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‘In his passing, Refaat fulfilled his lifelong goal of raising awareness about Palestine. He became a story himself, a symbol of freedom and an icon cherished not only by his friends and those who knew him, but also by countless supporters of the Palestinian cause worldwide’. – Asem Alnabih
By IQBAL JASSAT
December 6 marked a year since Israel’s brutal slaying of Palestine’s iconic poet Refaat Alareer.
He was a professor of English at the Islamic University of Gaza. He contributed to an anthology, Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, featuring essays and poems by Palestinians, and he also co-edited Gaza Unsilenced and edited and contributed to Gaza Writes Back.
Renowned also for his brilliance as a writer, a dedicated scholar and educator, Alareer was assassinated in a targeted airstrike on the second floor apartment in Gaza, where he was taking refuge with family members.
As is the tragic experience of thousands of Palestinians whose entire families are deliberately bombed, the strike also killed Alareer’s brother, his brother’s son, his sister and three children.
Asem Alnabih, an engineer based in North Gaza and close friend of Alareer, who spent the last day with him, wrote a moving account of his memories in the Electronic Intifada:
‘Refaat spent the final weeks of his life displaced from his home, which was bombed in October, moving from one shelter to another after occupation forces invaded Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood where he lived.
‘He endured great hardship juggling his family responsibilities with his commitment to telling the world what was happening in Gaza.
‘He didn’t even know where he would sleep that night on what would be his last day. Eventually, he decided to check on his sister, who also displaced, and spend the night where she was staying. Little did he know that it would be his final displacement.’
From many heartfelt tributes to Alareer, we learn that he had committed his life to the study and practice of English. Despite the cruelty of the settler colonial regime’s crippling 17 years of siege, relentless violence and occupation – before October 7, 2023 – Alareer attracted a global following.
His targeted killing was not an ‘accident’. It was and remains a military goal of the Apartheid regime to exterminate poets and intellectuals, just as healthcare workers, doctors and relief aid volunteers have been.
Polish-born Benjamin Mileikowsky / Netanyahu, now wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, may have thought that by killing Alareer he has silenced him.
The truth though is that much to Israel’s dismay, Alareer’s voice has reached a global audience.
His poem, ‘If I Must Die’, has become a worldwide sensation and has correctly been described as ‘a window into the soul of the man who’d been ripped from the world’.
Bestseller
Equally important is the wonderful news that Alareer’s posthumous publication of a book If I Must Die has been published. And within a week of publication, had jumped into the top ten of many bestseller lists.
It contains a collection of his poetry and prose, as well as selected excerpts of interviews he gave. The compilation is by his friend and student, Yousef Aljamal.
Sarah Aziza in The Guardian reminds us that in the hours and days after his killing, Alareer’s poem ‘If I Must Die’ went viral, resounding from social media to the streets.
‘Written to his daughter Shymaa in 2011, the seemingly simple verses vibrate, stretched taut between tragedy, tenderness and resolve: ‘If I die / you must live / to tell my story … let it bring hope / let it be a tale.’
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Shymaa and her infant son were killed by an Israeli airstrike a few months after her father’s death.
The merciless killers, led by Netanyahu and his criminal gang of warlords, may excel in committing genocide and worse, mistakenly and arrogantly hold the view that with American support they will escape accountability.
But not according to Alareer. His plea to Shymaa, and now to the world to tell his story, will ensure that Zionism implodes and perpetrators of the genocide face the full might of the law.
If I Must Die by Refaat Alareer
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.
Iqbal Jassat is Executive Member of Media Review Network.
