Q: After Rachel’s death, you and your husband became much more active in the Palestinian cause. Why?
P. T. Barnum had the answer there.
Cindy Corrie: We thought the situation was terribly tragic all of our lifetimes. But our understanding of it was very limited. We, as a family, certainly felt an allegiance to Israel and empathy with the Israeli people and Jewish people because of how they had suffered. That’s where our sympathies were. We really didn’t start to fully understand the complexity of it all and the Palestinian piece of it until Rachel became involved. It also changed the way we looked at our media coverage of this, too.

Yes, it's often also made me do that, too. Also.

Watching CNN a few weekends before Rachel was killed, there was a suicide bombing. I remember Judy Woodruff talking about what a tragedy and how horrible it was. Just a week or so [before] I recalled hearing about two or three Palestinians who were killed. It was in the strip at the bottom of the screen. There were no photographs. No more information.

You mean killed by accident or on purpose? Y'see, there's a difference between becoming flying meat and taking a couple dozen people with you for the trip and accidentally hitting another person when you shoot at someone else. Now, admittedly, enough incidents of flying meat will make your caution level drop when it comes to a reluctance to hit innocent bystanders among the population the boomers originated from, but it's still not intentional unless you intentionally aim at them. Got that? I know. It's too complicated, and they're all dead in the end...

Q: Were you worried about Rachel’s safety?
Craig: More so after she got there. In her e-mails, she talked about the Israeli military shooting in the buildings when they don’t know who’s [in] there. When she used to call us, she would say, "Did you hear that? Did you hear that?" It was machine gun fire from the Israeli tanks.

Normally, when troops are taking fire from a building they'll shoot into it without asking who's there. If the wimmin and kiddies come out, they'll usually hold their fire until they're safely out of the way, but if gunnies occupy your building and you're a woman or kiddy and don't come out, try to stay low...

Q: Do you want to meet the driver of the bulldozer that killed Rachel?
Craig: At some point, maybe. . . . We’re not looking for revenge. We don’t know what happened. For Cindy and me, we have to take ownership that our tax dollars paid for that bulldozer to be there. We support the rights of Israeli citizens to live without fear but . . . we have to support the rights of the Palestinians to live without fear.
"But the Jews need to live in fear."
Q: What do you think it will take to bring both sides in step with the American-backed "road map"? Are you in favor of the road map?
Craig: I think that we, the United States, have to understand that both Palestinians and Israelis deserve to live in peace and safety, to be able to determine their own futures. I think that means the United States has to have a more balanced view of what’s going on in the Middle East. For peace to happen, Israel has to end the occupation.

Wonder why he didn't answer the question... Oh. I get it. He's not in favor of the road map, but he doesn't want to say so. Sometimes it takes me awhile to catch on. And sometimes not...

Q: You recently visited the West Bank and Gaza.
Cindy: It was like walking into a new world. Certainly there are images that will stay with me. It’s a world of checkpoints. It’s a world where there’s a very vivid military presence wherever you go.

It's a world where people explode without warning. It's a world where people with ski masks parade through the streets having gun sex and screeching for Dire Revenge™...

Q: You went to Rafah, where she died.
Craig: The house she was in front of when she was killed was at the end of a street. Now all the houses have been destroyed. . . . It’s just sand and you see some razor wire. We were having lunch [with a Palestinian couple Rachel often stayed with]. We looked out the front door and about 30 meters in front of us was an armored personnel carrier with a machine gun trained on the door. . . . There was a military bulldozer coming right toward the house.

Bet he thought it was driven by my friend D.J. Wu...

Q: Do you keep in contact with the families of others wounded or killed in that and other conflicts? What comfort do you get?
Cindy: I think, particularly, these families [of International Solidarity Movement volunteers] can really understand being in the middle of an international event. It gives me great comfort to see Brian Avery [a volunteer shot by the Israeli military who is recovering in North Carolina] because he knew Rachel. It’s also been comforting to me to meet with other activists who have been there because they understand the situation.

Have a group hug...

Q: [Do] you feel that you will ever be able to reclaim your old life?
Cindy: There are things I want to reclaim just to have the balance that I need. I’m a musician and I play the flute. But I haven’t played the flute since this happened.

Try the cello. That always seems to work.

Craig: There are a lot of other paths for our lives to take. This is something we need to do right now.

IF YOU GO

• What: "Remembering Rachel Corrie: One Women’s Struggle for Tyranny and Genocide Peace and InJustice in Palestine."
• Who: Craig and Cindy Corrie, Rachel’s parents.
• Where: Druid Hills United Methodist Church, 1200 Ponce de Leon Ave. N.E.
• When: 7 p.m. Thursday.
• Cost: Free. For more information, call 404-586-0460 or go to www.distanceeddesign.com/rachel/