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Thirty six year old Italian activist and journalist Vittorio Arrigoni was killed in Gaza last week. Arrigoni had been living in Gaza since 2008 when he entered the besieged territory by boat on the Free Gaza flotilla. He had been apparently kidnapped by an extremist organization that was demanding from Hamas, the release of their leader from detention. The group gave authorities a deadline of 30 hours after releasing a video of a bruised and beaten Vittorio, but then strangled him to death before the 30 hours were up. A large gathering of Palestinians marched in a symbolic procession along with the Italian activist’s body as it was transported from a morgue to an ambulance that would take it to Egypt, from where it would then be transferred to Italy for a funeral. Vittorio, known to his friends as Vik, was beloved by many Palestinians who were devastated by the kidnapping and murder. He was active with the International Solidarity Movement – a group of activists from around the world working in solidarity for Palestinian rights. His death came just weeks after the shooting death of Israeli Arab actor and political activist Juliano Mer Khamis was killed by so-called “masked militants” in Jenin where he ran the Freedom Theater. Mer Khamis was the son of an Israeli Jewish mother and a Palestinian Christian father. He death was also mourned by many Palestinians.

GUEST: Huwaida Arraf, Chair of the Free Gaza Movement, co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement, friend of Vittorio Arrigoni

Find out more at www.freegaza.org.

Watch a video of Palestinians mourning Vittorio Arrigoni’s death in Gaza:

Untitled from Mohammed Al Majdalawi on Vimeo.