave the blessings of the Palestinian people to Corrie.^[17] Arafat promised to name a street in Gaza after Corrie; this however was not done.^[5]

There were reports that because she was an American, her death attracted the kind of attention that the deaths of Palestinians fail to garner. The Observer wrote that: "On the night of Corrie's death, nine Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, among them a four-year-old girl and a man aged 90. A total of 220 people have died in Rafah since the beginning of the intifada. Palestinians know the death of one American receives more attention than the killing of hundreds of Muslims." A Hamas activist told the newspaper: "[Corrie's] death serves me more than it served her. Going in front of the tanks was heroic. Her death will bring more attention than the other 2,000 martyrs."^[16]

Corrie's photograph has been carried during protests against Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank. On July 15, 2003, the Chicago Tribune reported that "to the people of Rafah, Rachel Corrie will always remain a very special martyr, their American martyr."

In 2006, Haaretz political columnist Bradley Burston criticized both the pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli sides for excessive rhetoric, noting that "So divisive is the debate, and so disputed the circumstances of her death, that the case has become a kind of unflattering magic mirror by which we can see sides of ourselves we would rather avoid." He goes on to assert that Corrie's death was accidental, but that "Incidental killing is no less tragic than intentional killing," and concludes with:

Part of it starts with us. "They had no business being there" is no excuse for what the Pentagon long ago christened collateral damage.
We've learned much. But we're still not there. We should have saved Rachel Corrie's life that day, either by sending out a spotter or delaying the bulldozer's work. Right now, somewhere in the West Bank, there's an eight-year-old whose life could be saved next week, if we've managed to learn the lesson and are resourceful enough to know how to apply it.^[35]

[edit] Criticism of Corrie's actions

According to The Boston Globe, "Corrie... has been praised as a heroic martyr and denounced as a misguided, ill-informed naïf." ^[36]

Journalist and Middle East commentator Tom Gross has referred to "the cult of Rachel Corrie." In an article called "The Forgotten Rachels" republished on his website, Gross refers to six other women called Rachel, Jewish victims of the Arab-Israeli conflict whose deaths, he wrote, received little, if any, coverage outside Israel.^[37] Gross went on to argue that "Partly thanks to the efforts of Corrie and her fellow activists, the flow of explosives from Egypt into Gaza continued – and were later used to kill children in southern Israel." The article prompted a National Review editorial arguing that "Corrie’s death was unfortunate, but more unfortunate is a Western media and cultural establishment that lionizes 'martyrs' for illiberal causes while ignoring the victims those causes create."^[38]

The University of Maryland, College Park's campus newspaper The Diamondback published a cartoon defining "stupidity" as "sitting in front of a bulldozer to protect a gang of terrorists." After the group Palestine Media Watch published the email addresses and phone number of Diamondback editors, urging readers to contact the newspaper to secure an apology,^[39] thousands of e-mails and hundreds of phone calls were received by the paper in protest. Describing the cartoon as "indecent and anti-American," over 60 student protesters staged a sit-in at the newspaper's offices (with 10 staying overnight), demanding that the paper apologize and "publish an article honoring Corrie's life".^[40] The newspaper refused to apologize, citing the First Amendment. Noted editor in chief Jay Parsons, "The decision was about freedom of speech, and that made the decision easy."^[41]

[edit] Activities of Corrie's parents

Since their daughter's death, Corrie's parents, Cindy and Craig, have spent time trying to "promote peace and raise awareness about the plight of Palestinians," and continue what they believe to be her work.^[42][43] The Corries have worked to set up foundations, launch projects in memory of their daughter, and advance investigation into the incident, approaching the US Congress and the courts for redress.^[44]

Corries' parents have several times visited the region since their daughter's death,^[45][46] and have twice visited Gaza.^[47] Following their daughter's death, they visited Gaza and Israel, seeing the place where Rachel died, and meeting ISM members and Palestinians who she had known.^[44] They also visited Ramallah in the West Bank, where Arafat met them and presented them with a plaque in memory of their daughter.^[48] On March 28, 2008 they addressed a demonstration in Ramallah at which Craig Corrie said: "This village has become a symbol of nonviolent resistance. I call for solidarity with the people of Palestine in resisting the conditions imposed by the Israeli occupation to prevent the establishment of their state."^[49]

