Refaat Alareer
Refaat Alareer | |
|---|---|
رفعت العرير | |
 | |
| Born | September 23, 1979 |
| Died | December 7, 2023 (aged 44) Gaza Strip |
| Cause of death | Israeli airstrike |
| Occupation | Professor |
| Known for | Activism |
| Children | 6 |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Universiti Putra Malaysia |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | English Literature |
| Institutions | Islamic University in Gaza |
| Notable works | Gaza Writes Back (2014) Gaza Unsilenced (2015) |
Refaat Alareer (Arabic: رفعت العرير) was a Palestinian professor, writer, poet, and activist who was martyred in a targeted Israeli air strike during the 2023 Israel war on Gaza.
Personal life[edit | edit source]
Alareer and his wife had six children, including daughters Amal and Linah.[1]
In the 2014 Gaza War Israel killed his brother Hamada, his wife Nusayba's grandfather, her brother, her sister and her sister’s three children.[1]
Death[edit | edit source]
Refat Alareer was killed, along with his sister and her four children, by an Israeli airstrike on December 7, 2023.[2][3] The founder of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, Ramy Abdu, stated Israeli soldiers “targeted, went after and killed the voice of Gaza, one of its best academics, a human, my dear and precious friend.”[4]
There are indications that the airstrike was targeted; according to Alareer's close friend Ramy Abdul, the day before the air strike that killed Alareer and his family, Refaat was taking shelter in a Gaza school when he received a phone call from someone identifying as a member of Israeli intelligence informing him that he had been geolocated to the school where he was taking shelter. Worried that he might be targeted and unwilling to bring death upon those seeking shelter with him, Refaat left to his sister's home at 6pm that day, where he and her family were killed by an Israeli airstrike shortly thereafter.[5] A preliminary investigation by Euro-Med concluded on December 8, 2023 that his killing was part of a surgical Israeli strike specifically targeting Alareer.[6]
If I must die, let it be a tale[edit | edit source]
A month prior to his death, Refaat posted the following poem he authored to his X/Twitter profile, titled If I must die, let it be a tale:[7]
If I must die,
you must live
to tell my story
to sell my things
to buy a piece of cloth
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail)
so that a child, somewhere in Gaza
while looking heaven in the eye
awaiting his dad who left in a blaze—
and bid no one farewell
not even to his flesh
not even to himself—
sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up
above
and thinks for a moment an angel is there
bringing back love
If I must die
let it bring hope
let it be a tale
External Links[edit | edit source]
- Refaat Alareer on Twitter: @itranslate123
- 2021 New York Times editorial by Alareer: My Child Asks, ‘Can Israel Destroy Our Building if the Power Is Out?’
- Alareer's 2014 compilation Gaza Writes Back on Amazon
- Alareer's 2015 book Gaza Unsilenced on Amazon
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Alareer, Refaat (May 13, 2021). "My Child Asks, 'Can Israel Destroy Our Building if the Power Is Out?'". The New York Times. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
- ↑ "Tributes pour in for Gaza's 'most prominent' academic, killed in Israeli attack". Al Jazeera. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
- ↑ Sheehan, Dan (December 7, 2023). "Poet and scholar Refaat Alareer has been killed by an Israeli airstrike". Literary Hub. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
- ↑ Joseph Stepansky; Farah Najjar (December 7, 2023). "Israel-Hamas war updates: Gaza faces heavy Israeli bombardment". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
- ↑ Ramy Abdul [@RamyAbdul] (December 8, 2023). "🚨 Important information on Refaat's assassination" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ↑ "Israeli Strike on Refaat al-Areer Apparently Deliberate". Euro-Med HR. 2023-12-08. Retrieved 2023-12-08.
- ↑ Alareer, Refaat. "If I must die, let it be a tale". Twitter.