Vittorio Arrigoni, "hero of Palestine", his Mother, and Alice Walker

http://electronicintifada.net/content/vittorio-arrigoni-hero-palestine/9307

Vittorio Arrigoni, "hero of Palestine"

The Electronic Intifada

15 April 2011

Vittorio Arrigoni in Gaza, June 2010. (Lu Yingxu/Newscom)

Palestinians and international solidarity activists around the world are collectively mourning the shocking death of Vittorio Arrigoni, an Italian journalist and solidarity activist. Arrigoni was also an occasional contributor to The Electronic Intifada (see “Gaza’s record-breaking children,” 16 August 2010 and “No words to console Gaza child after mother is killed by Israeli shelling,” 26 July 2010).

Arrigoni, 36, was found dead early this morning in Gaza City, hours after a video of him blindfolded and apparently beaten had surfaced on the Internet. In the video, his captors threaten to execute Arrigoni unless the Hamas government in Gaza released the little-known group’s imprisoned leader.

Arrigoni was the first foreign national known to be kidnapped in Gaza since Hamas began administering the territory four years ago. Previously, there had been a number of kidnappings of journalists, international aid workers and other visitors to Gaza, all eventually released. BBC reporter Alan Johnston was the most high-profile and longest-held captive, held for 114 days by the Dughmush clan, which some observers say have operated opportunistically and criminally under the guise of Islamic piety.

While the identities of Arrigoni’s kidnappers and those responsible for his death and the reasons why they killed him are murky, Arrigoni himself was well-known and admired by those with whom he worked in solidarity with the Palestinian people. He first arrived to Palestine in 2002, his mother, Egidia Beretta, told the Italian news agency ANSA (“Hamas says it found body of Italian activist,” The New York Times, 15 April 2011).

Arrigoni was involved with the International Solidarity Movement, and had last entered Gaza in 2009 during one of the efforts to break the siege on Gaza by boat. Arrigoni was among a handful of international activists present during Israel’s winter 2008-09 attacks on the Gaza Strip, volunteering with the Palestine Red Crescent Society’s emergency medical worker teams, despite the very dangerous conditions they faced. He was frequently interviewed by Italian media during the three weeks of bombardment, as Israel had banned journalists from entering the Gaza Strip. His daily dispatches during those three weeks, during which 1,400 Palestinians were killed, the vast majority civilians, were published in 2010 in a book titled Gaza: Stay Human, translated into English by Daniela Filippin and with an introduction by Israeli historian and dissident Ilan Pappe.

Arrigoni had been injured and arrested several times by the Israeli military. According to the International Solidarity Movement, Arrigoni was injured when the Israeli navy fired a water cannon at Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of Gaza. Palestinian fishermen have been repeatedly attacked — and sometimes killed — as Israel has imposed tight restrictions on how far out to sea Palestinians are allowed to fish (“ISM Rafah: Italian activist injured by Israeli navy off Gaza coast,” 16 September 2008).

A month later, Arrigoni was kidnapped along with 15 Palestinian fishermen and three accompanying international activists, from Palestinian waters. According to an International Solidarity Movement activist writing on her blog, “At the time of his abduction, he was electrically shocked while peacefully avoiding abduction by diving into Gaza’s cold waters” (“Vik: a friend, a brother, a humanist,” 15 April 2011).

Arrigoni, known as “Vik” by many, was also a familiar face in the refugee camps in Lebanon. He was one of a trickle of international solidarity activists who volunteered in Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon, which was destroyed during and after fighting between the Lebanese army and a fundamentalist group in 2007.

Arrigoni was long involved in human rights issues. The deputy mayor of Bulciago, Arrigoni’s hometown north of Milan, said that the activist “had worked in Eastern Europe and Africa before embracing the Palestinian cause” (“Hamas says it found body of Italian activist,” The New York Times, 15 April 2011).

The murder of Arrigoni comes just days after the assassination of Palestinian cultural figure Juliano Mer-Khamis, who was murdered by an unknown assailant outside of the Jenin Freedom Theatre, which he helped re-establish in the occupied West Bank refugee camp. Mer-Khamis’ killing, like that of Arrigoni, sent waves of shock throughout the Palestinian and solidarity communities.

Palestinian factions including the Hamas government in Gaza, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, the Palestinian People’s Party and the Popular Resistance Committees, all condemned the kidnapping and murder of Arrigoni (“Palestinian factions denounce murder of Italian activist,” Ma’an News Agency, 15 April 2011).