The Nasrallahs, the Palestinian family whose home Rachel believed she was preventing from destruction, joined the Corries on a cross-country tour in the United States in June 2005. The aim of the trip was to raise funds to rebuild the Nasrallah home, and other homes destroyed in Rafah with the cooperation of the Rebuilding Alliance. The 22-city, 7 state tour made stops in Iowa and Oakland among other locations.^[42][50][51]

[edit] Lawsuits

Corrie's family and several Palestinians filed a lawsuit against Caterpillar Inc. alleging liability under various Federal statutes over the death of Corrie in connection with the bulldozers, alleging Caterpillar supplied them to the Israelis despite having notice they would be used to further "a policy plaintiffs contend violates international law." The case was dismissed by a Federal judge in November 2005 for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, citing, among other things, the political question doctrine. The judge found, alternatively, that the plaintiffs' claims failed on the merits.^[52]

The ruling was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. On September 17, 2007, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal on political question grounds, and did not reach the merits of the suit. The Court found that as the bulldozers were paid for by the U.S. Government as part of its aid to Israel, that the Judicial Branch could not rule on the merits of the case without ruling on whether or not the government's financing of such bulldozers was appropriate, a matter it felt was not entrusted to the Judicial Branch.^[53]

Claims were previously filed against the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli Defense Ministry.^[54]

[edit] Possible kidnapping attempt

During a visit in January 2006, two Palestinians, one armed, entered the home of Samir Nasrallah, the Palestinian pharmacist whose former home Rachel Corrie had been trying to protect when she was killed.^[5][45] Corrie's parents were staying overnight there, and it was reported that the gunmen had tried to kidnap them,^[55][56] but had abandoned their plans when told who his guests were.^[45] According to Nasrallah, the gunmen were seeking Americans as bargaining chips to secure the release of Alaa al-Hams, a Palestinian militia leader arrested by Palestine intelligence on suspicion of ordering the abduction of British human-rights activist Kate Burton and her parents.^[55][57][58]

The ISM issued a statement asserting that the actual targets whose home the gunmen came to were three Americans staying nearby, and that the Corries helped talk the men out of their plan. By the ISM's account, "the Corries were never threatened with kidnapping, nor did gunmen burst into the house where the Corries were staying." ^[59] The Jerusalem Post reported Craig Corrie as saying: "There was never a threat made against us and the gun was never pointed at anyone." According to the Post, Craig Corrie said that when he entered the room and saw the man with the gun, he feared it might be a kidnapping attempt, but that the situation was never described to him that way by his host. Corrie added that the media accounts over-dramatized the incident.^[60]

[edit] Memorial events

Immediately after her death, posters and graffiti praising Corrie were posted in Rafah, with one graffiti tag reading, "Rachel was an American citizen with Palestinian blood." To most Palestinians, everyone killed by the Israeli army is considered a shaheed (martyr), and hundreds of local residents came to express their condolences.^[61] During a memorial service in Rafah, a tank sprayed the mourners with tear gas. "A bizarre game of cat-and-mouse began as the peace activists chased the tank around to throw flowers on it, and the Israeli soldiers inside threatened, in return, to run them down."^[16]

In 2008, Corrie's parents commemorated the fifth anniversary of her death at an event held in the West Bank town of Nablus. About 150 Palestinians and foreigners joined them to dedicate a memorial to Corrie on one of the city's streets.^[46]

