Earlier this week the Corrie family opened proceeding to sue the Israeli defence ministry for the killing of Rachel. Rachel Corrie was 23 years old when she was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza Strip. The young, idealistic American peace activist, who left her home in Olympia, Washington, in 2003 to travel to the Middle East with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was attempting to prevent the demolition of Palestinian homes. The events around her death are disputed to this day. It was reported this week that, seven years after Corrie died, her family is to bring a civil lawsuit over her death against the Israeli defence ministry. But Corrie left an insight into her character in her diaries, which have been adapted for the stage by the British actor Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner, the deputy editor of The Guardian. This one-woman show, performed by Mairi Phillips, the Citizens Theatre actor intern, depicts a shy, skinny, chain-smoking and articulate woman who was
Until now, the besieged Gaza Strip has stayed free of the novel coronavirus spreading across the world. As the Gaza Strip has been under a stringent Israeli-led blockade for nearly 13 years, the spread of the coronavirus - officially known as COVID-19 - has become the topic of discussion for many Palestinians, with some joking that the blockade was preventing them from being exposed.But as authorities in the coastal Palestinian enclave gear up to contain any potential outbreak, serious questions have arisen about the risks and implications of such a scenario. But given its already difficult humanitarian situation and high population density, an outbreak in the Gaza Strip could prove to be catastrophic, health officials have warned. "If the virus enters Gaza and spreads, it will get out of hand," Gaza Ministry of Health spokesperson Majdi Thuhair told Middle East Eye, as he explained that a severe shortage of resources and personnel would make it near impossible