Rachel Corrie is the new Anne Frank

1) Katharine Viner, co-editor of the play, “My Name is Rachel Corrie”, on the controversy over the postponement of her play. Link
2) Debate Between NY Theater Workshop and Katharine Viner. Transcript
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3) Democracy Now, Rachel Corrie’s Parents Reaction to postponement. Transcript
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1) Katharine Viner, co-editor of the play, My Name is Rachel Corrie

Excerpt:
“There is a particular entry in Rachel Corrie’s diary, probably written some time in 1999, four years before she was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza Strip trying to prevent the demolition of Palestinian homes. She is aged 19 or 20. “Had a dream about falling, falling to my death off something dusty and smooth and crumbling like the cliffs in Utah,” she writes, “but I kept holding on, and when each foothold or handle of rock broke I reached out as I fell and grabbed a new one. I didn’t have time to think about anything – just react as if I was playing an adrenaline-filled video game. And I heard, ‘I can’t die, I can’t die,’ again and again in my head.”

2) Democracy Now, Debate Between The New York Theater Workshop, and “My Name is Rachel Corrie” Editor Katharine Viner

Katharine Viner, co-creator of the multiple award winning play, My Name is Rachel Corrie debates the controversy over the postponement of the plays US debut at the New York Theatre Workshop with the 2 theatre directors – James Nicola & Lynn Moffat responsible, in a Democracy Now broadcast hosted by Amy Goodman

The play My Name is Rachel Corrie was due to open recently at the celebrated New York Theatre Workshop but has been indefinitely postponed.

James Nicola said “After Ariel Sharon’s illness and the election of Hamas, we had a very edgy situation…our plan to present a work of art would be seen as us taking a stand in a political conflict, that we didn’t want to take.”

Actor Alan Rickman – Katherine’s co-writer – responded by saying, “This is censorship born out of fear”.

Literature & Pullitzer Prize winning writer Harold Pinter and others in a letter to the New York Times asked: “What is it about Rachel Corrie’s writings, her thoughts, her feelings, her confusions, her idealism, her courage…that New York audiences must be protected from…Rachel Corrie gave her life standing up against injustice”

3) “Democracy Now”- Rachel Corrie’s Parents Reaction to postponement.

excerpt:

AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined in our studio by Rachel Corrie’s parents, Craig and Cindy Corrie. They have traveled to New York to attend a public reading of Rachel’s writings tonight at Riverside Church. It was supposed to have been the opening night of the play, My Name is Rachel Corrie, at the New York Theatre Workshop, as we just discussed. Last year, the Corries initiated lawsuits against the state of Israel, the Israel Defense Forces and Caterpillar, the manufacturer of the Israeli military bulldozer that crushed Rachel to death on March 16, 2003, just a few days before the invasion of Iraq. We welcome you both to Democracy Now!

CINDY CORRIE: We really defer to the Royal Court Theatre in deciding what the next step should be with the play. It’s actually going to be playing in the West End in London again, starting at the end of this month. I think Katharine, when she talked about the breakdown of trust, I think that’s a real concern. We know that the original intentions of the New York Theatre Workshop were good intentions. They wanted to bring the play here, and we respect that, and we certainly, you know, we don’t wish any ill towards them or towards any of their staff around this, but I think — I have some real concerns about the amount of contextualizing, and so forth, that they wanted to do. Mr. Nicola spoke about wanting to sort of set the stage to get Rachel’s voice out there. And I would just say, in London that happened just by presenting the play, by allowing people to come to see it. And I would say, let Rachel do that. Let her get her words out.

Border Police enter home And beat Palestinians and 75 year old Australian volunteer

By Jane

Baruch Marzel’s Mug shot

Living in the settlement building just up the road a few hundred yards from the violent episode described below is Baruch Marzel, extreme right winger, well known for his hatred of Arabs and support for transferring all Palestinians to Jordan. His wife and son are among the worst for attacking the Palestinian inhabitants of Tel Rumeida. He is standing as a candidate in Tuesday’s Israeli elections

On Sunday 26th March, 25 soldiers and Border Police entered a Palestinian home And beat two Palestinians and 75 year old international volunteer for no apparent reason.

My first evening in Al Khalil/Hebron. I have just poured myself a cup of tea and Mary is telling me about the situation here. There’s a commotion outside and we go to investigate. As we come down the stairwell a young boy says “soldiers, soldiers” and points into the apartment.

