Rachel was serving as an accompanier with the ISM in the Gaza strip, accompanying a Palestinian family that was resisting the demolition of their home by staying in it as the Israeli bulldozer came towards it. Rachel stood in front of the bulldozer with her bright accompanier vest and was run over and killed on March 16, 2003. She was 23 years old.
International protective accompaniment is being done in 10 countries around the world. Only in Palestine have accompaniers been killed and injured. Tom Hurndall was also killed in 2004 and several others have been very seriously injured.
The quote on this poster, from Rachel's letters, reads: "The international media and our government are not going to tell us that we are effective, important, justified in our work, courageous, intelligent, valuable. We have to do that for each other, and one way we can do that is by continuing our work, visibly. People without privilege will be doing this work no matter what, because they are working for their lives. We can work with them, and they know that we work with them, or we can leave them to do this work themselves and curse us for our complicity in killing them."
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