Body of kidnapped Italian peace activist Vittorio Arrigoni found in Gaza

 

Vittorio Arrigoni in Gaza in 2008. The pro-Palestinian activist has reportedly been killed by Islamic militants. Photograph: Suhaib Salem/Reuters

 

An Italian pro-Palestinian activist has reportedly been kidnapped and killed by Islamic militants in Gaza.
The body of Vittorio Arrigoni was found in an abandoned house in the Gaza Strip on Friday following his abduction by militants, a Hamas official said.
Two men were arrested and others were being sought in the killing, the official added.
A Jihadist Salafi group in the Gaza Strip aligned with al-Qaida had threatened to execute Arrigoni by 5pm local time on Thursday unless their leader, whom Hamas arrested last month, was freed.
"A security force entered a house and they found the Italian's man body, he is dead," the source told Reuters from the scene.
Arrigoni, a pacifist and blogger, had lived in the Gaza Strip for some time.
In a YouTube clip posted by his abductors, he was shown blindfolded with blood around his right eye and a hand can be seen pulling his head up by his hair to face the camera.
The accompanying Arabic text said: "The Italian hostage entered our land only to spread corruption." It described Italy as "the infidel state".
The body was found dressed in black clothes as he appeared in the video clip, a witness said. No blood was seen, which suggested he may have been strangled or hanged.
Arrigoni was the first foreign national to be abducted in the Gaza Strip since BBC journalist Alan Johnston, who was held for 114 days by an al Qaeda-inspired clan group named the Army of Islam. He was released in 2007.
Arrigoni arrived in the Gaza Strip on a boat bringing humanitarian supplies in 2008 that Israel, which enforces a blockade on the tiny coastal territory, allowed into Gaza port.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/15/gaza-threaten-execute-vittorio-arrigoni

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A TRIBUTE FROM A FRIEND

Humanity mourns. We are shocked. Juliano Mer-Khamis, a friend and fellow peace activist, was murdered in Jenin. The masked killer/s whoever they were were cowards whose madness will not deter those of us who continue to work for justice and peace for all. If they thought they could kill coexistence and love in the holy land by killing a symbol and a great activist, they are mistaken. Juliano symbolizes what many of us have worked for: a transformation of our homeland into a pluralistic democratic state where every human being regardless of his religion (Jewish, Christian, Muslim) would be treated with dignity and respect. Fundamentalist notions of superiority were at odds with this message. His killers will not get their way and justice will prevail. But Juliano’s loss is a shock to all of us.

Juliano was a superb human being who embodied the best qualities of activism and dedicated leadership for human rights, justice and peace. He was my age and I first met him a few years ago when we brought him for the Connecticut screening of the film Arna’s children, the story of his mother and the Children of Jenin Refugee camp. On numerous occasions over the past few years I visited Jenin Freedom Theater that Juliano cofounded and that injected so much beauty and hope into the lives of the people at Jenin Refugee Camp. See: http://www.thefreedomtheatre.org/

Juliano took the characters of compassion and caring of his Israeli Jewish mother (she herself worked to challenge Zionist supremacy and fundamentalist idiocies for decades) and gentile love of land and people and pacifist characters of his Palestinian father. He exemplified everything that I and millions of others aspired to: coexistence, tolerance, nonviolence, peace, love, passion for life, richness in diversity and so much more. He had a two year old child and his wife as I knew was pregnant or may have just delivered their second child. His absence will be felt but I for one will work to ensure that his work continues and accelerates. The best answer to violence is to intensify our work and build on the vision thus never allowing these forces of hate to destroy the future. As to who killed Juliano: all humans are guilty.. our inability to rise as a species beyond violence is largely due to our apathy and indifference to the suffering of fellow human beings. It is telling that many political leaders (from Hamas, Fatah, Israeli leaders) remain silent on the murder of Juliano when they so readily spoke at other convenient political junctures. Those who are apathetic are just as guilty as those fundamentalist racists who ordered this killing or pulled the trigger to shoot fellow human beings. I for one will have a lot of pain in my heart for Juliano, for Bassem, for Jawaher, for Rachel and all the other friends we lost along the way. We must make sure that their murders do not go in vain and the best thing we can do is increase our efforts to continue the path and bring others to this path. Killers must know that 10 will rise in place for every peace activist they kill. Those of us active in the same cause of coexistence and peace must intensify our work.

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m76569&hd=&size=1&l=e

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