Souzan Fatayer

Souzan Fatayer
سوزان فطاير
Fatayer in 2005
Born
Souzan Ezz Fatayer

(1965-01-01) 1 January 1965
Nablus, West Bank
(then part of Jordan)
Other namesSusan
Citizenship
  • Italy
  • Jordan
Alma materUniversity of Naples Federico II
Occupations
  • Translator
  • interpreter
  • academic
  • activist
Employers
Political partyAVS

Souzan Ezz "Susan" Fatayer[1][2] (Arabic: سوزان عز فطاير, romanized: Sūzān ʿIzz Faṭāyir; born 1 January 1965)[2] is a Palestinian-Italian translator, interpreter, academic and activist.

Early life and education

Fatayer was born in Nablus, West Bank,[2][3] to a Palestinian father and an Italian mother from Abruzzo[4][5] who had met in Brazil, and was raised in her birth city. In 1984, she moved to Naples, Italy,[5] where she graduated in Economics and Business at the Federico II University and then devoted herself to archival practices for historical documentation.[3][5]

Career and activism

Fatayer has worked in several fields, including as a cultural mediator – chiefly in hospitals[6][7] – and lecturer on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict,[3] focusing on her personal experience with Israel's human rights violations against Palestinians[4][8] and more recently on the Gaza war.[6][7][9] As part of the Naples-based Fondazione Mediterraneo, Fatayer was a mediator during an official visit to Rome by the President of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat in June 1998.[10] In 2002, she was part of the first trip to Nablus by a municipal delegation from Naples, which set the ground for a twinning relation between the cities beginning the following year.[11]

She has been an expert collaborator of Arabic language at the University of Naples "L'Orientale" since 2013[5][12][13] and the University of Macerata since 2008, and also briefly worked at the universities of Florence[14] and Venice.

Fatayer is also active in social and humanitarian initiatives. Among her activities, she has been involved with Women in Black, as well as with a project to treat Palestinian and Iraqi children with heart conditions, coordinated between the regional authorities of Campania, the Palestinian Medical Relief Society and the Red Cross. For her efforts, she was awarded the prizes Una donna per la pace ("A Woman for Peace") by the municipality of Naples in 2003[3][12][13] and Campania per la pace e i diritti umani ("Campania for Peace and Human Rights") by the region in 2005.[12]

In June 2024, Fatayer was one of the Greens and Left Alliance (AVS) candidates in the European Parliament election for Southern Italy,[2][12][13] ultimately coming third in her list with 23,532 votes and failing to be elected.[5] She later unsuccessfully run for a seat in the regional council of Campania during the November 2025 regional election, also with AVS.[6][15][16]

Controversy

Fatayer's candidacy in the 2024 European elections received criticism from opponents, particularly Brothers of Italy (FdI), for her outspokenness about abuses by the IDF and for comparing Zionists to Nazis, which led some FdI members to define her as an antisemite.[17][18]

On the occasion of the 2025 regional elections, she was again the object of critical and offensive remarks, with journalist Paolo Mieli calling her "overweight" – in contrast with the victims of the Gaza Strip famine – and claiming that she "glorifies Hamas" on a Radio 24 broadcast. Several AVS members, including senator Peppe De Cristofaro, as well as trade union CGIL, variously denounced Mieli's words as a form of bodyshaming, racism, sexism or genocide denial; Fatayer herself found the comments sexist and said that he should be suspended from his professional order.[6][7][19] The following day, Mieli apologized for "making inappropriate irony" and for misrepresenting her campaign.[19] Fatayer was also criticized by newspaper Il Tempo for sharing a video from a Facebook page in which former Israeli ambassador to Italy Dror Eydar invoked the "need to destroy Gaza"; the post's caption expressed regret for "Hitler's incomplete mission". The director of the Jewish Brigade Museum in Milan demanded that her party withdraw her from its electoral lists; AVS leader Angelo Bonelli commented that, while the official lists were yet to be published, the words in the post were not Fatayer's and she might have overlooked them before sharing it.[20]

The day before the election, Fatayer lamented that her private address had been published on social media platform TikTok, fearing potential harm for herself or her family. Her party expressed solidarity towards her, denouncing "incitement" and a "climate of hatred".[16][21]

Bibliography

  • "Ala Abu Dheer, Brūšīdā, marra uḫrā (Procida nuovamente)". Orientalia Parthenopea (in Italian). XIV: 101–106. 2014. ISSN 1972-3598.
  • "Madre mia, O amore passionale del poeta Ṭalʿat Suqayriq". Archivi di studi indo-mediterranei (in Italian). VI. 2016. ISSN 2279-8803.
  • With Ruocco, Monica; D'Anna, Luca (2022). Comunicare in arabo – هيّا بنا!. Studi orientali (in Italian and Arabic). Vol. I. Milan: Hoepli. ISBN 978-88-360-9910-8.
  • With Ruocco, Monica; Potenza, Daniela; Eid, Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Hussein (2023). Comunicare in arabo – هيّا بنا!. Studi orientali (in Italian and Arabic). Vol. II. Milan: Hoepli. ISBN 978-88-203-9913-9.
  • La tregua – Il commovente pensiero del poeta e critico palestinese Akram Assorani (1982–) (in Italian). 19 January 2025.
  • Translations for Nicosia, Aldo, ed. (2025). Ho ancora le mani per scrivere: Testimonianze dal genocidio a Gaza. La Collana di Yasmin (in Italian). Città di Castello: Edizioni Q. ISBN 978-88-978-31587.

References

  1. ^ "Guerra e Pace in Palestina". M5S Torre del Greco (in Italian). Five Star Movement. 10 June 2025. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d "FATAYER SOUZAN DETTA 'SUSAN'" (in Italian). City of Molfetta. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d "Incontro con Souzan Fatayer". MET (in Italian). Province of Florence. 9 June 2005. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
  4. ^ a b Crolla, Matilde (23 November 2023). "MONDRAGONE – La toccante testimonianza della volontaria palestinese Souzan Fatayer all'evento 'Letture in cantina'". macronews.it (in Italian). Retrieved 19 September 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e De Crescenzo, Daniela (18 June 2024). "Petizione online per Souzan Fatayer: «Portiamo la pace a Strasburgo»". Il Mattino (in Italian). Retrieved 19 September 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d "L'insulto di Mieli a Fatayer, candidata di Avs: 'Una palestinese in leggerissimo sovrappeso che esalta Hamas'". Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). 20 October 2025. Retrieved 20 October 2025.
  7. ^ a b c "Paolo Mieli e la candidata palestinese 'in leggero sovrappeso': bufera social, lei replica". LaPresse (in Italian). 20 October 2025. Retrieved 20 October 2025.
  8. ^ "'La mia infanzia in Palestina', intervista alla docente universitaria Souzan Fatayer". Informareonline (in Italian). 4 June 2024. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  9. ^ Di Liegro, Alessandro (8 September 2025). "La solidarietà di Napoli per Gaza". TGR Campania (in Italian). RAI. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  10. ^ Capasso, Michele (20 June 1998). "L'Italia per la Palestina". euromedi.org (in Italian). Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  11. ^ "احتفالية مرور 150 ً عاما على تأسيس بلدية نابلس" (PDF) (in Arabic). Municipality of Nablus. 30 April 2019. p. 158. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
  12. ^ a b c d "Elezioni europe 8 e 9 giugno 2024 – Candidati Circoscrizione Meridionale". verdisinistra.it (in Italian). Greens and Left Alliance. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
  13. ^ a b c Speranza, Rosetta (7 June 2025). "Padre Alex Zanotelli, missionario comboniano residente a Napoli, da sempre in prima linea nelle richieste di rispetto dei diritti umani, della pace, del disarmo, della salvaguardia della natura della difesa dell'acqua pubblica da ogni tentativo di privatizzazione, pur precisando che il suo è un impegno civile e non politico-partitico, si è posto accanto a Domenico Lucano e Souzan Fatayer che incarnano i suoi stessi ideali di pace e fratellanza e che si sono candidati nelle liste dell'Alleanza Verdi Sinistra". Vita Web TV (in Italian). Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  14. ^ "Suzanne Fatayer". archivio delle memorie delle donne di napoli (in Italian). Retrieved 19 September 2025.
  15. ^ Cigna, Ygnazia (19 October 2025). "Elezioni in Campania, Avs punta su Souzan Fatayer: «Sono 'na palestinese napulitana. Nata in Palestina, penso in napoletano». Chi è la candidata". Open (in Italian). Retrieved 20 October 2025.
  16. ^ a b "Napoli, la paladina dei diritti dei palestinesi Souzan Fatayer non eletta in Consiglio". TgCom24 (in Italian). 25 November 2025. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  17. ^ Campigli, Christian (16 April 2024). "Europee, la candidata di Bonelli-Fratoianni che chiama 'nazisti' i sionisti". Il Tempo (in Italian). Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  18. ^ "Souzan Fatayer Archivi". fratelliditaliasenato.it (in Italian). Brothers of Italy. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  19. ^ a b "Paolo Mieli si scusa con Souzan Fatayer, la 'palestinese napulitana' candidata di Avs in Campania e vittima di body shaming". L'Espresso (in Italian). 21 October 2025. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  20. ^ Luna, Alessandro (21 October 2025). "Polemica sul post pro Hitler condiviso da Fatayer. Bonelli difende la candidata di Avs: 'Non sono parole sue'". Il Foglio (in Italian). Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  21. ^ "Campania, l'allarme di Souzan Fatayer alla vigilia del voto: «Il mio indirizzo su TikTok, vogliono farmi del male». Avs: «Clima d'odio»". Open (in Italian). 25 November 2025. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
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