ASHLAND — Craig and Cindy Corrie never expected the Mideast crisis to take center stage in their lives. But since their daughter, Rachel, was killed in March 2003 by an Israeli bulldozer while protesting in Gaza, they've started a foundation in her honor and they're on extensive speaking tours, including an appearance this evening in Ashland.
The Corries, of Olympia, Wash., will speak at 7 tonight at First Presbyterian Church, at Siskiyou Boulevard and Walker Avenue. Their message, although they say the don't take sides in an extremely politically charged conflict, is to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and to bring freedom, justice and a secure peace to the region.
While not pretending to have the answer to Mideast peace, the Corries, in a phone interview, said Americans are well exposed to the Israeli argument. They need to hear the Palestinian story of how they've lived under occupation for 40 years, said Cindy Corrie.
Controversy still rages over whether Rachel was intentionally run over and killed by the Israeli bulldozer or was the victim of an accident at the hands of a driver who couldn't see her from the narrow windows of his large armored earth mover.
The Corries reject the Israeli government's inquest, which found her death an accident, and they are suing the government of Israel as well as Caterpillar Inc., the dozer's maker.
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Local Jews take a different view. Rabbi David Zaslow of Temple Havurah Shir Hadash in Ashland, said, "The incident that killed Rachel Corrie was a terrible tragedy, and certainly has been proven to have been an accident. Israel has lost many wonderful women named 'Rachel' who also died while trying to live peaceful lives by the hand of terrorists. In the memory of all these 'Rachels,' Israel is working hard to find a way to peace with Palestinians."
In the Bible, Rachel figures prominently in the Old Testament as the wife of Jacob, and it's a popular name for Jewish women.
Gary Acheatel of Ashland, co-founder of Advocates for Israel, took out newspaper ads here saying that eight Israelis named Rachel have been killed by radical Palestinian terrorists. In an interview, Acheatel said the Corrie presentation is a staged propaganda event that speaks of the tragic killing of Rachel Corrie as murder, when in fact it was an accident. Constant propaganda like this suggests Israel targets civilians, when the opposite is true, he said.
The Corries' work, said Rachel's aunt, Bonnie Brodersen of Ashland, is "to carry on the work that Rachel started, to stand for the Palestinian people and to educate Americans on what the occupation is doing to their lives."
Rachel Corrie, 23 at her death, graduated from Evergreen State College in Olympia, did work in the labor and environmental movements, lived with a poor family in Russia. She then joined the Palestinian-led International Solidarity Movement, which took her to Rafah, Gaza, near the Egyptian border, to do nonviolent "direct-action protests" against destruction of Palestinian homes and water sources, said Brodersen.
Asked if they were taking sides in the Israel-Palestine conflict, Cindy Corrie said the couple works for peace with both sides, in the U.S. and Mideast and "We're on everyone's side."
"The side of the people," added Craig Corrie.
Added Brodersen, "Rachel wasn't pro-Palestinian. She had many Israeli friends and had worked with the Jewish Voice for Peace in California. She cared about justice for poor people. It came from living with that poor family in Russia. They lived mostly on cabbage. That opened her eyes."
However, Acheatel branded ISM a radical Palestinian organization that "sucked Rachel in." His Web site, www.advocatesforIsrael.org says his group, Advocates for Israel, was created to counter "sometimes subtle, sometimes virulent anti-Zionism" by taking action locally. It lists founders as Gerry Mandel, Stan Shulster, Acheatel and Zaslow, all of Ashland. Acheatel said similar groups have started around the U.S.
While he has sympathy for her family and views the death as a tragic loss, Acheatel said his group's actions will "hopefully inspire people to research the facts of an extremely difficult situation."
John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at jdarling@jeffnet.org.
