OLYMPIA – When 23-year-old Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer, she was protesting the impending demolition of a Palestinian home.

More than two years later, Craig and Cindy Corrie say they are trying to carry on their daughter’s work.

“Rachel, when she was in Gaza, wrote to us about her own thinking in terms of making a commitment to that place,” Cindy Corrie said. “She didn’t want to feel guilty when she left, knowing that she could come and go as she pleased. When she was killed, those words resonated with us, and they continue to resonate with me.”

In a bid to raise money to rebuild the bulldozed house and others nearby, the Corries have started a seven-state tour with Khaled and Samah Nasrallah – one of two Palestinian families who lived in the house Rachel died protecting.

On Friday, the tour comes to Rachel’s hometown of Olympia – where black and white photos of her with the word “Peacemaker” hang from cafe windows and where a scholarship has been created in her name at her alma mater, The Evergreen State College.

An Israeli army investigation concluded that Corrie’s death was accidental. Officials have said the driver of the machine could not see the woman – a claim activists have fiercely disputed and her parents are challenging.

When their youngest child died, Craig was an actuary nearing retirement; Cindy was a flutist and vocalist.

While they considered themselves socially involved – they had participated in a protest of the impending Iraq war just the day before her death – Cindy Corrie said they had never considered themselves political activists.

“It was a quiet time in our lives,” she told the Associated Press this week.

Their lives have been anything but quiet since their daughter’s death.

They travel the country to talk about their daughter and her social causes, and the Corries have taken an active role in Palestinian issues. About a year ago, they joined up with The Rebuilding Alliance, an organization that helps rebuild Palestinian homes and schools.

In March, the Corries sued Caterpillar Inc., the company that made the bulldozer that ran over their daughter, arguing that Caterpillar violated international and state law by providing specially designed bulldozers to Israeli Defense Forces, knowing the machines would be used to demolish homes and endanger people.

When the lawsuit was filed Caterpillar issued a statement expressing concern over Middle East unrest, but said, “We have neither the legal right nor the means to police individual use of that equipment.”

The Corries are also pursuing separate claims in Israel against the state of Israel, the Israeli Defense Ministry and the Israeli Defense Forces.

In the past four years, Israel has used Caterpillar bulldozers to topple more than 4,000 Palestinian homes, killing and injuring people in the process, according to the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights.

Nasrallah said he wanted to tour the United States with the Corries in honor of Rachel, and to help rebuild 3,400 other homes in the Gaza strip.

“I felt the idea of rebuilding homes is rebuilding hope for living in peace,” he said.