12/08/2023
Refaat Alareer, one of the founders of the ‘We Are Not Numbers’ project and professor at the Islamic University of Gaza, was killed by an Israeli airstrike tonight.
Alareer, a beloved English professor, communicated some of his last thoughts through his X profile.
“If I must die, you must live to tell my story,” he wrote in a poem, published on November 1. “If I must die, let it bring hope, let it be a tale”.
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
RIP Refaat Alareer