Abstract
This study investigates the cultural resistance embodied in the literary and academic contributions of Palestinian writer Refaat Alareer as a potent response to the ongoing Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip. It situates literature within an existential framework of defiance, positioning Alareer as a prominent voice within the broader tradition of Palestinian resistance literature—from Ghassan Kanafani to contemporary figures. The research is driven by a central question: how can literature serve as an effective tool of resistance under conditions of protracted siege, systemic violence, and attempted erasure? Methodologically, the study employs a descriptive analytical approach and discourse analysis to examine Alareer’s cultural and political responsibility. The findings reveal that Alareer’s work transcends mere documentation, constituting a counter-discourse that dismantles colonial misrepresentations and affirms Palestinian identity across linguistic and cultural domains. Ultimately, the study underscores the enduring power of cultural expression as a means of survival, solidarity, and resistance in Gaza.
Keywords
Palestine Gaza Palestinian literature resistance literature cultural resistance occupation and identity Refaat Alareer.
References
- “A Bilingual Poem from Gaza,” by Refaat Alareer. World Literature Today. Accessed May 31, 2025. https://worldliteraturetoday.org.
- Alareer, Refaat. Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine. Charlottesville, VA: Just World Books, 2014.
- ———. “Gaza Writes Back: Narrating Palestine.” Biography 37, no. 2 (2014): 524–537.
- ———. If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose. Edited by Yousef M. Aljamal. New York: OR Books, 2024.
- ———. Unframing John Donne’s Transgressive Poetry in Light of Bakhtin’s Dialogic Theories. PhD diss., Universiti Putra Malaysia, 2017.
- Ali, Fatma R. R., Inass A. A. Ali, and Hajer M. M. Albur. “Resilience in the Face of Mortality: A Literary Analysis of Rifaat Alareer’s If I Must Die.” Global Journal of Research in Education & Literature 4, no. 5 (2024): 8–17.
- Aljamal, Yousef M. “Introduction.” In If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose, by Refaat Alareer. New York: OR Books, 2024.
- ———. “Remembering Refaat Alareer: The Legacy of Gaza’s Storyteller.” Journal of Palestine Studies 53, no. 2 (2024): 120–124.
- Ben-Dror, Elad. “The Hamas War against Israel as Reflected in the Poetry Written by Its Leaders during the First Intifada and the Early Years of Implementation of the Oslo Accords.” Digest of Middle East Studies 32, no. 4 (2023): 340–360.
- Chen, Kuan-Yu. “The Enigma of Frantz Fanon.” The Nation. June 3, 2024. https://www.thenation.com/article/society/frantz-fanon-rebels-clinic/
- Electronic Intifada [@intifada]. X (formerly Twitter). Accessed May 19, 2025. https://x.com/intifada.
- Global Rights. “The Writer and Academic Refaat Alareer Killed Yesterday by Israeli Bombs.” Global Rights. December 8, 2023. Accessed December 16, 2025. https://globalrights.info/2023/12/the-writer-and-academic-refaat-alareer-killed-yesterday-by-israeli-bombs/
- Harlow, Barbara. Resistance Literature. New York: Methuen, 1987.
- Heroes from Gaza. This Week in Palestine, no. 315 (2024).
- Holt, Elizabeth M. “Resistance Literature and Occupied Palestine in Cold War Beirut.” Journal of Palestine Studies 50, no. 1 (2020): 3–18.
- Hussein, Asma. “Refaat Alareer’s ‘If I Must Die’: The Death of the Author, the Afterlife of the Tale.” Arab Studies Quarterly 47, no. 2 (2025): 85–101.
- Huxley, Aldous. Texts and Pretexts: An Anthology with Commentaries. 3rd ed. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1933.
- “If I Must Die.” In Gaza, My Gaza!. Accessed June 20, 2025. https://thisisgaza.wordpress.com.
