West Bank street named for dead US activist

Palestinians in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday named a street after a US activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer in a 2003 protest against house demolitions in Gaza.

The dedication ceremony was held on the seventh anniversary of Rachel Corrie’s death.

Corrie’s mother, Cindy, said her daughter stood for many other foreign activists who have come to the West Bank and Gaza in recent years.

“I just wanted you to know … that you do not stand alone,” she told a small group of Palestinians, including the mayor and governor of Ramallah. “People are stepping up. They will not be silent.”

On March 16, 2003, Corrie stood in the path of an armored Israeli bulldozer as it approached a Palestinian home for demolition along Gaza’s border with Egypt.

The Israeli military has claimed that her death is an accident. Corrie’s parents reject that version and have brought a civil suit against the Israeli government. The trial began last week in Haifa.

Corrie was an activist in the International Solidarity Movement, a group that sends foreigners into hot spots to assist Palestinians. Often they endanger themselves by standing between Israeli forces and Palestinian civilians, trying to prevent soldiers from acting.