The Electronic Intifada 3 January 2024
Dr. Refaat Alareer was assassinated by Israel on 6 December 2023.
I am a writer and a storyteller, thanks to Dr. Refaat Alareer. As long as I am still breathing, I will let my words and writings follow the path that Dr. Refaat laid out.
Writing is a path of truth. Our pens are our weapons against the world’s attempts to silence us.
Dr. Refaat wanted us to write and to tell the world our stories. Writing is a way to spread hope and to achieve justice.
We write so that his soul will rest in eternal peace. He must know that what he started among his students will never come to an end.
Dr. Refaat taught us that there are no extremes when it comes to literature. I was fortunate enough to take four courses with him.
He opened up the world of literature to us by reciting sonnets and poetry, lines of William Shakespeare. I grew to love the words.
Whenever I wrote a piece, I looked forward to his encouraging words. He was helping me become a better writer.
I remember my joy when a friend, upon reading my first published article, said, “This truly sounds like something written by a student of Dr. Refaat.”
Nothing could be more flattering.
Dr. Refaat restored my hope in the academic system. I’ve always boasted that I was his student.
Worth boasting about
This is something worth boasting about. It is something that people envy.
Dr. Refaat gave each of us in his class a copy of Gaza Writes Back, a story collection that he edited.
I wondered if I would be lucky enough to have a story edited by him. Well, I was that lucky, but that piece was not published.
In the years that I knew him, he opened so many new curiosities for me, in fiction, poetry and prose. Even in figs and strawberries.
And, of course, the Shujaiya neighborhood of Gaza City, where he was born.
I used to call Dr. Refaat my all-time favorite professor. Then I heard a friend call him “our academic father.”
I thought this was a better label for someone so beloved by his students.
Israel assassinated Dr. Refaat on 6 December. It was very close to the day, 10 years ago, when I lost my birth father, on 7 December.
Dr. Refaat was always there for us. He believed in us more than we believed in ourselves. He had our backs whenever we needed him.
Since the start of this war, he checked in on us. He would send us messages to ask if we needed anything.
We continue to need your presence, Dr. Refaat.
I owe you my smallest achievements.
I owe you my words.
We owe you our words. We promise to tell your story, to spread hope, to write, to fight, to fly a kite.
They wanted to silence Palestine, yet they raised thousands of voices in response. We promised.
And this is just the beginning.
Sara Nabil Hegy is a writer from Gaza.
