Vigil in Olympia, WA

My Name Is Rachel Corrie at Playhouse Theatre, London, 2006.

Corrie's death sparked controversy and led to international media coverage, in part because she was an American, and in part because of the highly politicized nature of the conflict itself.

Amnesty International USA called for an independent inquiry, with Christine Bustany, their advocacy director for the Middle East, saying that "U.S.-made bulldozers have been 'weaponized' and their transfer to Israel must be suspended."^[30] U.S. Representative Brian Baird introduced House Concurrent Resolution 111 in the U.S. Congress on March 25, 2003, calling on the U.S. government to "undertake a full, fair, and expeditious investigation" into Corrie's death. The House of Representatives took no action on the resolution.^[31] The Corrie family joined Representative Baird in calling for a U.S. investigation.^[32] Baird, though reelected in 2004, 2006, and 2008, has not reintroduced the resolution in the Congress.

In the report Promoting Impunity: The Israeli Military's Failure to Investigate Wrongdoing, Human Rights Watch raised several issues related to the impartiality and professionalism with which the Military Police investigation was conducted. Among them were the investigators' lack of preparation; the "hostile," "inappropriate," "mostly accusatory" questions they asked witnesses; omitting to get witnesses to draw maps or identify locations on a map of how it occurred; and their disinterest in reconciling soldiers' testimonies with those of other eyewitnesses. The report was not limited in scope to Corrie's death; it described a number of similar instances in which one-line summary findings were reported to the media after closed investigations in which neither non-military witnesses nor victims or their families were involved.^[33]

Yasser Arafat offered his condolences and gave the blessings of the Palestinian people to Corrie.^[16] Arafat promised to name a street in Gaza after Corrie; this however was not done.^[5]