Vittorio Arrigoni was an
Italian reporter, writer, pacifist and activist. Arrigoni worked with the pro-Palestinian
International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in the Gaza Strip, died he hung himself, his (body was discovered on this date) he was , 36. Arrigoni maintained a website,
Guerrilla Radio, and published a book of his experiences in Gaza during the 2008–09
Gaza War between
Hamas and
Israel. He was killed by suspected members of a Palestinian
Salafist group in Gaza. The killing was condemned by various Palestinian factions.
(4 February 1975 – 15 April 2011) |
Biography
Arrigoni was born in the town of
Besana in Brianza, near
Milan,
Italy.
[3] He claimed that it was in his blood to fight for freedom as his grandfathers fought against the former fascist regime in Italy. He had the
Arabic word for resistance (
muqawama) tattooed on his right arm. Once he passed his
maturità exams in Italy, he left his hometown of
Bulciago, a small village near lake Como,
[4] and began traveling around the world. In 2002, he visited
Jerusalem which according to his mother was the “moment he understood his work would be concentrated there.” His mother, Egidia Beretta, is the mayor of
Bulciago.
[2]
Political activism
Arrigoni was credited as one of the many activists who revived the
International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a pro-
Palestinian group that works in the
Palestinian territories. In August 2008, he participated in the Free Gaza mission that aimed to break the
Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, in place since June 2007 when
Hamas took power in the territory. He was on the first boat that arrived in the
Port of Gaza,
[3] describing that moment as "one of the happiest and most emotional" of his lifetime.
[5] While volunteering to act as a
human shield for a Palestinian fisherman off Gaza's coast in September 2008, Arrigoni was injured by flying glass after the
Israeli Navy used a water cannon to deter the vessel.
[3][2] In November, he was arrested by Israeli authorities after again acting as a human shield for fishermen off Gaza's coast.
[3]
He returned to Gaza prior to the Israeli military offensive
Operation Cast Lead, which lasted from December 2008 to January 2009. Arrigoni was one of the few foreign journalists in Gaza during the war;
[3] he worked with
Radio Popolare[6] and as reporter for the Italian newspaper
Il manifesto. He later published a book,
Restiamo umani (en:
Gaza, Stay Human), a collection of his reportage from Gaza. It is translated into English, Spanish, German, and French with a preface by Israeli historian
Ilan Pappé.
[7]
Political views
Arrigoni was described as having a "fervent commitment to the Palestinian cause." Arrigoni described the four Palestinians who died in a tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt frontier as "martyrs."
[2] One of his last posts on Guerrilla Radio, which he wrote hours before he was kidnapped and killed, praised Palestinian efforts to smuggle goods into Gaza via underground tunnels as an "invisible battle for survival."
[3]
Arrigoni criticised Muslim extremists for trying to impose a hardline version of Islam in Gaza.
[8] In an interview to
PeaceReporter, he said: "Personally, as an activist for human rights, I don't like Hamas at all. I have something to say to them too: they have deeply limited the human rights since they have won the elections."
[9]
In his website, Guerrilla Radio, and
Facebook page, Arrigoni described the government of Israel as one of the worst apartheid regimes in the world.
[3] He said the Israeli blockade on Gaza was criminal and villainous.
[2]
Praise and criticism
According to
The Guardian's correspondent in Italy, Arrigoni was "first and foremost a pacifist."
[2] Khaleel Shaheen of the
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza, a friend of Arrigoni, described him as a "hero of Palestine".
[10]
A
Jerusalem Post article published shortly after Arrigoni's death assembled various criticisms of Arrigoni. Prof.
Steven Plaut of the
University of Haifa said that Arrigoni's
Facebook page “includes the medieval
blood libel charge that 'Zionists' would arrest Jesus if he were to come back today”. Plaut characterized the page as “a cornucopia of blind hatred”.
[11] Italian parliamentarian
Fiamma Nirenstein, vice president of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in Italy’s Chamber of Deputies and chairwoman of the Committee for the Inquiry into Anti-Semitism, wrote that Arrigoni was a “fan of political
Islamism because he was an enemy of the
Jews”. She further stated that Arrigoni described Zionists as “rats”.
[11] Noah Pollak, executive director of the
Emergency Committee for Israel, wrote that “Arrigoni devoted himself to helping Hamas try to destroy Israel. He was a warmonger, an
anti-Semite and a supporter of the repression of Palestinians under
terrorist rule in Gaza.”
[11]
Kidnapping and death
Arrigoni was kidnapped on April 14, 2011, by suspected members of a Salafi militant group espousing
Salafist jihadism operating in Gaza known as
Tawhid and Jihad.
[5] In a video posted on
YouTube in which they identified themselves as belonging to a previously unknown group, "The Brigade of the Gallant Companion of the Prophet Mohammed bin Muslima,"
[12] Arrigoni was blindfolded with blood seen around his right eye.
[2][13] The captors demanded the release of their leader Walid al-Maqdasi,
[5] imprisoned by the
de facto government in Gaza a month earlier, as a ransom and threatened Arrigoni's execution if a 30-hour deadline was not met. The captors accused Arrigoni of “spreading corruption” and his home country Italy as an “infidel state.”
