Refaat Alareer
Refaat Alareer is a renowned Palestinian writer, poet, literary scholar, and activist, often referred to as ‘the voice of Gaza’. Alareer was one of the founders of “We Are Not Numbers” project, a Palestinian non-profit set up in 2015 that joined writers from around the world with young people in Gaza to “tell the stories behind the numbers of Palestinians in the news”. He was the co-editor of the book, Gaza Unsilenced, and the editor of Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine. Alareer was killed in an Israeli strike on December 6, 2023. A native of Gaza, he described his home as the “epitome of resurrection that refuses to kneel to Israel’s barbarity” (Al Jazeera).