One of the founders of the We Are Not Numbers project and a professor at the Islamic University in Gaza, Refaat Alarel, was killed by Israeli forces, his friends announced Thursday.
We Are Not Numbers, an initiative of Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, pairs Palestinian writers with mentors to write stories “behind the numbers of victims”.
“[Alareer] has authored many books and written dozens of stories about Gaza. Refaat’s murder is tragic, painful and outrageous. It is a huge loss,” said his friend, We Are Not Numbers co-founder Ahmed Alnaouq wrote on X.
Following the publication of this article, Times editors conducted a review of supplementary information that contradicts the portrayal of Refaat Alareer, a literature professor at Islamic University in Gaza. In the article, Alareer was depicted as presenting Israeli poems in a positive light to his Palestinian students.
In a class observed by a Times reporter, Mr. Alareer praised a poem by Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai, calling it “beautiful” and emphasizing the “shared humanity” of Israelis and Palestinians. He expressed admiration for how the poem conveyed Jerusalem as a place where people of all religions and faiths come together.
However, in a video from a 2019 class, he referred to the same poem as “horrible” and “dangerous,” stating that while aesthetically beautiful, it “brainwashes” readers by portraying Israelis as “innocent.” He also criticized another Israeli poem by Tuvya Ruebner as “dangerous,” suggesting it played a role in the ethnic cleansing and destruction of Palestine.
When confronted about the inconsistency, Mr. Alareer denied a “substantial change” in his teaching and asserted that highlighting parallels between Palestinians and Jews was his “ultimate goal.” Nevertheless, he argued that Israel employed literature as “a tool of colonialism and oppression,” raising “legitimate questions” about Mr. Amichai’s poem.
Considering this additional information, editors concluded that the article failed to accurately represent Mr. Alareer’s views on Israeli poetry or his teaching approach. Acknowledging that more extensive reporting on Mr. Alareer would have provided a more comprehensive picture, The Times recognizes the need for a more nuanced understanding of the professor’s stance.
