Days after it was written, one poem by Refaat Alareer was already translated into dozens of languages, from Japanese to Swahili, and shared online all over the world. "If I must die/you must live/to tell my story (...) If I must die/let it bring hope/let it be a tale." Writing from inside a Gaza ravaged by Israeli bombs, Palestinian writer Alareer shared this poem on his X account at the start of November, as an epitaph and bulwark against the permanent shadow of death in the enclave. Late on the afternoon of December 6, he was killed in an Israeli bombardment of Gaza City. He was 44 years old. His brother, sister and four of their children died with him. Their bodies are still under the rubble.
His death has shaken a large part of the Gazan intellectual elite. Alareer was one of its iconic voices. A whole generation of English-speaking authors was trained in the English literature courses he taught with passion for over 16 years at the Islamic University of Gaza. "More than a teacher, he was a mentor, a friend, and he truly cared about his students beyond the classroom," wrote one of his former students, academic and writer Jehad Abusalim, on X on December 8. Abusalim, who had published one of Alareer's texts in the collection Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire (Haymarket Books, 2022), then added: "For Refaat, English was a tool of liberation, a way to break free from Gaza's prolonged siege, a teleportation device that defied Israel's fences and the intellectual, academic, and cultural blockade of Gaza.."
A poet and writer, he had published two books, including Gaza Writes Back (2014), a collection of short stories written by young Gazan authors. "He was full of energy, life & humor. He loved Chicago Pizza, cats, history, classic music, theatre, poetry & Harry Potter. He always fought to not be reduced to a number!" tweeted Gazan writer Muhammad Shehada, head of communications at the Euro-Med NGO Human Rights Monitor, on December 7.
"He was more than just a scholar, he was also an activist," American former journalist Pam Bailey, who lived in Gaza for several years, told Le Monde. In 2015, she founded the We Are Not Numbers project to publish texts by young Gazans. She was looking for someone to train them to write in English. Everyone recommended Alareer, who was to carry the project with her. They became friends. "When I met him in Washington, the only place he wanted to go to was the Shakespeare Library," she recalled. She knew he was devastated by current American support for the destruction of Gaza, where over 18,000 Palestinians have lost their lives in the last two months, according to Hamas figures.
You have 55% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.