Aboriginal News Group concerned over death of Italian

Aboriginal News Group expresses concern over death of Italian activist

For Immediate Release

Issued: 04.16.2011 [Revised:04.17.2011]

With immense remorse, the Aboriginal News Group (ANG) offers its condolences to the family, friends and associates of Vittorio Arrigoni and we condemn, without reservation, his slaying by extremists in the northern Gaza Strip.

A descendant of Italian World War Two anti-Fascist partisans, Arrigoni, 36, had lived in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since 2008 and had dedicated his life to the struggle for Indigenous Palestinian rights. He had participated in numerous protest actions against the economic blockade, anti-Arab Israeli racism and the state-sponsored violence levied against Indigenous Arab civilians by the Israeli Defense Forces.

In short, he had actively and fully supported the Palestinian people and their struggle for national, territorial and cultural survival and independence. His loyalty to a liberated Palestine and his love for the people of the region is beyond question and he will be sorely missed by the Palestinians who knew and worked with him.

So we must ask, why? Why would a group of supposed Palestinian nationalists forcibly detain, torture and eventually kill one of their most committed foreign supporters?

The amoral thoughtlessness of this crime is further magnified by the apparent Machiavellian rationalisations behind this act of unforgivable brutality. The gang, who announced their ‘rendition’ of the activist in a video posted to YouTube, were planning to use Arrigoni as a bargaining tool in order to force the Hamas government to release members of another extremist group they have in custody.

The gang threatened to execute Arrigoni if the government in Gaza did not meet their demands within 30 hours. Earlier than expected, the gang carried out its awful threat. And a people died emotionally along with their victim. The news of his death affected Palestinians across the world. And now, even across religious boundaries, the Palestinian community is unified in their grief over the death of Vittorio Arrigoni and we at the ANG stand among them.

Gaza officials, ministry representatives and human rights organisations have issued press releases condemning this killing as a great loss to the Palestinian and international communities and a roadblock to peaceful resolution in the struggle. Hamas authorities have announced the apprehension of suspects and promise further action as their investigation continues.

But one questions remains unanswered, can international activists work safely in Occupied Palestine? Vittorio Arrigoni was a member of the International Solidarity Movement, (ISM) a collective committed to peaceful resolution and co-operative politics which respect cultural dignity and the best traditions of non-violent struggle. He was not part of the armed resistance against the State of Israel nor was he a violent political agitator seeking to sow confusion and disruption amongst the Palestinian population. He was simply an activist trying to help other people. In this case, a people facing a genocide the world community tries its best to pretend isn't happening.

It may be some time before we fully understand why this particular pacifist-activist was chosen be sacrificed and the underlying political forces involved, but it is abundantly clear that the dynamics underscoring international support for the Palestinian struggle have changed forever. Not only do international human rights activists and workers face the risk of injury or violent death at the hands of the Israeli military, but now also at the hands of radical and criminal elements buried deep within the very populations and causes these peaceful activists are supporting. And while Israel's propaganda machine may wish to identify this an example of Palestinian Arab inhumanity, it is really a reflection of Israel's own internal policies of ethnic discrimination and Indigenous depopulation which are at fault here. The ugly reality of Intra-Palestinian violence is a direct result of the colonial situation and it is time that Israel accepts responsibility for the environment it has sown in Arab Palestine.

Not enough is known about this case yet to make definitive statements, but it remains to be said that the kidnapping, torture and execution of civilians in the name of a political, theological or economic cause is wrong. It is wrong when small bands of ideologically dim-witted thugs do so in the name of anti-imperialism and it is equally wrong when governments and corporate brigands do so in the name of democracy and the free market. Rampant violence and wilful disregard for civil and human rights cannot be excused as incidental errors in judgement within a sane and civilised, internationalist society. And it is no longer chic to define such brutalities as simply ‘politics by other means’.

The endless cycle of violence on all sides of the ethnic-conflict in Occupied Palestine has to stop. The State of Israel can end the conflict overnight by simply adhering to black-letter international law, nothing more, nothing less. And as more international activists continue to die in selfless service to the principle of universal human rights in Occupied Palestine, the moral authority of the international community dissipates one more degree into oblivion with each new fatality.

Vittorio Arrigoni is a victim of the world’s xenophobic inability to peer beyond the hasbara and view the Indigenous people of Palestine as real human beings equally deserving of the very same rights to existence and dignity as everyone else in the world. And if there is moral blame to be dished out, the Zionist state cannot be excluded from its responsibility for this atrocity. In the final estimation, it is Israel that is ultimately responsible for the death of Vittorio Arrigoni and all the other unnecessary losses of civilian life in Occupied Palestine from 1947 onward. And we refute any debate that entertains the suggestion that the State of Israel does not have the power to end this madness. All the government of Israel need do is recognise the human right of Palestinians to exist as a people and as a nation and the crisis shall end once and for all.

By purposefully engendering a climate of endless psychological desperation designed to utterly demoralise and disintegrate the Indigenous population, Israel in effect has created social conditions that are ripe for pointless, indiscriminate violence. And it is now clear that absolutely no one is safe in Occupied Palestine. Including the international activist community. And if Israel and its vociferous supporters were at all serious about peace and ‘stability’, they would end their occupation and negotiate for a sustainable and fair resolution to the situation.

To date they have refused to do so and instead continue to hold fast to the Euro-Colonial model which itself is not sustainable without the threat of overwhelming and incessant violence. Which in turn can, and will, manifest into Indigenous Arab cultural self-destruction. The true aim of the Zionist anti-Arab programme is the elimination of the Indigenous population. And perhaps this is just one of the many factors behind why a peaceful and dedicated pro-Palestinian activist could be singled out for such abuse by the very people he was working to protect. Vittorio Arrigoni is a hero and he is also victim, an unfortunate soul caught up in a world that does not make any sense when it is filtered through a prism of pointless, race-based anger, pent-up aggravation and fear.

May his passing not be in vain.

The ANG also wishes to commend the incredible discipline and dedication of the international activists and human rights workers that have decided to remain in the Occupied Palestinian territories despite the obvious dangers and uncertainties. And we call upon the conscious peoples of the international community to condemn this atrocity as well as the inhumane religious, economic and political conditions that make such destructiveness possible. Please organise in your region for a non-violent resolution to this conflict and support all peaceful activities aimed at ending the endless cycle of violence in Occupied Palestine.

If for nothing else, do it for Vittorio Arrigoni.

For additional information about this release, visit: http://aboriginalnewsgroup.blogspot.com/

ENDS

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