In an e-mail she sent home six weeks before she died, posted on the Web site ZNet, Corrie reflected on the difference between the reality known by children in Gaza and children in Olympia. "They [Palestinian children] know that children in the United States don't usually have their parents shot and they know they sometimes get to see the ocean. But once you have seen the ocean and lived in a silent place, where water is taken for granted and not stolen in the night by bulldozers, and once you have spent an evening when you haven't wondered if the walls of your home might suddenly fall inward waking you from your sleep, and once you've met people who have never lost anyone -- once you have experienced the reality of a world that isn't surrounded by murderous towers, tanks, armed 'settlements' and now a giant metal wall, I wonder if you can forgive the world for all the years of your childhood spent existing -- just existing -- in resistance to the constant stranglehold of the world's fourth largest military -- backed by the world's only superpower--in it's [sic] attempt to erase you from your home. That is something I wonder about these children. I wonder what would happen if they really knew."

Corrie's death is the latest chapter in a long history of American radicalism on both sides of the Middle East conflict. Many of the most radical Israeli settlers in the West Bank are, in fact, American. In 1994, Brooklyn-born doctor Baruch Goldstein walked into a Hebron mosque and gunned down dozens of Palestinians as they knelt in prayer, killing 29 people. And though Corrie was the first American member of the International Solidarity Movement to be killed in the Middle East, dozens of Americans are in the West Bank and Gaza acting as human shields. During the recent standoff in a Church of the Nativity, ISM volunteers ran into the church, defying the orders of the surrounding Israeli army.

Corrie's death set off a predictable set of reactions, even from those who didn't know her. Many on the left turned her into a martyr for the Palestinian cause. Among conservatives, she became another flaky rabble-rouser who died as she lived -- as a troublemaker or pawn of terrorists. Images of Corrie burning a picture of an American flag while in Gaza, and entries expressing apparent sympathy with Palestinian suicide bombers didn't help win her any sympathy outside of pro-Palestinian circles. As Olympia-area resident Leonard Garrett said, Corrie's death "should be a lesson for other students thinking about following her example -- If you mess with the bull, you get stuck with the horns." And there was this cartoon in a University of Maryland student newspaper, citing Corrie's support of "terrorists" as the very definition of stupidity.

But even among the members of the American left, and even those in Corrie's own community, her death has sparked mixed reactions. There is no issue within the left more divisive than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- a fact that has been highlighted by the controversy over the tone and content of many antiwar rallies, which feature vituperative attacks on Israel. And in the hours following Rachel's death, some of that tension could be seen back in her hometown.

On Sunday, just hours after news of Corrie's death spread, a previously scheduled antiwar demonstration at Olympia's Percival Landing turned into a makeshift memorial for the fallen Corrie. Those who knew Rachel said that this was only fitting.

But others were unhappy with the change in focus of Sunday's rally. In a letter to the local daily paper, area residents Lisa Brodoff and Lynn Grotsky wrote: "We felt violated and tricked when the rally began to turn into an anti-Israel focus. How divisive ... It was disrespectful to the organizers and the attendees to change the rally's focus."

While Nguyen takes issue with the characterization of Sunday's rally as "anti-Israel," he says most antiwar activists he knows are also in solidarity with the Palestinian cause. "I think the majority of people there were in with it. But when you invite people for an antiwar vigil, I can understand why some people were upset, especially if they misinterpret what she was doing as some anti-Israel sentiment. It wasn't that at all. We want justice for Palestinians and Israelis."

Corrie's parents said that for their daughter, there was a link between the Palestinian cause and the war in Iraq. They say they came forward to share Rachel's fears that a war in Iraq would distract the world's attention, and lead to a harsh Israeli crackdown in the occupied territories without any scrutiny from the media, which would be preoccupied with the war in Iraq.

"We are speaking out today because of Rachel's fears about the impact of a war with Iraq on the people in the occupied territories," they said. "She reported to us that her Palestinian friends were afraid that with all eyes on Iraq, the Israeli Defense Forces would escalate activity in the occupied territories. Rachel wanted to be in Gaza if that happened."

Nguyen says many pro-Palestinian activists are worried that war in Iraq will amount to an invitation for an Israeli crackdown. "We're all afraid of that right now," he says. "But since Rachel's death, the people I've talked to who are there are more committed to staying, in part to honor her memory. The idea of abandoning them at this moment is unthinkable."

In Olympia, there is now much debate over how best to honor the memory of Rachel Corrie, both short- and long-term. There is some talk of starting a scholarship program to send future activists to the occupied territories. Others are dedicated to continuing Corrie's efforts to establish a sister city relationship between Olympia and Rafah.

"Because we live in Olympia, we need to make her case, and the whole issue of Palestine a part of what we do," Bohmer says. "We need to have the antiwar movement here really have two foci -- one is against the war in Iraq, and the second one is honoring her, calling for stopping U.S. aid to Israel, or something."

At the same time, Bohmer expressed some concern that Corrie's death might dwarf the cause she died fighting for. "I think she was a really great person, but I'm not into deifying her," he says. "Her death is really important, but it happens to Palestinians all the time. It's just that most of the Palestinians are invisible."

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