Refaat Alareer

About

Refaat Alareer (1979–2023) was a Palestinian writer, poet, editor, and professor of English literature from Gaza. He taught English literature and creative writing at the Islamic University of Gaza and helped mentor a generation of young Palestinian writers. Through his teaching and literary work, he sought to document everyday life under occupation and give Palestinian voices a wider international audience. He co-edited Gaza Writes Back (2014), a collection of short stories by young Palestinian writers responding to life in Gaza, and Gaza Unsilenced (2015), a collection of essays and testimonies. His poetry explored family, loss, displacement, resistance, and the importance of storytelling in preserving collective memory. His poem If I Must Die, written in 2011, gained international attention following his death during the Israel–Hamas war in December 2023. Alareer’s work remains closely associated with the power of literature to bear witness to suffering, affirm cultural identity, and preserve the experiences of people living through conflict.