Palestine is saddened by the death of the former archbishop of Jerusalem Hilarion Capucci who spent his life serving the national Palestinian cause until he died in exile in Rome.
Both Fatah and Hamas the two major Palestinian parties mourned Capucci who died at the age of 94 a few days ago. Ezzat al-Resheq Hamas political bureau member said “The death of archbishop Capucci is a great loss for the Palestinian people” adding that Capucci had fervently supported the Palestine cause in every possible way.
Who is Capucci?
He was born in in the Syrian city of Aleppo in 1922 and was appointed a bishop to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Jerusalem in 1965 before the Israeli occupation forces arrested him in 1974 on charges of aiding the Palestinian resistance and sentenced him to 12 years in prison.
Capucci spent four years in jail after which he was released with the mediation of the Pope only to be exiled to Rome in 1978.
This was not a reason for Capucci to forsake the Palestinian cause. After he was exiled for smuggling weapons for the Palestinian resistance he continued championing the Palestinian cause all over the world.
Supporting Palestinian resistance
Hilarion Capucci was caught while smuggling weapons for Fatah resistance fighters in his own private car.
After a number of such weapons smuggling operations the Israeli intelligence discovered that the bishop was aiding resistance by smuggling weapons in his own car which led to his arrest while driving his car along with his aide. He was taken along with his car to Maskoubiye detention center where the car was dismantled and a huge amount of weapons was discovered.
Supporting Gaza
Capucci participated in Gaza flotilla convoys to break the siege on the coastal enclave and boarded one of them in 2009 but it was seized by the Israeli navy and all on board were deported to Lebanon.
In May 2010 Capucci was a passenger on the Turkish MV Mavi Marmara in addition to member of the Israeli Knesset Hanin Zoabi. However the Israeli navy intercepted the flotilla and violently attacked the leading ship Mavi Marmara killing ten Turkish activists on board and arresting the others who were then deported.