[2][14]
Execution
For uncertain reasons, before the deadline expired, the captors executed Arrigoni in an empty apartment in the Mareh Amer area in northern Gaza.
[15][16] “It is believed he was either hanged then laid down, or strangled on the ground”.
[8] After being led to the house by a member of the suspected Salafi group, Hamas security forces stormed the building and found Arrigoni's body.
[5] “The doctor who performed the autopsy said Mr. Arrigoni’s killers had used a plastic cord to strangle him”, but “Journalists were not allowed to see the body in the morgue and could not independently confirm the cause of death given by Hamas”
[17] Tawhid and Jihad denied responsibility for the killing, but stated it was “a natural outcome of the policy of the government carried out against the Salafi.” Iyad ash-Shami, a leader of another Salafi group based in Gaza, denied involvement of Salafi militants and said the killing went against
Islam.
[12] Security forces in Gaza arrested four suspects in connection to the incident, and Haniya ordered an investigation by the
Interior Ministry, and called Arrigoni's mother to send his condolences.
[16]
Manhunt
Hamas police initiated a manhunt after members of the Jahafil Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad fi Filastin involved in the murder. Hamas sealed off parts of the Gaza Strip before the beginning of the operation, during which "heavy gunfire and at least one explosion were heard".
[18]
Hamas security men laid siege on a house where the suspects were staying,in the
Nusseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza. The suspects refused to surrender and a gun battle ensued. Hamas policemen entered the home and killed Balal al-Omari and Hirdani Abbad a-Rahman al-Brizat (one of the two dead men may have committed suicide). A third suspect, Muhammad a-Salpiti, was wounded and detained. Three of the suspects' associates were also captured.
Ihab Ghussein, Hamas interior ministry spokesman, reported that five Hamas policemen were injured as well as girl who was caught in the crossfire.
[19][20][18]
Reactions to death
Several hundred Gazans rallied in the
Unknown Soldier's Square to mourn Arrigoni while about 100 Palestinians and internationals marched through
Ramallah to a house of mourning in nearby
al-Bireh in the
West Bank.
[21] In
Bethlehem, a candle-light vigil was held outside the
Church of the Nativity.
[16] Egyptian authorities offered to allow Arrigoni's family to enter Gaza through the
Rafah crossing and his body to be sent back to Italy via the crossing.
[22]
Palestinian response
An official statement from Hamas described the killing as a "disgraceful act" by a "mentally deviated and outlawed group."
[23] Gaza Prime Minister
Ismail Haniya stated the killing "does not reflect the values, morals, or the religion of the Palestinian people. This is an unprecedented case that won't be repeated."
[16] He also said Arrigoni would be designated a
martyr and a street would be named after him.
[22] Foreign minister of Hamas told he will get a state funeral. After this the body will be transferred to Egypt.
[24] Hamas spokesman
Fawzi Barhoum "condemned the killing as 'shameful'.
[25]
Various condemnations of Arrigoni's killing were released by other Palestinian factions with
Fatah decrying it as an "act of betrayal," the
Popular Resistance Committees calling it "cowardly,"
Islamic Jihad calling it a "grotesque crime," and
Mustafa Barghouti saying it was a "shocking criminal act."
[21][23] A spokesman for Palestinian president
Mahmoud Abbas condemned it as an "act of treason".
[23]
International response
The foreign ministry of Italy expressed "deep horror over the barbaric murder," calling it an "act of vile and senseless violence committed by extremists who are indifferent to the value of human life."
[23] UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-Moon pressed the Gaza government to bring to justice "the perpetrators of this appalling crime."
[23]
Blaming Israel
Although Arrigoni was executed by the Gaza branch of the Palestinian Salafist group Jahafil Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad fi Filastin, some blamed Israel for the murder. In spite of the fact that Hamas identified the perpetrators with a Palestinian group affiliated with
al-Qaeda,
[19] Hamas spokesman
Fawzi Barhoum said he suspected Israel might be responsible since the death appeared to be timed to deter foreign activists from joining a flotilla due to sail to Gaza in May to break Israel's naval blockade of the area.
[25]
Mahmoud al-Zahar, a member of the Hamas leadership, indirectly accused Israel of engineering the killing of Arrigoni in an attempt to scare off international activists from coming to Gaza.
[26] He said that "such an awful crime cannot take place without arrangements between all the parties concerned to keep the blockade imposed on Gaza".
[27] Al-Zahar offered no evidence to support his accusation.
[26]
German politician
Inge Höger said that both Arrigoni and Israeli actor
Juliano Mer-Khamis, who was shot dead by masked gunmen in
Jenin eleven days earlier to Arrigoni's murder, were actually killed by Israelis. In her website, Höger wrote that “The question one must pose is: Who profits from this terrible crime? First of all, now two of the activists most 'dangerous' for Israel, because they were the most engaged, well known and noted, are eliminated.” Based on this and other statements Höger was denounced as an antisemite by a fellow politician and the
Die Welt daily newspaper.
[28]
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