Israel has killed approximately 20,000 Palestinians in 2023. Among them was Refaat Alareer, a poet who edited Gaza Writes Back- Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine. We remember and honor Refaat Alareer for his leadership and compassion.
Refaat Alareer included in his foreword to the book a tribute to US Boats to Gaza. He wrote:
In 2011, one part of the outpouring of global solidarity activism was the project that a group of US citizens launched, to fill a whole boat with letters written to the people of Gaza by people from around the world who cared about their fate, and then to sail in to Gaza’s sea-lapped shore. They named their boat after the title of a book written (before his election) by President Barack Obama: “The Audacity of Hope.”
Long before the boat could reach Gaza, the government of Greece, under great pressure from Israel, moved in and stopped it completing its mission. But the spirit in which this book has been created and published is a spirit of reciprocity and appreciation of all the efforts made by people outside Gaza (including many very caring and well-known writers), to break through the personal isolation in which Israel has sought to keep us caged. (page 25, Gaza Writes Back, edited by Refaat Alareer)