![]() ![]() Worse and more one-sided political plays have been staged in America, and Corrie's death was tragic. But the controversy around the play has nothing to do with its quality. The International Solidarity Movement is seen as a disorganized network of anarchists who fly to Israel to do good. The audience hears nothing but the earnest torrent of Corrie's youthful writing, and in the end journal entries and e-mail make an uncompelling script.īut did it deserve to be squelched in New York? Of course not. But in "Rachel Corrie" we never meet anyone else - not even the pharmacist whose house she dies defending. The piece recalls David Hare's one-man play about Israel, "Via Dolorosa," which amounts to a lively act of theatrical journalism, packed with the voices of Israelis and Palestinians. She never tries to see the construction of the defense wall - for which the house she died defending was probably demolished - through an Israeli lens. She never tries to understand the Israeli justifications for offensives in Gaza - often aimed (though not in this case) at shutting off tunnels along the Israeli border used for arms smuggling and suicide bombers. ![]() Megan Dodds, who plays Corrie, humanizes her with gawky body language and ringing speeches, but there's a noticeable lack of struggle and drama. I try to ask myself, whose interest does it serve to identify Israeli policy with all Jewish people?" That's kind of a no-brainer, but there is a very strong pressure to conflate the two. We still have some responsibility for that, but I think it's important to draw a firm distinction between the policies of Israel as a state, and Jewish people. "The people of Israel are suffering and Jewish people have a long history of oppression. "The scariest thing about non-Jewish Americans talking about Palestinian self-determination is the fear of sounding anti-Semitic," she says.
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