Remembering Rachel Corrie, 19 years on

Saeed Pourreza
Press TV, London

An incredible act of bravery against a ruthless occupation, there to expose Israeli crimes --- Rachel Corrie 23 year old activist from Olympia, Washington, crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer on its way to demolish yet another Palestinian home in a dark corner of Gaza near the border with Egypt.

To her family and eyewitnesses, her killing was intentional. That the driver of the bulldozer could not have missed a blonde-haired foreign activist wearing an orange fluorescent jacket. To the Israeli courts, it was merely a regrettable accident.

Her case was closed but the debate over her death caught on. Rachel Corrie became synonymous with solidarity for the Palestinian cause.

An example of how Rachel Corrie’s activism resonates with activists today is how non-Palestinians are calling out western media for glorifying Ukraine for things the Palestinians have been doing for years.

At a time of Palestinian disappointment over several Arab government normalizing ties with Israel and the international double-standard over the Ukraine crisis, it is the legacy people such as Rachel Corrie that acts as reminder of a decades-long Palestinian struggle for justice.

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