Rachel Corrie Presente! A Rachel Corrie Memorial – Twenty Years Ago

Ida Audeh at a Rachel Corrie Memorial on the mall in Boulder, June 2003. In the background Joel Edelstein and Juliet Wittman

Going through (too many) old photos. Every once in a while I come across “a gem”, like this one.

On the mall in Boulder, Colorado – June, 2003. A memorial for U.S. peace activist Rachel Corrie who died – was murdered – trying to protect a Palestinian home in Gaza. She was run over and crushed by an Israel tractor. As usual, charges were never filed against the Israeli military contractor who committed the crime. Rachel Corrie’s parents have spent the years since, seeking justice for their daughter and set up the Rachel Corrie Memorial Foundation to continue Rachel’s work for peace and justice for Palestinians.

She is not the last peace activist from abroad, in Gaza and the West Bank, who has been killed by the IDF or Israel’s out-of-control settlers, Many more have followed.

As Boulder author and teacher Juliet Wittman noted in an email reminding me of that day:

Rob: I remember this. Aref  (Nammari) and Leslie (Lomas) alternated reading the names of the dead, and it was very moving. I also remember that it was blistering hot and Irving Greenbaum (do I have the name right?), who was perhaps already in his eighties, was handing out leaflets when some ghastly Zionist Karen started yelling at him. I still feel sorrow for the death of Rachel Corrie and all the tragic deaths that follow. Now a savage, straight-up invasion of the West Bank.

Same memorial – on the right, Ida Audeh, Sergio Atallah