Palestine Pal

After the Bil'in demonstration last week I went to another memorial for the anniversary of Rachel Corrie's death. Even though the event was the anniversary of Corrie's death, the memorial also served to remember the deaths of Tom Hurndall the ISM activist killed only weeks after Rachel and the death of Tom Fox from the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) who worked in Palestine before being executed in Iraq.

The evenings event attracted around 70 people but it felt more flat then anything. The 3 speeches lasted for about 5 minutes each and there was really little emotion in the affair. I don't think a single person cried and could be likened to Macbeth's reaction when his wife died (in Act 5, scene 5, Line 16 if interested). I think people here in Palestine are just really tired and that the pain is just so constant that moments like this become more marking an occasion then engaging a real response.