Refaat Alareer – Gaza Professor, Author and Activist
Update 2024-01-06
2023-12-12 Prominent Gaza professor and writer killed in airstrike, weeks after telling CNN he and his family had ‘nowhere else to go In October, Refaat Alareer was deliberating whether to stay at his home in the heart of Gaza City, or flee further south with his wife and six children. As Israeli warplanes bombarded northern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told civilians to evacuate their homes immediately and go south.
Civilians like Alareer were confronted with an impossible predicament. Stay home and risk being killed, or try to flee without protection. At the time, the 44-year-old writer and academic told CNN he and his family had no choice but to remain in the north, because they “have nowhere else to go.” “It’s an archetypal Palestinian image of a discussion, a debate on should we stay in one room, so if we die, we die together, or should we stay in separate rooms, so at least somebody can live?” he said.
A professor of comparative literature at the Islamic University of Gaza, Alareer was famed for his role in chronicling Gazan experiences. He was instrumental in nurturing young Palestinian writers and helped them tell their stories in English, according to friends and colleagues.
Alareer spoke to CNN from Gaza City, on October 12 and October 13. He gave consent in written messages to share the recording in the event of his death. Weeks later, on December 7, Alareer was killed by a strike in Shajaiya, in northern Gaza, his friend and colleague, Jehad Abusalim, confirmed to CNN. He was staying with his brother, his sister, and her four children, who were also killed, according to Abusalim, a writer, 35, based in Washington, DC.
He left behind his wife, and children aged 7 to 21. CNN has been unable to reach members of Alareer’s family.
In 2014, Alareer edited “Gaza Writes Back,” a collection of short stories by young writers documenting their lives under Israeli blockade. He was also co-editor of “Gaza Unsilenced,” a collection of essays, photos and poetry published in 2015 that documented the pain, loss and faith of Palestinians under Israeli siege. He also contributed to “Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire,” an anthology published in 2022. A native of Gaza City, he studied at University College London and SOAS, in London.
He was a co-founder of “We Are Not Numbers” – a non-profit organization that aims to amplify the voices of Palestinian youth living in Gaza and the refugee camps. “We have the faith, we have the belief that we have a fair cause, a just cause, to struggle to fight back for freedom, for basic human rights. We’ve been stripped out of this,” he told CNN.
Human rights groups have said that Israel’s attacks on civilians amount to a war crime, as does their forcible evacuation. During his interview with CNN, Alareer called on the international community to see the “humanity” in Palestinian people, adding: “Feel their pain. Put yourself in their shoes.” He had written a poem anticipating that he might be killed, titled “If I must die.” Following Alareer’s death, people in New York and London held vigils to honor his memory.
While Alareer’s death is being mourned among Palestinians, some of his comments have caused offense. In a BBC interview he described the October 7 attacks as “a pre-emptive attack by Palestinian resistance” that was “legitimate and moral.” Memories of war Gazan civilians are no strangers to the threat of death, having lived through years under siege. Alareer said that recent Israeli strikes on the Palestinian enclave triggered his early memories of war.
