Ramallah to name street after U.S. activist Rachel Corrie

By Jack Khoury and Amira Hass

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.

The director of the play, Riad Masarwa, saw the London production and afterward contacted the rights holders, edited the script, and staged an Arab-language version of the play in 2007.

"This is a personal story and a tragedy of a young girl who presented a challenge before each and every one of us," the director said yesterday. "Particularly among the Palestinian people and the Arab world."

Cindy Corrie, who noted that the play has already been staged in many countries, including the United States, said she found comfort in the fact that her daughter's memory is being kept alive by means of words she herself wrote.

Source: Haaretz.
Link: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1157048.html.