War’s destructiveness extends beyond a tally of lives and structures lost; it extends to the richness of cultural life as well. Palestinians in Gaza say the loss of artists and academics who touched and inspired them will be felt for generations.
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Weeks before he was killed by an Israeli airstrike, Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer shared his 2011 poem If I Must Die. The persona then invites readers to make and fly white kites in his honor, so that a child in Gaza, who only knows hardship, “sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above/and thinks for a moment an angel is there/bringing back love.” Since his death in Northern Gaza on Dec. 6, his words have taken on new significance—not least for how they capture the civilian experience, but also for how they serve as a self-written eulogy for the late poet.