[An Israeli airstrike in Gaza has killed the acclaimed Palestinian
academic and activist Refaat Alareer, along with his brother, his
sister and her four children. Alareer was just 44 years old.]
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“WE WANT FREEDOM”: REFAAT ALAREER, GAZA SCHOLAR & ACTIVIST KILLED
BY ISRAELI STRIKE, IN HIS OWN WORDS  
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Amy Goodman, Refaat Alareer
December 8, 2023
Democracy Now!
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_ An Israeli airstrike in Gaza has killed the acclaimed Palestinian
academic and activist Refaat Alareer, along with his brother, his
sister and her four children. Alareer was just 44 years old. _

Refaat Alareer on Democracy Now! October 10, 2023, Democracy Now!

 

An Israeli airstrike in Gaza has killed the acclaimed Palestinian
academic and activist Refaat Alareer, along with his brother, his
sister and her four children. Alareer was just 44 years old. For more
than 16 years, he worked as a professor of English literature at the
Islamic University of Gaza and authored dozens of stories and poems
about life under Israeli occupation in Gaza. “Whether it is my kids
or any Palestinian kid or any Palestinian, no one is safe. No place is
safe. Israel is bombing everywhere,” Alareer told _Democracy
Now!_ on October 10.

_PREVIOUS INTERVIEWS WITH REFAAT ALAREER:_
• October 2023: Israel’s 'Barbaric' Bombardment Is Part of Ethnic
Cleansing Campaign
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• May 2021: Israel Is Trying to Destroy Us: Gaza Father & Writer
Speaks Out as Palestinian Death Toll Nears 200
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AMY GOODMAN: We’re broadcasting from Dubai in the United Arab
Emirates at the U.N. climate summit.

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has entered its third month. Health
officials in Gaza say the Israeli assault has killed over 17,000
Palestinians. Earlier this week, an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City
killed the acclaimed Palestinian academic and activist Refaat Alareer,
along with his brother, his sister and four of his nieces. For more
than 16 years, Alareer worked as a professor of English literature at
the Islamic University of Gaza, where he taught Shakespeare and other
subjects. Refaat Alareer was a father of six and a mentor to many
young Palestinian writers and journalists. He also co-founded the
organization We Are Not Numbers. He authored dozens of stories and
poems about life under Israeli occupation in Gaza.

In a few minutes we’ll speak to one of his friends, but first I want
to return to Refaat Alareer in his own words. He’s spoken to
us several times
[[link removed]]. This is
October 10th. As he spoke
[[link removed]] to _Democracy
Now!_, Israeli strikes rattled his family’s home in Gaza City.

REFAAT ALAREER: What is happening in Gaza is complete and utter
extermination of the non-Jewish population in occupied Palestine. As
you mentioned, Israel ordered a medieval hermetic siege from air and
sea. Israel has also just bombed the only way out through Egypt, the
Rafah crossing. The only way out is for — what’s happening, what
we are foreseeing is slow starvation, slow genocide. Maybe Israel is
going to push us all into the sea.

And I think what is making it even more difficult than before is that
the whole world, not even lip service — all American and European
countries and politicians are rushing to pledge allegiance to Israel
and to Netanyahu. American politicians, American presidential hopefuls
are literally calling for genocide. American mainstream media is not
pushing back against Israeli officials calling for the collateral
damage of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza.

Why is this happening? Because we refuse to live under occupation. We
refuse to live in total submission. We want freedom. We want this
occupation to end. This is not a state of war, as one of your guests
just mentioned. This is a state of occupation that started over 75
years, that started with the British Empire giving Palestine to the
Zionist movement in 1917. …

The only hope we have is in the growing popular support in America, in
the movements of — the movements, the human rights and the rights
movements in America and across Europe, to take to the streets to
pressure their politicians into putting an end to this dark, dark
episode of not only the history of the Middle East, but also the
history of humanity. If people are asking how was the Holocaust
allowed and other genocides in Africa and across the world, now you
can see this live on TV, live on social media. Palestinians’ whole
blocks destroyed, hospitals, schools, businesses. We are speaking
about thousands and thousands of housing units destroyed by Israel.
So, my message to the free people of the world is to move to pressure,
to mobilize and to take to the streets.

