PALO ALTO, California -- Americans Craig and Cindy Corrie cut short their visit to Gaza after they and their hosts, the family of Dr. Samir Nasrallah, talked would-be kidnappers out of a plan to hold three Americans in exchange for an arrested family member. The Corries and all delegates of the Olympia Rafah Sister City Program have now returned safely to Jerusalem.

The Corries were staying with the Nasrallah family apartment in Rafah, Gaza, with members of the Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project (ORSCP) located in an apartment down the hall. On Wednesday morning before dawn, two men with a gun pounded on the door of the apartment belonging to Rochelle Gause, Will Hewitt, and Serena Becker, insisting they move "for their own security". The team called Dr. Samir and the extended network that was set-up in advance, to aid in case of emergency.

Dr. Nasrallah talked to the men and asked them to come down to his apartment. He learned that they, and the others in the two vehicles outside, were members of the family of Alaa al-Hamm, who had been arrested by the Palestinian police that evening on charges of involvement in a previous kidnapping.

The Corries, staying at Dr. Nasrallah's home, met the two men in the living room where they discussed what they and the group of ORSCP participants were doing in Rafah. A neighbor also came over, a Palestinian Authority security officer, and talked with the men. After a brief conversation, they shook Craig and Cindy Corrie's hands, told them they had "great respect for our daughter and for us" and left, said Cindy Corrie.

The Corries and the ORSCP team then left Gaza without further incident in a caravan of vehicles driven by ORSCP's Palestinian participants.

The Corries had traveled to Gaza at the invitation of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, a partner in their efforts to rebuild Palestinian homes in Gaza in memory of their slain daughter, Rachel Corrie. They joined a 5-member American delegation from the Olympia Rafah Sister City Project who had been living in Gaza for the past 2 months, working with Palestinian partners to launch a project envisioned by Rachel to promote cultural understanding.

Corrie, the 23-year-old American student, was killed nearly three years ago as she faced down an Israeli Caterpillar D9 bulldozer that threatened the Narallah family's duplex home in Gaza. Construction is underway to rebuild the Nasrallah family home, funded by Americans from across the United States and people throughout the world in a grass roots initiative of the Rebuilding Alliance that seeks to bring the Occupation to an end through constructive resistance.

"We were extremely happy to visit with both Nasrallah families, spend two nights in their homes, and make plans to work with the people of Rafah," said Craig Corrie, Rachel's father. "What we are taking back is the kindness and consideration of Palestinians and also Israelis in watching out for us, our safety and comfort, in friendship. We look forward to expanding the rebuilding efforts and continuing the cross-cultural projects in Rafah that are so important to us."

Rachel Corrie lived with the Nasrallah family in their 2-family home and the Nasrallahs' witnessed her killing on March 16, 2003 by an Israeli Army bulldozer. Dr. Samir Nasrallah, a pharmacist at the largest clinic in Rafah, was one of the first to reach her. The family remained in their home despite the demolition of all 2,200 surrounding homes in their Rafah neighborhood, until it too was destroyed. In May, 2004 their rental apartment, also, was destroyed when the Israeli military's Operation Rainbow razed 117 homes in the Brazil neighborhood of Rafah.

"My extended family and I welcomed the Corries and Rachel's friends and made sure they were never in harm's way," said Dr. Samir Nasrallah. "We are honored to work together to build what Rachel most cared for: peace, friendship, and belief in freedom here and throughout the world."

The two-family Nasrallah home is the first home in the Rachel Corrie Rebuilding Campaign in Gaza, sponsored by Gaza Community Mental Health Programme in partnership with the American nonprofit, The Rebuilding Alliance. Cindy Corrie is a member of the board of directors of the Rebuilding Alliance and Craig is an honorary board member. Their brief stay in Gaza included a meeting with Dr. Eyad El Sarraj, Chair of GCMHP, and site visits to plan the next home in the rebuilding campaign.

"We are thankful that the Corries, Rachel's friends from the Olympia Rafah Sister City Project, the Nasrallah family, and their many friends, neighbors, and supporters are all safe and we sincerely appreciate their resilience and quick thinking," said Donna Baranski-Walker, executive director of the Rebuilding Alliance. "Rebuilding will continue on schedule, as an important way to lend support to Palestinian families as they rebuild their homes and schools despite Israel's continuing Occupation and the violence and uncertainty around them."