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Rachel Corrie 1979-2003

Scoop: Rachel Corrie in her own words

Rachel Corrie was a 23 year old American student who was killed by a bulldozer as she tried to stop the demolition of some Palestinian houses in the Gaza Strip.

This is from an email she sent her parents in February, just after she arrived in the Middle East.

“Today as I walked on top of the rubble where homes once stood, Egyptian soldiers called to me from the other side of the border, “Go! Go!” because a tank was coming. Followed by waving and “what’s your name?”. There is something disturbing about this friendly curiosity. It reminded me of how much, to some degree, we are all kids curious about other kids: Egyptian kids shouting at strange women wandering into the path of tanks. Palestinian kids shot from the tanks when they peak out from behind walls to see what’s going on. International kids standing in front of tanks with banners. Israeli kids in the tanks anonymously, occasionally shouting– and also occasionally waving–many forced to be here, many just aggressive, shooting into the houses as we wander away”.