Henri Curiel

Egypt

Born in Cairo to a Jewish family of Italian origins, he was the cousin of Eugenio Curiel, a physicist and anti-fascist militant who was murdered in Italy in 1945. His brother Raoul Curiel was a greatly admired archeologist and numismatist, specialized in Central Asian studies. His son is the French journalist Alain Gresh. Curiel was also a cousin of the famous British KGB spy George Blake, who later said that his encounter with Curiel as a teenager (when Curiel was older and already a communist) shaped his political views.

In 1943 Curiel founded the communist Egyptian Movement for National Liberation (HAMETU) الحركه المصريه للتحرر الوطني حمتو, which in 1947 became the Democratic Movement for National Liberation (HADETU). He was repeatedly arrested along with many other communists and, despite his Egyptian citizenship, forced to emigrate in 1950. The Democratic Movement for National Liberation was an active participant in the 1952 revolution led by the free officers and Gamal Abdel Nasser. The revolutionary council and the free officers had many members from HADETU; the most eminent of these were Khaled Mohy el din خالد محي الدين, Yousef Sedeek يوسف صديق and Ahmed Hamroush احمد حمروش. Curiel established himself in France and led a circle of Jewish communist emigres from Egypt known as the "Rome Group".

Anti-colonial activism

Curiel worked for the Jeanson network which supported the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) during the Algerian War (1954–62). He was arrested by the French security services in 1960. Curiel was then one of the founders of "Solidarité", a support group for various anticolonial and opposition movements in the Third World (in particular Africa and Latin America), such as the African National Congress (ANC).

In 1976 he initiated contacts with Israeli and Palestinian representatives willing to negotiate a mutual recognition. Several meetings, later known as the "Paris talks", were organized. Under the chairmanship of Pierre Mendès France, they included among others Issam Sartawi, adviser to Yasser Arafat; and Uri Avnery and Mattityahu Peled, members of the Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace (ICIPP).

On June 21, 1976 Georges Suffert published in the French magazine Le Point an article presenting Curiel as the "head of the terrorist support network", connected with the KGB. He was put under house arrest in Digne, an administrative measure that was lifted once the accusation was demonstrated to be untrue.

An American intelligence report from 1981 (a Special National Intelligence Estimate) states that Curiel's organization "has provided support to a wide variety of Third World leftist revolutionary organizations", including "false documents, financial aid, and safehaven before and after operations, as well as some illegal training in France in weapons and explosives." The authors further comment that his group's "association with non-communist and nonviolent leaders, including clergymen, has tended to cloak the nature and extent of its operations."

Assassination

Henri Curiel was assassinated in Paris on May 4, 1978. Two far-right groups (OAS; Charles Martel Group) claimed responsibility, but the case is still unsolved. Speculations persist in three directions:

Henri Curiel is buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris.