If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose

Israel killed the Palestinian writer Refaat Alareer on 7 December 2023, in the first months of the genocide in Gaza. The poem from which the book gets its title catapulted Alaeer into international prominence after his murder, a message that is now inscribed into our conscious and conscience. However, this collection of writings is a sombre reminded that such voices should be still alive, writing and leading the struggle against Zionist colonialism.

Alareer reminds the reader of the continuation that is Zionist annihilation of Palestine, as the writings in the anthology span the period between 2010 and 2023. Annihilation comes in several forms, we are reminded. Not only the killings of tens of thousands of Palestinians, but the Zionist narrative’s erasure of truth is also the annihilation of the Palestinian people and their land.

“Ten years ago not one single Palestinian (not even those with the wildest imagination) could have foreseen that certain kinds of rockets will be used in the struggle. But Israel made it possible. By crushing stone throwers, Israel was, albeit not directly, saying to the Palestinians, “you better think of other weapons.” And Palestinians did.” This excerpt from a 2011 essay by Alareer is testimony to how Palestinian resistance grew according to the expansion of Israel’s colonial violence. The intifadas were not inevitable – they were developed as a result of Israel’s determination to erase Palestinians from Palestine.

Alareer’s writings also devote ample space to the humanity that Israel crushes with the might of its bombs and bulldozers. In the midst of bombings and in their intervals, Alareer discusses his children’s questions on colonialism and violence, his contributions to education in Gaza, his encouraging students to write and “showcase Palestinian creative resistance to injustice and to Israeli racism and brutality.” Storytelling, which is the main fabric of this anthology, makes an appearance when Alareer discusses his readings of European literature and imperialist discourse – the example given being Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. “Crusoe’s imperialist discourse had never before annoyed me like it did them,” Alareer writes, noting that Palestinians should never have their stories told by anyone else when they have the capacity to narrate their stories themselves.

Read the full review at the Palestine Book Awards website