- “In the Zone of Nonbeing.” The Nation. Accessed June 23, 2025. https://www.thenation.com.
- Ismāʻīl, ʻAbd Allāh Aḥmad. Al-adab wa-funūnuh: Dirāsah wa-naqd. 9th ed. Cairo: Dār al-Fikr al-ʻArabī, 2013.
- “Israel Bombing Kills Writer Refaat Alareer in Gaza.” ANF English. Accessed June 10, 2025. https://anfenglish.com.
- “Israel’s Occupation of Palestinian Territory.” Amnesty International. Accessed May 27, 2025. https://www.amnesty.org.
- Kingsley, Peter. “In Gaza, a Contentious Palestinian Professor Calmly Teaches Israeli Poetry.” The New York Times, November 16, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/16/world/middleeast/gaza-university-israel-poet.html
- Mahfoodh, Hussein A. A. K. Home, Exile, and Resistance in Modern Arab Poetry. PhD diss., University of Surrey, 2023.
- Mir, Salam. “Palestinian Literature: Occupation and Exile.” Arab Studies Quarterly 35, no. 2 (2013): 110–129.
- Odysseos, Louiza. “Stolen Life’s Poetic Revolt.” Millennium: Journal of International Studies 47, no. 3 (2019): 341–372.
- Plys, Kristin. “The Poetry of Resistance: Poetry as Solidarity in Postcolonial Anti-Authoritarian Movements in Islamicate South Asia.” Theory, Culture & Society 37, nos. 7–8 (2020): 295–313.
- Procter, Chris. “Coerced Migration: Mobility under Siege in Gaza.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 50, no. 10 (2024): 2359–2383.
- “Refaat Alareer: Literature as Resistance.” Canadian Dimension. Accessed June 21, 2025. https://canadiandimension.com.
- “Refaat Alareer: UCL Urged to Issue Statement on Ex-Student’s Death.” BBC News. Accessed May 19, 2025. https://www.bbc.com.
- Skopic, Anna. “Refaat Alareer’s White Kite Will Fly Forever.” Current Affairs, December 10, 2024. https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/refaat-alareers-white-kite-will-fly-forever
- “Refaat Alareer Shāʻiran wa-Shahīdan… Min Ajl an Taḥkī Qaṣṣatī.” Al-Araby al-Jadeed. Accessed June 1, 2025. https://www.alaraby.co.uk.
- Shakespeare, William. Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Edited by John Livingston Lowes. New York: Henry Holt, 1914.
- Shukrī, Ghālī. Adab al-Muqāwamah. Windsor: Muʼassasat Hindāwī, 2024.
- Sprengel, Matthias. Review of Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine, edited by Refaat Alareer. Journal of Internal Displacement 4, no. 2 (2014): 39–41.
- “TEDx Talks: Stories Make Us.” Video recording. YouTube. Accessed June 21, 2025. https://www.youtube.com.
- “The Story of a Poem: Refaat Alareer’s ‘If I Must Die.’” ArabLit. Accessed June 20, 2025. https://arablit.org.
- Wassiliwizky, Eugen, Stefan Koelsch, Valentin Wagner, Thomas Jacobsen, and Winfried Menninghaus. “The Emotional Power of Poetry: Neural Circuitry, Psychophysiology and Compositional Principles.” Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 12, no. 8 (2017): 1229–1240.