[edit] Artistic tributes

Alaskan composer Philip Munger wrote a cantata about Corrie called The Skies are Weeping. It was scheduled to premiere on April 27, 2004 at the University of Alaska Anchorage, where Munger teaches. Many objected to the upcoming performance, including members of the Jewish community, and a forum was held, co-chaired by Munger and a local rabbi, who described the work as bordering on anti-Semitic and said it "romanticized terrorism." Munger later related that he had received threatening emails "[just] short of what you'd take to the troopers", and that some of his students had received similar communications.^[62] After the forum "disintegrate[d]", Munger announced, "I cannot subject 16 students... to any possibility of physical harm or to the type of character assassination some of us are already undergoing. Performance of The Skies are Weeping at this time and place is withdrawn for the safety of the student performers.”^[63] The cantata was eventually performed at the Hackney Empire theatre in London, premiering on November 1, 2005.^[64]

My Name is Rachel Corrie, a play composed from Corrie's journals and e-mails from Gaza and directed by British actor Alan Rickman, was presented in London in early 2005. It was later revived in October 2005. The play was to be transported to the New York Theatre Workshop, but when it was postponed indefinitely, the English producers denounced the decision as "censorship" and withdrew the show.^[65][66] It finally opened Off-Broadway on October 15, 2006, for an initial run of 48 performances.^[67] The play has also been published as a paperback, and performed in ten countries worldwide, including Israel.^[68]

Australian playwright Ben Ellis wrote Blindingly Obvious Facts, a 10-minute fugue composed of "ugly" verbatim excerpts from right-wing blogs discussing Corrie's death.^[69] It was performed as part of the 2007 Melbourne season of the Short and Sweet short play competition.^[70] Sydney composer Lawrence Williams mixed a recorded version of Ellis' play for the play's Sydney Short and Sweet production in early 2008.^[71]

Around the world many songs written and dedicated to Rachel Corrie between 2003-2008, by musicians including Patti Smith, Alice Shields, Mike Stout, Billy Bragg, Philip Munger, David Rovics, Christy Moore, Dawud Wharnsby Ali, Alessio Lega, Pol MacAdaim, Lorcan "Larry" Otway, Holly Gwinn Graham, Agnese Ginocchio, Ángel Petisme, Stephanie Lee, Brad Postlethwaite, Hilary Sloan, Elizabeth Hummel with Carl Dexter, Valerie Webb & Paul LaBrecque and musical groups including Klimt 1918, Ten Foot Pole, The Can Kickers, Project Qua Project, Casa Del Vento, My So-Called Band, I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House, Lyra and Friends, The Blue Ribbon Tea Company, The Gram Partisans and The Zachary Jones Band. ^[72]

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rachel Corrie

• Tristan Anderson - American activist shot and severely injured by IDF in Ni’lin, March 13, 2009.
• Brian Avery - American ISM volunteer shot and severely disfigured in Jenin, April 5, 2003.
• Caoimhe Butterly - Irish ISM volunteer shot and injured by IDF in Jenin, November 22, 2002.
• Iain Hook - British aid worker shot and killed by IDF in Jenin, November 22, 2002.
• Tom Hurndall - British ISM volunteer fatally shot by an IDF sniper in Gaza, April 11, 2003.
• James Miller - British film-maker shot and killed by the IDF in Gaza, May 2, 2003.

[edit] References

[edit] Additional reading

• Hammer, Joshua. "The death of Rachel Corrie", Mother Jones, Sept-October 2003
• Corrie, Rachel. "Letter from Palestine." Voices of a People's History of the United States. Ed. Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove. New York: Seven Stories Press. pp. 609–610. ISBN 1-58322-628-1

[edit] External links

• Rachel Corrie Memorial Page
• Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice
• Rachel's Words
• Activist Corrie personified Northwest idealism
• The Case Against Rachel Corrie
• Death of a dreamer
• Martyr with a Cause
• Rachel Corrie, One Year Later
• Rachel Corrie's diaries
• Cindy and Craig Corrie's trip to Gaza on the sixth anniversary of Rachel's death

Persondata
NAME	Corrie, Rachel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	activist
DATE OF BIRTH	April 10, 1979
PLACE OF BIRTH	Olympia, Washington, United States
DATE OF DEATH	March 16, 2003
PLACE OF DEATH	Rafah, Gaza Strip