Rachel Corrie
Rachel Corrie was a 23-year-old American activist from Olympia, Washington who went to Gaza in 2003 with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). ISM describes itself as “a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles.”
On March 16, 2003, Rachel Corrie was in Rafah, on the Egypt-Gaza border, where the IDF was bulldozing shrubbery in an area known for its weapons-smuggling tunnels. Corrie apparently thought she was protecting the nearby home of a Palestinian pharmacist. She knelt in front of the bulldozer behind a pile of dirt, and was crushed to death. The ISM alleged that Corrie was intentionally hit and killed; an Israel Defense Forces investigation concluded that the driver could not see her and that her death was a “tragic accident,” blamed on the “irresponsible and dangerous conduct of ISM activists.”
Corrie’s writings were compiled and published in a book and a play, both titled “My Name is Rachel Corrie.” The play opened in London in April 2005 amid controversy. When it was staged in Seattle in March 2007, a group of local activists created a Web site aiming at educating theatergoers and providing additional background and resources about the ISM and Corrie’s death.