Arrigoni’s death also comes after a week of Israeli military attacks on the Gaza Strip, which claimed the lives of nearly twenty Palestinians.

In a press release distributed by the International Solidarity Movement and the Free Gaza Movement, before it was learned that Arrigoni had been killed, Khalil Shaheen — a friend of Arrigoni with the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights — said “Vittorio Arrigoni is a hero of Palestine” (“Palestinians call for release of Italian activist kidnapped in Gaza,” 14 April 2011).

Vigils and gatherings to mourn Arrigoni were ongoing in Gaza City, and in the occupied West Bank cities of Bethlehem and Ramallah at the time of publication. Similar actions were being organized in London and other international cities.

From: The RAIN Newsletter  (18-4-11)

http://www.imemc.org/article/61083

 

Mother of Slain Italian Activist to Sail to Gaza, Flotilla Change Name in Honor of Vittorio Arrigoni,

Palestine News Network    

Monday April 18, 2011 13:25 

 

Agidea Prata, the mother of Vittorio Arrigoni, the Italian activist and journalist killed in Gaza on Friday, said that she will be sailing to Gaza on May with the Free Gaza flotilla.

 

Prata on Saturday told Italian news sources that “I want to see Gaza that my son loved and sacrificed for, I want to meet the good people living there that my son Vik always talked about”. She added that Vittorio work will go on though his friends.

 

 Vittorio’s mother added that her son received death threats from a right wing American group on their website two years ago because of his photos published online and the pro Palestinian tattoo he has on his shoulder.

 

 Vittorio first came to Gaza with the Free Gaza folitial in 2008 and used to live in a single bedroom house near Gaza City coastline until he was kidnapped and murdered by a radical Salafists group calling itself Mohamed Bin-Mosliemah brigades.

 

 Also on Saturday organizers of the Free Gaza flotilla announced that next voyage to Gaza will be named “ Freedom Flotilla – Stay Human” in Honor of Vittorio Arrigoni.

 

 “The murder of human rights activist, Vittorio Arrigoni, is a tragedy for his family, for those of us who knew him, and for the Palestinians who loved and admired him. The Steering Committee of Freedom Flotilla 2 condemns this senseless murder and the people who are behind it. They took the life of one of the most passionate supporters of justice for Palestine. This murder is damaging to the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice as well as our work in support of that struggle.” The group said on their website.

 

 Adding that ““Stay Human he would say, then grin and clench his pipe in his teeth. We will do our best, Vik, to carry on the work you have done. The flotilla will return to Gaza in your honor.”

 

 According to the Free Gaza Movement the group will send a new flotilla to Gaza on May. Last year on May 30th Israeli navy attacked the freedom flotilla boats while sailing in international water to Gaza killing 9 aid workers and injuring 54.

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=379915

Alice Walker joins Palestinian Festival of Literature

Ma'an:  Monday April 18, 2011 

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Organizers of the Palestine Festival of Literature on Monday announced a last-minute addition to the program, revealing that Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker would join the festival tour for its last legs in Ramallah and Jerusalem.

 

The festival brings renowned Palestinian and international authors together for readings, workshops and panel discussions in locations across the West Bank, this year traveling to Jerusalem, Nazareth, Nablus, Jenin, Bethlehem, Ramallah and Hebron.

 

Walker, in the region to speak at the first ever TEDx talks in Bethlehem, was invited to join the tour and will be on the panel in Ramallah for Writing Auto/Biography: Palestine & Beyond.

 

Active in the region for some time, Walker is a member of CodePink, a women's activist group which delivered aid to Gaza in May 2009. She wrote of the visit:

 

"Rolling into Gaza I had a feeling of homecoming. There is a flavor to the ghetto. To the Bantustan. To the 'rez.' To the 'colored section.' In some ways it is surprisingly comforting. Because consciousness is comforting. Everyone you see has an awareness of struggle, of resistance, just as you do."

 

Commenting on Walker's decision to join on to the tour, PalFest founder and author Ahdaf Soueif said she hoped that through the simultaneous hosting of TEDx and PalFest "we can reflect the vibrancy and diversity of Palestine's cultural scene."

 

The festival of literature moves throughout the West Bank in order to provide access to Palestinians unable to move easily between cities. Israeli checkpoints between Palestinian cities continue to make movement around the West Bank slow and difficult. Shows in Jerusalem and cities inside Israel remain inaccessible for most West Bank residents.