'If I must die': How poet-writer Refaat Alareer inspired young Palestinians

On November 1, about three weeks into Israel's brutal bombardment of besieged Gaza, Palestinian poet, activist and academic Refaat Alareer posted a poem on his X timeline, like he has been doing all through.

It was almost prophetic: "If I must die/You must live/To tell my story.."

On Friday, the news of the 44-year-old academic's death in an Israeli air strike was made public by his friends – another Palestinian casualty among more than 17,000 people, most of them children and women, massacred by the Zionist state since October 7.

Alareer, also a professor of English literature, was killed in his sister's home in Shujayia (Shejaiya), a district in south Gaza. The air strike also killed his brother, sister and four of her children.

Last week, another Palestinian academic, Prof. Sofian Tayah, the president of the Islamic University of Gaza, was also killed along with his entire family in an Israeli air strike.

Waves of tributes to Alareer hit social media after his murder by the Israeli army, as fans and friends remembered the man who had become the voice of Palestinians, living under Israeli oppression for years.

"He was an amazing poet, an articulate voice for Gazans, and a true bridge to people outside Palestine, " says Sami al Arian, a Palestinian-American professor. "His loss will be missed by many inside Palestine and around the world," Arian tells TRT World

Alareer was also documenting the latest conflict in verses – highlighting the pain of his fellow Palestinians facing the worst of Israeli brutality.

In his last media interview, Alareer spoke about how besieged people of Gaza are being forced to defend themselves by any means.

"I was telling the other day that I am an academic. Probably the toughest thing I have at home is an EXPO marker. But if the Israelis invade and barge at us, charge at us open door-to-door to massacre us, I am going to use that marker to throw it at Israeli soldiers even if that is the last thing that I would be able to do," the late professor said.

"And this is the feeling of everybody. We are helpless. We have nothing to lose," he added.

Refaat in Gaza

Alareer was a poet and writer who dedicated his life to documenting the stories of suffering of people of Gaza. His username in the X platform – Refaat in Gaza – reflected his love and attachment to the city.

He was also known to encourage young students to generate new tales and poems to keep Palestinian literature alive in the face of Israeli occupation and oppression. He was also one of the co-editors of Gaza Unsilenced (2015) and the editor of Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine (2014).

One of his biggest literary projects was We Are Not Numbers, launched in Gaza after Israel's 2014 attack.

The project was his way of pushing back at the concept of looking at the Israel-Palestine issue as mere statistics – defined by the number of Palestinians killed. "Numbers are impersonal and often numbing," the project's website says, throwing light on his concept.

We Are Not Numbers (WANN) was launched to tell Palestinians' "daily personal struggles and triumphs, the tears and the laughter, and the aspirations that are so universal that if it weren't for the context, they would immediately resonate with virtually everyone."

In addition to letting the world hear Palestine's diverse voices and feel their resilience, WANN aimed to "create a new generation of Palestinian writers and thinkers who can bring together a profound change to the Palestinian cause."

Hope in his heart

Despite all kinds of war crimes committed by Israel and being under land, sea and air blockade laid by the Israeli forces for nearly two decades, Alareer was an uncharacteristically hopeful and cheerful man.

"It shall pass, I keep hoping. It shall pass, I keep saying. Sometimes I mean it. Sometimes I don't. And as Gaza keeps gasping for life, we struggle for it to pass, we have no choice but to fight back and to tell her stories. For Palestine," he wrote in his contribution, Gaza Asks: When Shall this Pass?, to the 2022 collection Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire.

Even during the ongoing fighting, the Palestinian poet and writer refused to leave his beloved city, continuing to tweet his personal experiences under brutal Israeli assaults.

"I am currently in Shujayia and my heart and hands are shaking as I type this," he wrote on X last week. "Al Shuja'iya neighbourhood is witnessing insane bombardments, continuous fire belts. Our hearts tremble with fear for all our loved ones who decided to stay. May Allah protect you, make things easy for you, and be kind to all people," he added.

He was also among the people of Shujayia. "More horrific Israeli bombardments and shelling nearby in Shujayia east of Gaza City. Pray for us," he tweeted on Monday. "We could die this dawn. I wish I were a freedom fighter so I die fighting back those invading Israeli genocidal maniacs invading my neighbourhood and city," he wrote the same day.

His poem, 'If I must die' -- and pinned to his X timeline -- also has hope as its central theme.

"If I must die/let it bring hope/let it be a tale."

His inspiring life and work, too, will remain "pinned" to the hearts of Palestinians who are seeking to break free from Israeli shackles.