December 7, 2023, 5:11pm
The Palestinian poet, writer, literature professor, and activist Dr. Refaat Alareer was killed today in a targeted Israeli airstrike that also killed his brother, his sister, and her four children.
Dr. Alareer was a beloved professor of world literature, comparative literature, Shakespeare, and creative writing at the Islamic University of Gaza, where he taught since 2007.
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.”
Through his popular Twitter account, “Refaat in Gaza,” Dr. Alareer documented, and forcefully condemned, the ongoing atrocities committed against his people by Israeli forces, as well as the U.S. administrations that have enabled them.
This heartbreaking poem, pinned to his profile since November 1, speaks to what Alareer could see coming, and to the resilience that gave so many of his followers hope in the darkest of times:
If I must die, let it be a tale. #FreePalestine #Gaza pic.twitter.com/ODPx3TiH1a
— Refaat in Gaza 🇵🇸 (@itranslate123) November 1, 2023
His death, announced earlier this afternoon, has prompted an outpouring of grief, and anger, among his friends, colleagues, and former students:
Breaking, my heart is broken, my friend & colleague Refaat AlAreer was killed with his family minutes ago.
Refaat is a university professor & writer & editor.
I don’t want to believe this. We both loved to pick strawberries together. I took this photo of him this summer. pic.twitter.com/8OoZ7lN0Lq— Mosab Abu Toha (@MosabAbuToha) December 7, 2023
You killed my friend. Someone I kept praying would stay safe. Someone I messaged daily bc his resilience gave me hope. He laughed in the face of the genocidal maniacs everyday he stayed alive never allowing them to think he was afraid. You killed him.
You killed Refaat Alareer.— Hebh Jamal (@hebh_jamal) December 7, 2023
💔Refaat Alareer💔
no words no words
no words for the loss
of you who always
found the words@itranslate123 @GazaWritesBack @WeAreNotNumbers pic.twitter.com/8lm12eZC8k— Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) December 7, 2023
“My message to the free people of the world is to move, to pressure, to mobilize and take to the streets…People in Gaza want to be safe, we don’t want to be killed.”
Palestinian academic and activist Refaat Alareer spoke to Democracy Now in Oct. He was killed today by Israel. pic.twitter.com/PdspIK7Bkn
— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) December 7, 2023
Refaat Alareer, as a professor of English literature in Gaza, recorded many of his lectures and put them online. I would encourage all of you to watch them and see the love he had for poetry, for Shakespeare, and for Palestine.https://t.co/H9AHKzEoW0
— Séamus Malekafzali (@Seamus_Malek) December 7, 2023
From a 2021 essay in the New York Times by Refaat Alareer, who was killed today alongside his family. pic.twitter.com/G8rVTUimlC
— Dr Beth Kitson (@beth_kitson) December 7, 2023
Israel killed Prof. Refaat al-Areer, one of Gaza’s most prominent writers, poets & activists who spent his life trying to get Gaza’s voice to the outside world.
He was killed in a targeted airstrike on his sister’s home that also killed his brother, sister & her 4 kids… pic.twitter.com/kA16fkb6Mg
— Muhammad Shehada (@muhammadshehad2) December 7, 2023