On entering the apartment of Radey Abu Aesheh I see first one soldier, gun raised and pointing at people, then I see another and another, 6 altogether. All with guns raised. The apartment seems full of women and men shouting, there are 5 or 6 children. Radey Abu Aesha had been hit in the mouth. Hasan Abu Aesheh tells Mary the soldiers kicked him.

Suddenly the soldiers decide to leave and back down the stairs. Perhaps there were too many people for them. Many people follow, shouting their greivances at the soldiers for entering their home and their violent behaviour. The soldiers are shouting back. The Captain of the soldiers says they went into the house because they heard shouting, nobody believes this.

More soldiers and Border Police arrive until they are very many. The Captain confers with his men. They decide they want to take Bilal Abu Aesheh. In the chaos I don’t know if the soldiers reentered the building. What I saw was 4 soldiers wrestle Bilal to the ground and handcuff him with plastic cuffs behind his back, using aggressive force, banging his head on the ground. After he was cuffed a soldier approached him and kicked him. The Police arrived and he was taken away. Besam persuaded everyone to go back into the building. We stood at the entrance. The soldiers decided they wanted Husan. Soldiers surrounded the doorway, they tossed me aside. Mary refused to let them enter saying “ these people are my family, you can’t come into my house”. They hesitated, they yelled at the Palestinians inside. Husan appeared on the stairwell. They grabbed Mary very roughly twice and threw her aside and grabbed Husan. They pushed him up against the outside wall of the building and rubbed his face across the stone. They hit him and threw him on the ground, they kicked him. They cuffed him behind his back. The women are screaming out of the windows. They take Husan behind one of their vehicles.

For me when I see a Palestinian being taken behind a vehicle I think he will get beaten so I stood nearby, the 2 soldiers guarding him demanding ‘get back, get back’. A large man in civilian clothes shone a bright video camera light in Husan°s eyes and filmed him. He stood right over him as Husan was crouched down on a low ledge. I turned my back for a second, on turning round Husan signaled with his eyes and motioned that the man had spat at him. An action I had half caught in the corner of my eye. Then I understood the man was a settler. The soldiers continued to let him stand over Husan and verbally abuse him. Soldier had lined up behind vehicles and trained their guns on the building. It seemed to take forever before the Police arrived again and Husan was put in the back of their vehicle. Mary said she wanted to go with Husan and the Police did not object, so she climbed in too.

In Radey Abu Aesheh’s home the wait began. The street had been closed but now people began to arrive. The older men clicked their prayer beads whilst they talked. Women made coffee, peeled oranges and apples. Yechye, a lawyer, regularly rang the Police. No news, no news and then bad news, Bilal and Husan were accused of attacking the soldiers. Radey Abu Aesheh says “Bush is claiming we are the terrorists and all the Euopean Governments go along with him and support him. But look how Palestinians are treated, you can see the reverse is true”. Rajab Abu Aesheh says “The settles want the Palestinians to leave the area but the people will not follow this plan, so they are harassing us to force us to leave, but we will not leave until we die and this will be transmitted from son to son”.

Suddenly the police tell Yechye good news, Mary, Bilal and Husan are all being released. It’s a fast walk up hill to get to a car. It’s parked outside the Israeli controlled area, where Palestinians are not allowed to drive. We skirt round Tel Rumeida in the car, to get back to almost where we had left the house and on to the Police station. At the gates of the Police station, Yechye has to stick his fingers though the metal gate to use a phone to communicate with the Police inside. At midnight, the 3 are released. Mary who mis seventy five years old has also been accused of attacking the soldiers. Husan is very sore and bruised, he has blood in one of his eyes.

Thousands of olive trees to be planted in land day demonstrations

On Land Day, Thursday March 30, thousands of Palestinians, along with Israeli and International activists will hold a series of large-scale peaceful protests.

Demonstrations against ongoing Israeli land confiscation have been planned in the villages of Beit Sira (Ramallah area), Zabda (Jenin area), Rafat (Salfit area) and Tulkarem city (Tulkarem area) with marches alongside the annexation barrier where local residents will plant 1000’s of olive trees.