Born in Shajaiya, in the eastern part of Gaza City, he said his family was forced to relocate to the Tel-al-Hawa area of Gaza City, after their home was destroyed by Israeli bombardment during the 2014 war that also claimed his younger brother Hamada, who was 27 when he was killed. “It’s something we don’t talk about. We don’t even want to think about how these kids, the homes, the lives (that) get destroyed again and again every few years,” he recalled. The sounds of strikes hitting a building feel as though “the whole earth reverberates,” he said. “Even the slamming of a door sometimes brings you these memories,” he said “That’s why we usually say there is no post-war trauma for Palestinians. It’s nonstop.” Nine years on, Alareer said he and many other Gazan parents felt “helplessness and despair” because they have no way to protect themselves, or their children, from Israel’s persistent strikes. He described the emotional and physical trauma sustained by Palestinian children under bombardment. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/prominent-gaza-professor-and-writer-killed-in-airstrike-weeks-after-telling-cnn-he-and-his-family-had-nowhere-else-to-go/ar-AA1ljMN
2023-12-08 “We Want Freedom”: Refaat Alareer, Gaza Scholar & Activist Killed by Israeli Strike, in His Own Words An Israeli airstrike in Gaza has killed the acclaimed Palestinian academic and activist Refaat Alareer, along with his brother, his sister and her four children. Alareer was just 44 years old. For more than 16 years, he worked as a professor of English literature at the Islamic University of Gaza and authored dozens of stories and poems about life under Israeli occupation in Gaza. “Whether it is my kids or any Palestinian kid or any Palestinian, no one is safe. No place is safe. Israel is bombing everywhere,” Alareer told Democracy Now! on October 10. https://www.democracynow.org/2023/12/8/remembering_refaat_alareer_killed_in_gaza
2023-12-08 “If I Must Die”: IDF Strike Kills Gaza Scholar Refaat Alareer; Friend Pays Tribute & Reads His Poem Scholar and policy analyst Jehad Abusalim remembers his friend Refaat Alareer, the acclaimed Palestinian academic and activist who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City earlier this week. “Refaat Alareer was a towering figure in Palestinian society, especially in Gaza,” who used education and “language as a weapon against oppression,” says Abusalim, who speaks about the widespread destruction of schools and educators in Gaza by Israel’s renewed bombardment, siege and invasion. “The tragedy that has befallen the academic, scholarly and intellectual community in Gaza and in Palestine is unprecedented. Israel is destroying the foundations of society in the Gaza Strip.” https://www.democracynow.org/2023/12/8/jehad_abusalim_on_refaat_alareer_death
2023-12-07 ‘Huge Loss’ as Gaza Luminary Refaat Alareer ‘Assassinated’ by Israel Human rights defenders around the world expressed anguish and outrage Thursday after Refaat Alareer, a Palestinian professor who was one of Gaza’s most prominent writers and activists, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Shejaiya that also killed his brother, sister, and her four children. Alareer, 44, was “a beloved professor of world literature, comparative literature, Shakespeare, and creative writing at the Islamic University of Gaza, where he taught since 2007,” noted Literary Hub.
He was the co-editor of Gaza Unsilenced (2015) and the editor of Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine (2014). Dr. Alareer was also one of the founders of We Are Not Numbers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating “a new generation of Palestinian writers and thinkers who can bring together a profound change to the Palestinian cause.”
The Chicago-based website The Electronic Intifadasaid on social media it is “devastated by Israel’s murder of our dear colleague, friend, and mentor.” “Throughout this genocide, Refaat never stopped writing, supporting his students, and bringing Gaza’s voice to the world,” the site added. “We will make sure it continues to be heard.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/refaat-alareer
2023-10-10 Refaat Alareer in Gaza: Israel’s “Barbaric” Bombardment Is Part of Ethnic Cleansing Campaign As hospitals in Gaza are overwhelmed by those killed and wounded in Israel’s massive bombing campaign, we go to Gaza City to speak with Palestinian academic and writer Refaat Alareer about conditions inside the besieged territory. Israel announced Monday it was completely cutting off all food, fuel and electricity to Gaza amid airstrikes of unprecedented intensity, launched in response to Saturday’s surprise attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel. Hamas has threatened to begin killing hostages if civilians inside Gaza are targeted without warning. “No one is safe. No place is safe. Israel is bombing everywhere,” says Alareer, who describes his own children as “shaking out of fear” amid the assault. “Why is this happening? Because we refuse to live under occupation. We refuse to live in total submission. We want freedom.” https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/10/refaat_alareer_gaza_israel_bombing
2021-05-17 Israel Is Trying to Destroy Us: Gaza Father & Writer Speaks Out as Palestinian Death Toll Nears 200 Israel’s assault on Gaza has entered its second week, as Israel killed at least 42 Palestinians in Gaza Sunday in the deadliest day so far when it bombarded the besieged area with airstrikes, artillery fire and gunboat shelling. Israel has killed nearly 200 Palestinians, including 58 children and 34 women, and destroyed over 500 homes in Gaza, leaving 40,000 Palestinians homeless. Israel also leveled a 12-story building housing the offices of the Associated Press and Al Jazeera. “This is a total destruction from the Israeli occupation against the native Palestinians in Gaza,” says Palestinian academic and activist Refaat Alareer, who lives in Gaza. “This is not new. This is a continuation of Israeli aggression against Palestinians that started in 1948, the Nakba.” https://www.democracynow.org/2021/5/17/israel_assault_airstrikes_gaza
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