Abstract
Bu çalışma, Filistinli yazar Refaat Alareer’in edebi ve akademik katkılarında vücut bulan kültürel direnişi, Gazze Şeridi’ndeki devam eden İsrail işgaline karşı güçlü bir yanıt olarak incelemektedir. Çalışma, edebiyatı varoluşsal bir meydan okuma çerçevesine yerleştirerek Alareer’i, Ghassan Kanafani’den günümüze uzanan geniş Filistin direniş edebiyatı geleneği içinde öne çıkan bir ses olarak konumlandırmaktadır. Araştırma şu temel soruya odaklanmaktadır: Uzun süreli kuşatma, sistematik şiddet ve yok etme girişimleri altında edebiyat nasıl etkili bir direniş aracı olabilir? Yöntem olarak betimsel analitik yaklaşım ve söylem analizi kullanılmakta; Alareer’in kültürel ve politik sorumluluğu incelenmektedir. Bulgular, Alareer’in eserlerinin salt bir belge olmanın ötesine geçtiğini, sömürgeci yanlış temsilleri yıkan ve Filistin kimliğini dilsel ve kültürel alanlarda yeniden doğrulayan karşı söylemler oluşturduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Sonuç olarak, çalışma Gazze’de hayatta kalma, dayanışma ve direnişin bir aracı olarak kültürel ifadenin kalıcı gücünü vurgulamaktadır.
Keywords
Filistin Gazze Filistin edebiyatı direniş edebiyatı kültürel direniş işgal ve kimlik Refaat Alareer.
References
- “A Bilingual Poem from Gaza,” by Refaat Alareer. World Literature Today. Accessed May 31, 2025. https://worldliteraturetoday.org.
- Alareer, Refaat. Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine. Charlottesville, VA: Just World Books, 2014.
- ———. “Gaza Writes Back: Narrating Palestine.” Biography 37, no. 2 (2014): 524–537.
- ———. If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose. Edited by Yousef M. Aljamal. New York: OR Books, 2024.
- ———. Unframing John Donne’s Transgressive Poetry in Light of Bakhtin’s Dialogic Theories. PhD diss., Universiti Putra Malaysia, 2017.
- Ali, Fatma R. R., Inass A. A. Ali, and Hajer M. M. Albur. “Resilience in the Face of Mortality: A Literary Analysis of Rifaat Alareer’s If I Must Die.” Global Journal of Research in Education & Literature 4, no. 5 (2024): 8–17.
- Aljamal, Yousef M. “Introduction.” In If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose, by Refaat Alareer. New York: OR Books, 2024.
- ———. “Remembering Refaat Alareer: The Legacy of Gaza’s Storyteller.” Journal of Palestine Studies 53, no. 2 (2024): 120–124.
- Ben-Dror, Elad. “The Hamas War against Israel as Reflected in the Poetry Written by Its Leaders during the First Intifada and the Early Years of Implementation of the Oslo Accords.” Digest of Middle East Studies 32, no. 4 (2023): 340–360.
- Chen, Kuan-Yu. “The Enigma of Frantz Fanon.” The Nation. June 3, 2024. https://www.thenation.com/article/society/frantz-fanon-rebels-clinic/
- Electronic Intifada [@intifada]. X (formerly Twitter). Accessed May 19, 2025. https://x.com/intifada.
- Global Rights. “The Writer and Academic Refaat Alareer Killed Yesterday by Israeli Bombs.” Global Rights. December 8, 2023. Accessed December 16, 2025. https://globalrights.info/2023/12/the-writer-and-academic-refaat-alareer-killed-yesterday-by-israeli-bombs/
- Harlow, Barbara. Resistance Literature. New York: Methuen, 1987.
- Heroes from Gaza. This Week in Palestine, no. 315 (2024).
- Holt, Elizabeth M. “Resistance Literature and Occupied Palestine in Cold War Beirut.” Journal of Palestine Studies 50, no. 1 (2020): 3–18.
- Hussein, Asma. “Refaat Alareer’s ‘If I Must Die’: The Death of the Author, the Afterlife of the Tale.” Arab Studies Quarterly 47, no. 2 (2025): 85–101.
- Huxley, Aldous. Texts and Pretexts: An Anthology with Commentaries. 3rd ed. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1933.
- “If I Must Die.” In Gaza, My Gaza!. Accessed June 20, 2025. https://thisisgaza.wordpress.com.
