one of the journalists i always saw on my timeline has been killed by an israeli air strikeβRefaat Alareer
this was a poem he wrote a month ago:
and these are some of his latest tweets. this is the situation he was living in. this the situation so many people with him were living in.
how much longer are we going to have to wait until the world powers decide to do something?
βThere is no way out of Gaza. What should we do... drown? Commit mass suicide? Is this what Israel wants? And we're not going to do that.. I am an academic, Probably the toughest thing I have at home is an Expo Marker. But if the Israelis invade us, If they barge at us, open door to door to massacre us, I am going to use that Marker, Throw it at the Israeli soldiers, even if that is the last thing that I will be able to do. And this is the feeling of everybody in Palestine. We are helpless and we have nothing to lose"
this is refaat. this is palestine.
this is the attitude of these fearless martyrs. their resilience. their spirit. their honour. refaat is gone but his spirit and the legacy of his resistance remains. a legacy we must continue.
please keep contacting your representatives. keep raising your voice. keep protesting. keep boycotting. keep showing the world that the palestinians are not alone. this is the very last tweet on refaatβs profile:
hold your leaders accountable. mobilise. protest. make sure they listen. the power is with you. nethanyahu would not have been so worried about the public support if it wasnβt. israel would not be trying so hard to spread false news and propaganda if it wasnβt.
the power is always with the people. we elect these politicians. we have the power to take them down. that is what democracy is. so exercise your right and PLEASE fight against injustice. no matter how long it takes. look at what refaat saidβwe are not allowed to give up when the palestinians have not given up. when people like refaat are willing to fight back with even a marker. we cannot give up. we cannot say we βfailed themβ. we have no space to do so. we must keep going.
and pleaseβ¦. as per his wishβlet refaat, and many others like him, be a symbol of hope. scream their stories in every corner of this earth. donβt let any person walking this earth not know who the palestinians are and what they fight for.
and please pray for them.