Palestinians remember anti-Israeli icon Rachel Corrie
Palestinians mark the anniversary of anti-Israeli icon Rachel Corrie’s death at the hands of the occupying regime’s forces, though memorial services and sporting events among other means.
Wednesday marked the 19th anniversary of the day, when 23-year-old was brutally murdered by an Israeli bulldozer while protesting the demolition of Palestinian homes in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
The Washington State-born activist, who had dedicated her life to defending Palestinian rights, had travelled to the Palestinian territories to conduct her senior-year college assignment.
Before her death, Corrie had written to her family to try and explain the Palestinians’ plight, which she had witnessed first-hand.
"No amount of reading, attendance at conferences, documentary viewing, and word-of-mouth could have prepared me for the reality of the situation here," she wrote. "You just can't imagine it unless you see it."
Palestinians have, ever since 2010, been trying to keep her memory alive by launching an annual sports event near the home, which she was trying to save from destruction by the Israeli forces.
“It was launched by a football match between the two teams from that neighborhood and evolved into an official championship with more than 32 competing sports teams from all parts of Gaza,” the Middle East Monitor (MEMO) press monitoring organization wrote.
Today the event is “attended by thousands of Palestinians,” said Mohammad Gharib, the event's Information Coordinator.
“Her name and memory are also present at the Return Social Center, also known as the Rachel Corrie Center, which serves tens of thousands of Palestinian women, children, and teenagers with skills training programs, economic empowerment, and psychological support, and as a safe space for victims of violation,” the MEMO added.
An Israeli investigation into Corrie’s death concluded that it was an “accident.”
In 2005, Corrie's parents filed a civil lawsuit against the Israeli regime, asserting that she had either been intentionally killed or that the forces had shown criminal negligence.
An Israeli court rejected the lawsuit in a 2012 ruling that the regime was not responsible for her death.
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