The story of Rachel Corrie will not die. Googling her name produces 910,000 responses. She has a web site. Her parents and others from her home town of Olympia, Washington are working to establish a "sister city" relationship with somewhere in Gaza.
She died in 2003 on an active battlefield, trying to halt an armed Israeli bulldozer from doing its share of the mayhem.
Her supporters claim that Israel was at fault: first for fighting against Palestinian aspirations, secondly for killing Rachel, and thirdly, for not investigating thoroughly enough and bringing to justice the soldiers who caused her death. At the least, it is said, Israel caused a public relations disaster in Olympia by the way it handled the case.
My own reading is that Rachel was misguided by thinking she could wander between combatants and stop the fighting, or even protect herself by wearing distinctive clothing and shouting for peace. Drivers of armed bulldozers have a very small window, and their view of things is limited further by dust and smoke. Their machines make a lot more noise than screaming demonstrators.
Israel did investigate the incident. It has not pleased her parents and others. A public relations disaster? Perhaps among certain people in Olympia. Imagine the disaster here if the IDF had gone beyond reality to hold the bulldozer driver responsible for the sake of American feelings. Anyone who thinks that Rachel's death should have been handled differently should consider more thorough investigations of every Afghan and Iraqi death in recent years, as well as collateral damage done by the allies in Normandy circa 1944, Japan at about the same time, and Korea a bit later.
Will a sister city relationship between Olympia and Gaza heal the wounds? First, the good folks of Olympia must decide which side in the Palestinian civil war are worthy of sisterhood. It is hard to tell from here whether it is primarily a war between Islamic fundamentalist and secular nationalists, ongoing family feuds that resist one effort at cease fire after another, something else, or a combination of them all. Perhaps Olympia activists know the terrain better, and can pick out the people they want to honor.
Hopefully they will not establish too close relationships with those who manufacture and fire the 2,500+ missiles that have been directed at Israeli towns since Israel dismantled its settlements in Gaza during 2005, or the 80 percent and more of Palestinians who answer in the affirmative survey questions about their support of suicide bombing.