- “In the Zone of Nonbeing.” The Nation. Accessed June 23, 2025. https://www.thenation.com.
- Ismāʻīl, ʻAbd Allāh Aḥmad. Al-adab wa-funūnuh: Dirāsah wa-naqd. 9th ed. Cairo: Dār al-Fikr al-ʻArabī, 2013.
- “Israel Bombing Kills Writer Refaat Alareer in Gaza.” ANF English. Accessed June 10, 2025. https://anfenglish.com.
- “Israel’s Occupation of Palestinian Territory.” Amnesty International. Accessed May 27, 2025. https://www.amnesty.org.
- Kingsley, Peter. “In Gaza, a Contentious Palestinian Professor Calmly Teaches Israeli Poetry.” The New York Times, November 16, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/16/world/middleeast/gaza-university-israel-poet.html
- Mahfoodh, Hussein A. A. K. Home, Exile, and Resistance in Modern Arab Poetry. PhD diss., University of Surrey, 2023.
- Mir, Salam. “Palestinian Literature: Occupation and Exile.” Arab Studies Quarterly 35, no. 2 (2013): 110–129.
- Odysseos, Louiza. “Stolen Life’s Poetic Revolt.” Millennium: Journal of International Studies 47, no. 3 (2019): 341–372.
- Plys, Kristin. “The Poetry of Resistance: Poetry as Solidarity in Postcolonial Anti-Authoritarian Movements in Islamicate South Asia.” Theory, Culture & Society 37, nos. 7–8 (2020): 295–313.
- Procter, Chris. “Coerced Migration: Mobility under Siege in Gaza.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 50, no. 10 (2024): 2359–2383.
- “Refaat Alareer: Literature as Resistance.” Canadian Dimension. Accessed June 21, 2025. https://canadiandimension.com.
- “Refaat Alareer: UCL Urged to Issue Statement on Ex-Student’s Death.” BBC News. Accessed May 19, 2025. https://www.bbc.com.
- Skopic, Anna. “Refaat Alareer’s White Kite Will Fly Forever.” Current Affairs, December 10, 2024. https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/refaat-alareers-white-kite-will-fly-forever
- “Refaat Alareer Shāʻiran wa-Shahīdan… Min Ajl an Taḥkī Qaṣṣatī.” Al-Araby al-Jadeed. Accessed June 1, 2025. https://www.alaraby.co.uk.
- Shakespeare, William. Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Edited by John Livingston Lowes. New York: Henry Holt, 1914.
- Shukrī, Ghālī. Adab al-Muqāwamah. Windsor: Muʼassasat Hindāwī, 2024.
- Sprengel, Matthias. Review of Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine, edited by Refaat Alareer. Journal of Internal Displacement 4, no. 2 (2014): 39–41.
- “TEDx Talks: Stories Make Us.” Video recording. YouTube. Accessed June 21, 2025. https://www.youtube.com.
- “The Story of a Poem: Refaat Alareer’s ‘If I Must Die.’” ArabLit. Accessed June 20, 2025. https://arablit.org.
- Wassiliwizky, Eugen, Stefan Koelsch, Valentin Wagner, Thomas Jacobsen, and Winfried Menninghaus. “The Emotional Power of Poetry: Neural Circuitry, Psychophysiology and Compositional Principles.” Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 12, no. 8 (2017): 1229–1240.
Details
| Primary Language | English |
|---|---|
| Subjects | Culture, Representation and Identity |
| Journal Section | Research Article |
| Authors | |
| Submission Date | August 2, 2025 |
| Acceptance Date | December 22, 2025 |
| Publication Date | December 31, 2025 |
| Published in Issue | Year 2025 Issue: 18 |
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Filistin Araştırmaları Dergisi- FAD
[Bulletin of Palestine Studies]
[כתב העת ללימודים פלסטיניים]
[مجلة دراسات فلسطينية ]
ISSN: 2587-2532
E-ISSN 2587-1862