“If I must die, you must live to tell my storySell my belongings and buy ropes and a piece of fabric.” One of the poet’s last poems began with these words. Palestinian poet and professor of English Literature Refaat Alarer. He wrote this just a month before the Israeli bomb attack on the house where he was sheltering in the capital. Loop to bury him with his two brothers and four nephews. In these cautionary verses – now famous – he asked: white kite So one of the children who lost his father Loop When he raised his head, I saw him flying high. “And imagine for a moment that there is an angel there bringing your love back,” he wrote on November 1.
Alarer had a special place vibrant cultural scene The story of the Strip, one of the nearly untold stories of the most densely populated place on Earth, exposed to more than 70 days of fire, disease and starvation. Raising new generation since 2007 poets and writers –mostly women– Islamic University of Gazaclose Hamas and now it is under rubble, like all the universities in the region. Shakespeare This was one of his talismans, but his priority was to give voice to others, to edit or create new stories by young writers about the tortured existence in the enclave. ‘We are not numbers’A foundation that develops new talents and supports their work.
“I have always been impressed by his ability to mobilize people and, above all, to give hope to his students,” says the political analyst and journalist. Nur OdehBecoming friends with Alarer through networks. “It gave young people the power to speak to the world and tell their stories. In a way it was a way break the blockade”.
He was sensitive and measured in the classroom, and did not hesitate to praise or criticize his work. Israeli poets like Yehuda Amichaiwas in the networks acid critical between Israeli occupation. For him, it’s a career that didn’t start in 1967. 1948 with the creation State of Israelbeginning deportation at gunpoint Number of 700,000 Palestinians Nakba. Maybe that was the reason murderIt came after advance warning by phone, but there are so many like it that the small print can’t hide that it looks like something. deliberate campaign to delete Gaza’s culture and heritage.
Dozens of dead artists
According to the report of the Palestinian Ministry of Culture in Ramallah, the Israeli army killed the fewest people. 28 artists. From painters like Heba Zaqout, To playwrights like Inas al-Saqa or like poets Hiba Abu Nada. A probably broader list includes: musicianseditors, photographers or plastic artists.
“They want to show us to the world as a human being.” primitive people and barbaric, that’s why they kill poets or destroying our cultural heritage“, he assures Khalid Hatib, He is the director of the Jerusalem-based Palestinian Heritage Museum. But the creative talent that serves to dismantle the colonial stereotypes that Israel sells to the world is only one element of continued barbarism.
The attack of the Jewish state, which has already killed one in every hundred Gazans, is also destroying its rich heritage. They architectural jewels and her museums. cultural centers and Archaeological Sites. Or documentary files holding part of the history of what is important commercial and agricultural center Between Egypt and the Levant, under the rule of Philistines and Babylonians, Greeks and Romans, Byzantines, Arabs or Ottomans.
Destruction of heritage and memory
“This is a cultural genocide. All symbols representing History of Gaza “Is impressed,” says manager Isber Sabrine Legacy for Peace, An organization dedicated to preserving the heritage of countries at war. After the first month of the conflict, this Barcelona-based NGO documented the devastation. plus a hundred historical buildingsAlmost a third of Gaza’s architectural treasure. Since then, another 40 days of war have passed.
HE Israeli culture killer destroyed most of it Gaza Grand Mosque, Dating from the 7th century, the oldest of the Strip and also the Mamluk sister Sayyid Hashimwhere his grandfather is believed to be Mohammed. Also attacked St. Porphyry’s ChurchThe third oldest in the world. old gaza city was beaten with it markets and Arab baths, some dating back to the 13th century. The excavated cemetery was destroyed Deir Al BalahIt dates back to 1500 years before Christ. And Pasha Palace Where Napoleon He remained in Gaza. It’s hard to know the extent of the damage. If they are completely or partially destroyed.
“Not only is history being destroyed, but identity of a city. These monuments unite the population with its historical past,” says Sabrine from Barcelona. “This is the same thing that happened Yugoslaviathe same thing he did ISIS inside Iraq anyone Syria or Taliban with Bamiyan Buddhas”. But there is no end to the Israeli fire digger. At least eight museums According to the Ministry of Culture, it is at least partially destroyed. cultural centers It became a meeting point with exhibitions, cinema and poetry recitals. Oxygen in an open-air prison from which few people have been able to escape for almost two decades. HE Rashad Al-Shawa It was a most beloved, brutalist building that was now completely ruined.
“When the world thinks about Gaza, it thinks: poverty, armed men and refugee camps, but Gaza has always been a vibrant cultural centerat the same time intellectual cradle of resistance”says analyst Nour Odeh. Odeh, the daughter of a former Palestinian ambassador to Spain, believes Israel is doing the same thing now as it did in 1948. Comprehensive attack on culture The Palestinians were decimated and then rejected,” he says in a telephone interview. “The new narrative has transformed us into poor, stateless people in need of help, rather than a people from whom everything has been taken away.”
Refaat Alarer’s poem does not end with the anger, resentment or sadness that surrounds Palestinians today because of what has happened. “If I must die, let it be so instill hopeto inspire a story,” say the Gaza poet’s last lines.