“Corrie was murdered after joining a non-violent Palestinian resistance organization,” writes Emma Gosnell in the Sunday Telegraph (“murdered” is a term even Corrie’s staunchest defenders have hesitated to use up to now). Charles Spencer in The Daily Telegraph talks of “Corrie’s concern for suffering humanity…one leaves the theatre mourning not only Rachel Corrie but also one’s own loss of the idealism and reckless courage of youth.”
In one of the most astonishing comments, Michael Billington, the Guardian’s critic, writes of the play: “The danger of right-on propaganda is avoided.”
It is ironic to reflect that there have been several real victims of the intifada called Rachel – and hard to believe that these critics have ever heard of them. All these other Rachels died within a few months of Corrie but, unlike her, in circumstances that weren’t disputed. They were deliberately murdered:
Rachel Levy (17, blown up in a grocery store);
Rachel Levi (19, shot while waiting for the bus);
Rachel Gavish (killed with her husband, son and father while at home celebrating a Pesach meal);
Rachel Charhi (blown up while sitting in a Tel Aviv café, leaving three young children);
Rachel Shabo (murdered with her three sons aged 16, 13 and five, while at home).
Only one critic (Clive Davis in London’s The Times) dismisses parts of the play as “unvarnished propaganda.” At one point Corrie declares: “The vast majority of Palestinians right now, as far as I can tell, are engaging in Gandhian non-violent resistance.” As Davis notes, “Even the late Yasir Arafat might have blushed at that one.”
Rachel Corrie’s death was undoubtedly tragic. But ultimately, this play isn’t really about Corrie, but about fomenting hatred of Israel. The production is now sold out and there is talk of it being staged in America. The Royal Court is also rushing out a printed edition of the play to give to schools. (JPFS)