The other side of the Rachel Corrie argument

Emilé Ferris’s article about the play “My Name is Rachel Corrie” is a two-page spread, it is, however, woefully one-sided.

The article paints a glowing portrait of Miss Corrie: she is [an] idealistic member of [the] International Solidarity Movement (ISM), dedicated to “a non-violent resistance to Israeli occupation” in Gaza. She died in an accident when standing in front of the Israeli Army bulldozer that was poised to demolish a house in Gaza.

There are many quotes from Rachel Corrie’s family and supporters in the article, but not one from her detractors. Perhaps the simple listing of the following facts about Miss Corrie’s life and death would help the readers make [up] their own minds, without the “celebrity endorsements” by Vanessa Redgrave and Alan Rickman:

1) Despite their stated mission of supporting non-violent resistance to the Israeli Occupation in Gaza and the West Bank, the International Solidarity Movement has often acted as a terrorist-enabling organization.

The Israeli Army bulldozer that Rachel Corrie tried to stop was dispatched [to] a house in Gaza. Underneath this house was a tunnel running across the border to Egypt and used by Palestinian terrorists to smuggle explosives and arms. These are used in terror attacks against Israeli civilians. In other words, Rachel Corrie valued a HOUSE owned by a Palestinian terrorist above an Israeli LIFE.
Rachel Corrie and her comrades of the ISM have hosted two terrorists on the night before their mission inside Israel. This mission was a terrorist attack on Mike’s Place Pub in Tel Aviv that killed seven people and maimed scores. Some Americans were among the victims.

2) The article presents a peace-loving image of Rachel Corrie and compares her to a dove. However, the most famous real image of Miss Corrie is her photograph with Palestinian children: her head is covered by [a] hijab, her face is contorted with rage and she is burning a home-made American flag. Ironically, the young Palestinian schoolchildren are watching her antics with amusement.
Contrary to the image that ISM cultivates in the West, they are not very popular in the very conservative Palestinian towns because of their reputation for alcohol consumption, drugs, and sexual permissiveness. Several months ago, a joint clerical committee of rabbis and imams in the city of Hebron on the West Bank in an extremely rare unity petitioned the ISM to leave their town because their behavior was “corrupting the city’s youth.”

3) The circumstances of Miss Corrie’s death are presented as facts, when in reality the testimonies of the ISM members who witnessed the accident varied from the start and were duly recorded before the official version issued by the ISM was cemented. Many have testified that she was injured by the flying debris of the demolished house. On the basis of the ISM testimony that Rachel Corrie was crushed by a bulldozer, the Israeli Army conducted a full investigation of her death, and it was proven beyond doubt that it was impossible for the bulldozer driver to see anyone crouching in front of the raised bulldozer blade.

4) Corrie’s parents filed a suit against [the] Israeli Army and have complained that this lawsuit cannot be accepted in the Israeli Court. But what about the families of the scores of Israeli victims and the mangled survivors of the terrorist attacks that Rachel Corrie and her friends abetted?

“My Name is Rachel Corrie” was performed in London and was considered for production in New York. When will anyone consider producing these plays?

MY NAME IS:

Rachel Levy (17, blown up in a grocery store);
Rachel Levi (19, shot while waiting for the bus);
Rachel Gavish (killed with her husband, son and father while at home celebrating a Passover meal);
Rachel Charhi (blown up while sitting in a Tel Aviv cafe, leaving three young children);
Rachel Shabo (murdered with her three sons aged 16, 13 and five, while at home).
Rachel Thaler (16, was blown up at a pizzeria along with her friends)

Sincerely,
Eva S. Belavsky
via email

May 2006