In Gaza

excerpts from Lauren Booth on the killing of Vik:

The killing of Vittorio (Vik) Arrigoni in Gaza this week follows (too) closely, the murder of pro-Palestinian peace activist Juliano Mer Khamis in the West Bank. Juliano, 52, was shot dead outside the Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee Camp on the West Bank on the 4th April. continues

By Eva Bartlett published at Rabble.ca

a big hug
stay human
Your Vik

This is how Vittorio “Vik” Arrigoni always signed off in his emails.
The 36-year-old Italian, my colleague and inspiring friend, was murdered Friday by a group claiming to be Jihadists in Gaza. post continues

For a while, Vik had a favourite taxi driver in Gaza City: Abu Mahmoud. Vik would call abu M when he wanted to go somewhere within the city. Abu M would pull up in his beaten-up taxi, way past its working days ( a personal car, as most “taxis” are in Gaza) and drive Vik off.

A few times, some of us joined Vik at a local outdoor cafe, to drink coffee or lemonade, smoke Shisha, and type away on our laptops (wi-fi).

Abu Ms taxi was unique, certainly not in its run-downedness, but in its glowing heart. Vik was entraced by it, so was I. post continues

He was hung.

I first heard of Vik before arriving in Gaza. Vik had just been injured by IOF water canoning which shattered the windows of the fishing boat he was accompanying. Vik had some injuries from the shattered glass.

When I met Vik he was nothing but humble and humour. A compassionate man, living to do good and do anything for Palestinian justice. Others knew him better and longer, and told me of Viks arrests by the IOF, deportation, and other interesting stories. But above all, what shone, aside from his sometimes indecipherable English and random Italian curses, was his humanism. post continues

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT
FREE GAZA MOVEMENT
For Immediate Release

[April 14, 2001] Today, our friend and colleague, Vittorio Arrigoni, a journalist and human rights defender working in the Gaza Strip, was kidnapped by Salafists, members of a very small extremist group in Gaza.

Vittorio has been active in the Palestine cause for almost 10 years. For the past two and a half years, he has been in Gaza with the International Solidarity Movement, monitoring human rights violations by Israel, supporting the Palestinian popular resistance against the Israeli occupation and disseminating information about the situation in Gaza to his home country of Italy. He was aboard the siege-breaking voyage in 2008 with the Free Gaza Movement and was incarcerated in Israeli prisons several times. He was in Gaza throughout Israel’s brutal assault (Operation Cast Lead), assisting medics and reporting to the world what Israel was doing to the Palestinian people. He has been arrested numerous times by Israeli forces for his participation in Palestinian non-violent resistance in the West Bank and Gaza. His last arrest and deportation from the area was a result of the Israeli confiscation of Palestinian fishing vessels in Gazan territorial waters. post continues