Disappeared News

by Larry Geller

I was glad to see an abundance of introductory material on the table at Harris Methodist Church last night. My Name Is Rachel Corrie cannot be fully understood, I think, in isolation. It's not just the story of the brave, articulate young lady who was murdered by the driver of an Israeli bulldozer while trying to protect the home of a Palestinian family from being destroyed.

We heard, before the play began, that in the prior 24 hours 45 Palestinians were killed in Gaza by Israeli military forces. In just one day, 45 people killed. Now you have an important part of the context. Just imagine that you turned on the NPR news and heard that 45 Americans had been killed here the previous day.

This also created, at least in my mind, a nascent awareness that Rachel Corrie gave her life while trying to stop the violence, but what about us, in the audience? What have I done lately? And why were there still some empty seats? Every American should see this play. There should be crowds pushing to get in.

Well, the occasional empty seat illustrated the problem. Americans were doing something else last night, something other than concerning themselves with the wholesale slaughter that is befalling others. And it's not just that the bulldozer was made in the USA for the specific purpose of leveling homes. Our support for the killings and the division of the occupied territories into Swiss cheese makes it all possible.

Andrea Devon Bertoli was a moving Rachel Corrie. Her reading made me realize that Rachel was more than the snapshot of her confrontation with the Israeli bulldozer. She had already written extensively and passionately about her convictions and her experiences. She had been writing since her early school years.

Let me leave you with some links from the literature that was available on the table at Harris:
hawaiiandpalestine.googlepages.com
IfAmericansKnew.org
bds-palestine.net
FMEP.org
BTSELEM.org
MIFTAH.org
also
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_settlement
http://disappearednews.com/2008/02/name-is-rachel-corrie-to-be-read-in.html

Finally, if you couldn't be at Harris, please consider attending the March 14 reading at Church of the Crossroads. In New York, after the censorship fight, tickets were $65. Here you can attend for free (or for a donation). It's a rare chance to be exposed to Rachel, her life and her writing, as well as learn more about an important world conflict that is happening today.