Peace and Justice Post

The abduction and murder of Italian Palestine solidarity activist Vittorio Arrigoni (pictured) in Gaza comes as a shock to the entire Palestine solidarity movement and its many supporters around the world. It will also come as a shock to the vast majority of Palestinians themselves, especially as the bonds of solidarity that have been forged between them and the countless thousands of volunteers, delegations and activists who’ve travelled to and struggled alongside them over many long years are strong and unbreakable.

At any given time hundreds of volunteers, solidarity activists, and aid workers from all over the world live and work in both the West Bank and Gaza alongside the Palestinian people and are regarded as brothers and sisters in struggle by the vast majority they come into contact with. From this country alone in recent years five aid convoys have been organised and travelled to Gaza under the auspices of the Viva Palestina pro-Palestinian charitable organisation. Each has successfully broken the siege and been met with open arms by the authorities and the people of Gaza alike. However, we should not kid ourselves. In the conditions of a six year long unremitting siege, which it is worth recalling is an act of collective punishment in violation of international law, of which there is still no end in sight, and with the international community still as yet refusing to intercede in any meaningful way to end the suffering of the 1.5 million men, women and children who are impacted daily, it is inevitable that extreme views and actions will result. Indeed, given the conditions described, it should come as a surprise that there have been remarkably few incidents of cruelty such as the one committed in the case of Vittorio Arrigoni.

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