Beit Sira. Protest starts at 12.00 at village council. Since 1967 the village has lost 65% of its land to expanding Israeli settlements. As a symbolic act villagers will march carrying a coffin on their shoulders containing olive tree saplings which will be planted in the confiscated land

Rafat. 10.00am. Meeting in front of village school. 3000 Dunams out of a total land area of 3500 has been isolated from the village by the Annexation Barrier. The Israeli army has announced 300 Dunams of the remaining land are a closed military zone

Zabda. 10.00am March starting west of Yaabad. 6000 villagers are cut off from the West Bank behind the annexation barrier. Many more are excluded from their land by gates open for only 2 hours in the early morning and late evening. Out of 1722 farmers that applied for permission to access their own land 150 were granted permits

Jbara checkpoint. Meeting 10.30 am at the bus station in Tulkarm city for a March and demonstration against the wall, land-grab and collective punishment. Tulkarm has been completely closed for more than five moths as a collective punishment. In addition Many villages including Jbara are isolated by the annexation barrier.

For more information contact:
Beit Sira: Maher Ankawi: 0544-397879

Tulkarm: Abdel Karim Dalbah: 0599836783 or 0545474066
Shrif Shahrori : 0599-370445

General: ISM media office 022970824

Palestinians, U.S. citizen complain of Hebron settler violence

By Amos Harel and Michal Greenberg, Haaretz Correspondents for Haaretz

Several Palestinians and an American volunteer in the West Bank on Sunday filed complaints with the police, accusing settlers of violence toward Palestinians in the Hebron area on Saturday, after three people were wounded in two separate incidents.

In one of the incidents, Palestinians said about 10 masked, Hebrew-speaking youths had raided a tent encampment near the settlement of Sussia, on the border of the Havat Yair outpost on
Saturday night. They allegedly attacked two Palestinian brothers with clubs and knives and then escaped. The brothers, Abdelrahman and Aziz Shanaran, were lightly to moderately wounded and were taken to Alia Hospital in Hebron for treatment.

Another Shanaran relative, who said he had witnessed the incident, filed a police complaint on Sunday.

Also Sunday, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel asked the state prosecution to intervene immediately in an effort to bring the assailants to justice.

Left-wing activists familiar with the area said they thought the assailants were settlers from Sussia, and said settlers had been attacking Palestinian villagers in the area for a long time, in an
attempt to steal their land.

Abdelrahman Shanaran told the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem that the assailants had hit him on the head with a sharp object while he was sleeping in his tent. He said they continued to beat him and removed him from the tent.

His brother, Aziz, heard the screams of his wife and children and rushed to his assistance. According to the testimony, some of the assailants then began beating Aziz.

Aziz Shanaran told B’Tselem that the assailants appeared to be young and that some had earlocks and rifles. He said that after the attack, they escaped in the direction of Sussia.

Hospital records show that Abdelrahman Shanaran was treated for three cuts on his head and a leg wound, and that his brother received orthopedic treatment.

In the second incident, which took place Saturday afternoon, an American volunteer assisting Palestinians in Hebron as part of the Tel Rumeida Project said he was attacked by a group of about 20 Israeli children and youths. He said they threw stones at him, kicked him and spat at him. He was taken to a Hebron hospital shortly after the incident and underwent additional tests at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv on Sunday. He was hit in the head and doctors are concerned he may have a concussion.

The volunteer said he ran from his assailants to a nearby Israel Defense Forces post, but charged that the soldiers on duty refused to assist him.

However, IDF sources said the soldiers reached the site of the attack without being summoned and then dispersed the settlers. Police said they showed him mug shots but that the volunteer was unable to identify the people he said had attacked him.

Police said they would continue their inquiry into the attack on the American volunteer, but admitted that they had encountered difficulties.

HUMAN RIGHTS WORKER ATTACKED NEAR HEBRON SETTLEMENT

Jewish settlers attacked American Human Rights’ activist Brian Morgan, outside the Beit Haddasah settlement on Saturday March 25.

About 20 settlers, adults and children as young as eight years, kicked, punched and hit Morgan on the head with rocks. He later received sutures in hospital in Tel Aviv.

An Israeli soldier at his post outside the settlement close to the attack, repeatedly ignored Morgan’s requests for help.

‘I judged the situation was not life threatening,” commented a soldier from a nearby checkpoint.

Morgan described the incident as unprovoked: “We were not filming, but I think they did not want any international witness in the area,” he said. He believes the attack was premeditated.

Morgan works with the Tel Rumeida project, which accompanies Palestinian families and their children to and from school, shielding them from harassment by settler children.

Most attacks on Palestinians and internationals occur on the Sabbath day when settler youths are not in school.

“There has been a considerable rise in settler violence during these pre-election weeks,” said a spokesman from Tel Rumeida, But we and other Human Rights’ activists will remain in this area to do our job.”