On March 16, 2003, American activist, Rachel Corrie, age 23, was run over and killed by an armoured Israeli bulldozer in Gaza while protecting a home from demolition. In the 10 years since much has changed and much has stayed the same. But we cannot forget Rachel's burning love for people and sense of justice. She inspired many with her action, words and ultimate sacrifice. We remember Rachel with a screening of the film, Rachel, made in 2009 by acclaimed filmmaker, Simone Bitton, who also made the much-loved film, As the Land is the Language (1997), about the Palestinian poet, Mahmound Darwish.
The premiere was at Berlin Film Festival in February 2009. "Rachel is an in-depth cinematic investigation into the death of an unknown young girl, made with a rigor and scope normally reserved for first-rate historical characters. It gives voice to all the people involved in Rachel’s story, from Palestinian and foreign witnesses to Israeli military spokespersons and investigators, doctors, activists and soldiers linked to the affair. The film begins like a classic documentary, but soon develops, transcending its subject and transforming into a cinematographic meditation on youth, war, idealism and political utopia. In the beginning, there is this: she was called Rachel Corrie. She was 23. She was convinced that her American nationality would be enough to make her an effective human shield, that her simple presence would save lives, olive trees, wells and houses." from catalogue Berlinale Film Festival 2009...She also thought she could best a heavy metal machine, and that her Palestinian darlings were nothing more than innocent victims of dastardly Jews. Ten years on, her death seems as pointless as ever, and her hagiographers just as clueless as they were back when this tragic accident unfolded.
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| The "saint" in happier days, showing Palestinian moppets how to torch an American flag. |
This was no "accident", ie., an event transpiring through no human intervention. Rather, this was the willing assumption by a vicious little useful idiot suffused in Judenhass, of the risks associated with playing around heavy machinery being whose operator had highly limited local visibility. One can only speculate on how many Israeli lives were saved by Corrie having been squashed...
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