AMY GOODMAN: Refaat Alareer, you are the father of six. How old are
your children? And can you describe what it’s like to live there
right now?

REFAAT ALAREER: Like I said, this has been systematically happening
for over seven decades. It was the noose around Gaza’s neck was
tightened 15 years ago, and it’s being tightened even further now.
The situation is unspeakable. You can’t describe what’s happening
in words. We speak about thousands, hundreds and thousands of Israeli
bombs and shells targeting all areas of the Gaza Strip. The kids
can’t sleep. The kids can’t eat. The kids can’t even speak. Most
of the time they’re just mute, silent, shaking out of fear,
sometimes whimpering because of how close the bombs are wherever you
are in Gaza. And again, the houses shake every time there is a bomb
around. And this is happening again all over Gaza Strip.

Israel is telling people, is pushing people forcibly to leave out of
their homes and urging them to go to certain places, like the city
center or the U.N. places, shelters, and then Israel bombs the roads
leading to these areas and bombs these crowded areas. Yesterday, there
was a massacre. Israel killed about 60 Palestinians in Jabaliya
refugee camp in a local market where there is a U.N. school, people
taking shelter there. So, whether it is my kids or any Palestinian kid
or any Palestinian, no one is safe. No place is safe. Israel is
bombing everywhere.

AMY GOODMAN: Those were the words of the acclaimed Palestinian
academic and activist Refaat Alareer, speaking
[[link removed]] on _Democracy
Now!_ October 10th. Earlier this week, he was killed in an Israeli
airstrike along with his brother, his sister and four of his nieces.
Refaat last posted on social media Monday, writing on the platform X,
quote, “The Democratic Party and Biden are responsible for the Gaza
genocide perpetrated by Israel.” When _Democracy Now!_ spoke
[[link removed]] to
Refaat during the 2021 Israeli assault on Gaza, he also accused the
Biden administration of enabling the massacre of Palestinians.

REFAAT ALAREER: I think it was Biden that gave Netanyahu the green
light to start it. When they tweeted that America supports Israel’s
right to defend itself two days after the aggression started, I
quickly said that this is going to be a long war against civilians,
because Israel is killing us using American weapons, using American
technology, using American planes. America has — the American
administration — all American administrations have blood,
Palestinian blood, on their hands. The massacre that is going on is on
Biden.

AMY GOODMAN: Again, the words of the late Palestinian academic and
activist Refaat Alareer, speaking on _Democracy Now!_ in 2021,
months after he had written an op-ed
[[link removed]] for _The
New York Times_ headlined “My Child Asks, 'Can Israel Destroy Our
Building If the Power Is Out?'”

_REFAAT ALAREER was a Palestinian writer, poet, professor, and
activist from the Gaza Strip._

_Alareer was born in Gaza City during the Israeli occupation of the
Gaza Strip, which he stated had negatively influenced every move and
decision he made. Alareer earned a BA in English in 2001 from the
Islamic University of Gaza and an MA from University College of London
in 2007. He earned a Ph.D. in English Literature at the Universiti
Putra Malaysia._

_He taught literature and creative writing at the Islamic University
of Gaza and co-founded the organization We Are Not Numbers, which
matched experienced authors with young writers in Gaza, and promoted
the power of storytelling as a means of resistance._

_On 6 December 2023, Alareer was killed in an Israeli airstrike, along
with his brother, sister and her three children, during the 2023
Hamas-Israel war. The Euro-Med Monitor released a statement saying
that Alareer was deliberately targeted, "surgically bombed out of the
entire building", and came after weeks of "death threats that Refaat
received online and by phone from Israeli accounts."_

_DEMOCRACY NOW! produces a daily, global, independent news hour
hosted by award-winning journalists Amy Goodman and Juan González.
Our reporting includes breaking daily news headlines and in-depth
interviews with people on the front lines of the world’s most
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voices speaking for themselves, providing a unique and sometimes
provocative perspective on global events._

_Democracy Now! is broadcast daily across the United States and Canada
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_As an independent news program, Democracy Now! is audience-supported,
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Democracy Now! has held steadfast to our policy of not accepting
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_Please donate today! [[link removed]]_

 

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