Jeff Halper, the coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) wrote a tribute to Vittorio Arrigoni, murdered in Gaza yesterday, and with whom Jeff apparently sailed to Gaza on the first Free Gaza expedition by sea from Cyprus in August 2008.
Jeff wrote that: “Less than two weeks after losing another friend and comrade, Juliano Mer-Khamis, I have to mourn and remember my fellow Free Gaza shipmate Vittorio (Vik) Arrigoni, who was brutally murdered last night by religious extremists in Gaza (and who actually resembled Juliano, physically, in his buoyant personality and in his insistence on “being there” when the oppressed needed him).
Vik was truly a person greater than life. He was so filled with energy, a mixture of joy, camaraderie and impatience with the confines of boats and prisons like Gaza, that he would suddenly lift you into the air, or wrestle with you – he was a big, strong, handsome guy, ebullient and smiling even in the most oppressive and dangerous situations – as if to tell you: Yaala! These Israel naval ships shooting at us and the Palestinian fisherman cannot prevail over our solidarity, outrage and the justice of our cause! (Vik was wounded in one of those confrontations).
He would come up behind you and say: The Occupation will fall just like this! (and he would wrestle you to the ground, laughing and playing with you as he did).
Vik, who like me received Palestinian citizenship and a passport when we broke the siege of Gaza and sailed into Gaza port in August, 2008, was a peace-maker exemplar.
Though having a family in Italy, he cast his lot with the Palestinians (with his whole heart, as was his wont. On his facebook page is written: ‘lives in Gaza’). He was especially known for accompanying the fishermen as they tried to ply their trade despite almost daily shootings at them from the Israeli navy, who confined them to the fished-out, sewage-filled waters near the Gaza coast. At least eighteen fishermen have been killed in the past decade, about 200 injured, many boats wrecked and much equipment ruined. But he was intimately involved wherever he was needed in Gaza, among the farmers as well as traumatized children, in times of distress – his book, Gaza: Stay Human, documents his experiences among the people during Israel’s three-week attack in 2008-09 – and simply being with the people in their coffee shops and homes…
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Vik worked in the West Bank as well as Gaza, and was jailed three times before being expelled by Israel. But his peace work did not take the form of activism alone. Vik was a master of communication – physical, verbal, written (his blog, Guerrilla Radio, was one of the most popular in Italy) – and he mixed personal experiences, reportage and analysis effortlessly.
Vik was what we call a ‘witness’: someone who put himself physically with the oppressed and shared with them their triumphs, tragedies, sufferings and hopes. Yet he was one who through his actions tried to affect genuine change. He, like Juliano, Rachel [Corrie] and so many others who have sacrificed themselves for peace and justice in Palestine and the world over…”
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Commission for Human Rights (PCHR) based in Gaza put out a statement pinning the blame for Vittorio’s murder squarely on the kidnappers, saying: “On Friday morning, 15 April 2011, Vittorio’s body was found in an abandoned house in the north of the Gaza Strip, following his murder at the hands of kidnappers. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), and its entire staff, gravely condemns this crime, which targets our inherent human dignity, and the values and traditions of the lawful struggle for freedom and justice. It is this human struggle which connects Gazan’s – locked behind the closed door of the Gaza Strip – with the outside world, and inspires countless individuals to stand as human rights defenders. PCHR calls upon the government in Gaza to prosecute the perpetrators. Furthermore, all necessary measures must be taken to secure the safety of international activists in the Gaza Strip.
According to investigations conducted by PCHR, on Thursday evening, 14 April 2011, a group named ‘Group of the Companion Mohammed Bin Maslamah’ announced the kidnapping of the Italian journalist, Vittorio Arrigoni, 36, a prominent member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and a human rights defender.
In a video posted on the Youtube website, the group demanded the release of detained members of the group, affiliates of the so-called ‘Salafist Jihadist Group’. The kidnappers threatened to kill Arrigoni if the government in Gaza did not meet their demands within 30 hours.
In a grave development, contrary to fundamental values shared by all Palestinians, the group carried out their threat. On Friday morning, 15 April 2011, security services found the body of Arrigoni in a house located in the ‘Amer project area, west of al-Karamah building in the west of Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip.
In his testimony, a PCHR staff-member reported signs of beating on the victim’s face, signs of handcuffs on his hands, and signs of strangulation around his neck.
The Ministry of Interior in Gaza issued a press release on Friday, condemning this heinous crime. It declared the arrest of two members of the group and the continued search for others.
Arrigoni had worked in Gaza since 2008, when he arrived on board the ‘Free Gaza flotilla, organized to break the closure imposed on the Gaza Strip. He devoted himself to the defense of Palestinians’ rights, and participated in a number of activities against the closure, against violations committed by Israeli Forces against Palestinian civilians, particularly fishermen, and against the Israeli decision to impose a ‘buffer zone’ in the Gaza Strip. He was arrested by Israel forces on 18 November 2008, while he was accompanying a number of fishermen off the shores of Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip. However, he returned to Gaza a few months later via Rafah International Crossing. Arrigoni was also in the West Bank for a few years before coming to Gaza. He has been known for his activity with the International Solidarity Movement”….
Israel and Palestinian is a very long conflict both sides sit together and have a peace talks then they can find a good solution for this problem but this situation has to be changed. If this fighting continuous among them it will not only effect in that region but also this can effect on allover the world.