Jack Khoury and Amira Hass, Haaretz

Rachel Corrie Street sign in Ramallah, dedicated on March 16, 2010. (Photo: RCF)

The parents of American activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israel Defense Forces bulldozer in Gaza, took part in a ceremony in Ramallah on Tuesday, where a street is being named after Rachel.

The ceremony was attended by Palestinian anti-fence protesters as well as members of the International Solidarity Movement, the organization to which Rachel Corrie belonged.

Later on Tuesday, Rachel Corrie’s parents were in Haifa to watch a biographical play about their daughter on the seventh anniversary of her death.

The parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, could not conceal their emotions as Lana Zreik took the stage at the Al-Midan Theater in Haifa to portray their late daughter in the one-woman play “My Name Is Rachel Corrie.”

The Corries were joined by dozens of others taking in the performance that tells the story of the young American woman who chose to disengage from her quiet life in the town of Olympia, Washington and travel to the southern Gaza Strip as a human rights activist.

Corrie died on March 16, 2003 after she was trampled by an IDF bulldozer. Her family is in Israel to sue the state and the IDF over her death.

The play, which is based on Rachel’s diary entries and e-mails she wrote since she was 10 years old, was first staged in London in 2005.

A letter from Cindy Corrie.

Craig and Cindy Corrie

Dear friends,

This month, a civil lawsuit in Israel in the case of our daughter Rachel Corrie will converge with the seven-year anniversary of her killing in Gaza. A human rights observer and activist, Rachel, 23, was crushed to death by an Israel Defense Force (IDF) Caterpillar D9R bulldozer as she tried nonviolently to offer protection for a Palestinian family whose home was threatened with demolition. This lawsuit is one piece of our family’s seven-year effort to pursue accountability for Rachel while, also, challenging the Occupation that claimed her life.

On this day, when Rachel’s presence is powerful for many of us, we’re asking all of our friends to support Rachel’s vision of freedom for Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip by participating in what we are calling the International Day of Conscience. Please join her struggle by calling the White House today.

I hope I can count on you to:

• Call the White House at 202-456-1111.
• Urge Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell to visit Gaza and demand that the United States break the blockade of Gaza by providing immediate humanitarian aid and building materials.
• Tell us about your call. Tracking your calls makes a difference.

You can also make the call tomorrow. Please forward this email to help spread the word.

Thank you,
Cindy Corrie

Link

Simone Bitton’s documentary film, “Rachel”, was screened in Tel Aviv on March 12. The director and the Corrie family were there to present the film. One of the attendees sent this summary:

The screening was well attended despite no posters or publicity at the theater itself that I saw. Simone introduced the film in Hebrew and noted that this was the first screening with Hebrew subtitles due to the efforts of both herself and the Tel Aviv Cinemateque. She said this screening was an effort to support the truth-seeking goals of the trial. The audience was moved and gave the Corries a standing ovation as they came onstage after the credits.

During the question and answer period, audience members asked the Corries what they hoped to gain from the trial, what support the US government has given them, and how they felt about Rachel going to work in a dangerous conflict zone. They answered, with their usual poise, that they sought a complete, thorough and transparent investigation into Rachel’s killing, as requested by US government officials, and that while they worried about Rachel going to work in a dangerous part of the world, they supported her seeking her own truth.

Cindy & Craig Corrie answer questions after a screening of Rachel in Tel Aviv. (March 12, 2010)

Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre is running My Name Is Rachel Corrie through March 20. Both the production and the staring actress, Mairi Phillips, are receiving excellent reviews.

Joyce McMillan writes in The Scotsman:

The up-close exuberance of these early scenes makes it all the more difficult to watch the disappointment and despair which begin to overtake Rachel in Gaza, and in the end tears are hard to avoid. But so, too, are the fierce questions Rachel was asking in her last days: about why we tolerate such terrible and unnecessary suffering in our world, every day, and what we are prepared to do about it.

And in The Guardian, Mark Fisher says:

Mairi Phillips’s exemplary performance brings to mind the recent research that suggests a link between political activism and happiness. Her youthful fervour is earnest but never foolish and she displays the ironic humour Americans are supposed to lack. Her expertly modulated performance goes from brazen to righteous to distressed, evoking Corrie’s spirit with tremendous honesty.

Tickets may be purchased online here.

Ros Phillips, who directed this production, talks about her perspective on Rachel’s story.

Mairi Phillips discusses playing Rachel.

Here are rehearsal and production photos.

Channel 9 Online

A play currently running at The Allen Hall Theatre is receiving excellent reviews, and the cast can pat themselves, or to be more specific, herself on the back.

My Name is Rachel Corrie, is a portrait of a young American Peace Activist killed in the Gaza Strip seven years ago, and the play is performed by a single actress who speaks Corrie’s words.