 |
| Let it be a tale, for Refaat. |
Targeted by an Israeli missile, Poet Refaat AlAreer was killed with his family today in Gaza.
Refaat AlAreer 1979 – 2023 was s a university professor & writer & editor. He cofounded the organization We Are Not Numbers, which matched experienced authors with young writers in Gaza.
Alareer was born in 1979 in Shuja'iyya in Gaza City. Growing up in Gaza, he said, meant "every move I took and every decision I made were influenced (usually negatively) by the Israeli occupation."
Alareer wrote an op-ed in The New York Times in which he recounted he and his wife had lost more than 30 relatives. During the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, Alareer made media appearances on the BBC, Democracy Now!, and ABC News.[
In the 2014 Gaza War Israel killed his brother Hamada, and his wife Nusayba's grandfather, her brother, her sister and her sister’s three kids.
Following Israel’s offensive on Gaza in 2008-9, Refaat Alareer, a
lecturer at the Islamic University of Gaza started requesting that his
students write short stories as a means of releasing their anger and
frustration. https://www.palestinechronicle.com/story-behind-gaza-writes-back-video/
He and his wife had two daughters, Amal (~8 years), and Linah (~10 years). Alareer was killed, along with his family, by an Israeli airstrike on December 7, 2023.
 |
Poet and scholar Refaat Alareer has been killed by an Israeli airstrike. |
D. Refaat al-Ar’eer received a phone call from the Israeli intelligence, disclosing his location at the school where he sought refuge.
ReplyDeleteThey explicitly stated their intention to kill him. To avoid endangering others, he left the school. Tragically, at 6 p.m., the apartment of his sister, where he sought refuge, was bombed. The attack resulted in the murder of Refaat and his sister and her four children.