Writers, artists, scientists: Gaza mourns its cultural losses

The Gaza Health Ministry announced this week that the number of Palestinians killed by Israel’s offensive in Gaza surpassed 25,000.

But there is a hidden, second toll: the writers, historians, artists, scientists, and university professors whose deaths have left a gaping hole in Gaza’s social fabric and in the hearts of people touched and inspired by them.

It is a loss, they say, that Palestinian society will feel for generations to come.

Colleagues still mourn Muhammed Sami Qraiqea, a 24-year-old visual and digital artist who devoted his life to using art and technology to chronicle Palestinians’ plight and brighten the lives of young Gaza residents.

As a volunteer with the Tamer Institute for Community Education, Mr. Qraiqea went to classrooms and hospital rooms teaching children arts, crafts, and theater.

He spent his last days and hours using art to alleviate the psychological stress of children and families seeking refuge in the al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital, which was struck Oct. 17 by ordnance whose origin is disputed but believed by experts to have been a misfired Islamic jihad rocket.

That day Mr. Qraiqea had gathered evacuee children, formed a circle, encouraged them to express their fears, listened to them, and played with them, according to the Tamer Institute.

Shortly after, he was killed in the explosion, along with more than 200 others.

Marking his death, the Tamer Institute commended his commitment to the “resilience of humanity amidst the ruins” while “holding tightly to his cherished hopes of breaking the cycle of love and death and ending the siege and recurring atrocities.”

Fellow artist and photographer Rehaf Batniji, who trained Mr. Qraiqea in graphic art, describes him as having been “authentic” and “expressive.”

“I witnessed firsthand the remarkable creativity and resilience he possessed in the face of numerous challenges,” Ms. Batniji says. “Sometimes he would just zone out and then come up with the most wonderful ideas.”

Hiba Abu Nada, a poet who wrote an award-winning novel, dealt with the issues of justice, Palestinian reality under occupation, and the Arab Spring. She was killed Oct. 20 when an Israeli missile hit her aunt’s home in Gaza City.

In one of her final poems, “I Grant You Refuge,” written Oct. 10 amid missile strikes, she wrote:

I grant you refuge in knowing
That the dust will clear,
And they who fell in love and died together
Will one day laugh.

“With her death, I feel Gaza has suffered immense losses in the realms of culture and literature,” says fellow Gaza poet Somaya Wadi.

One of the most high-profile Gaza intellectuals killed by the Israeli military offensive was Refaat Alareer, a poet who taught English literature at the Islamic University of Gaza and whom friends and colleagues refer to as “Gaza’s voice to the world” and “a national treasure.”

“His poetry, articles, and workshops left an impact on hundreds of young people by making them believe in the power of storytelling and narrative,” says Yosuf Aljamal, a former student and friend of Mr. Alareer. “Gaza is not the same after the killing of Refaat, but he will continue to live on through his students and his powerful words.”

Mr. Alareer documented the Israel-Hamas war on social media and refused to vacate northern Gaza. He was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his sister’s home in Gaza City Dec. 26 that also killed his sister, his brother, and their families.

In one of his last social media posts, he reposted his 2011 poem “If I Must Die,” which went viral and has become a mantra for Palestinians in Gaza. In the poem, Mr. Alareer writes:

If I must die
You must live
To tell my story. ...

If I must die
Let it bring hope
Let it be a story.

Mr. Aljamal says he is convinced Israel intentionally targeted Mr. Alareer to silence him. Now, “his poems are all over the globe, more than a month after his killing.”

Aid organizations say all of Gaza’s universities have been partially or completely destroyed by the Israeli offensive, including the Islamic, Open Arab, and Al-Azhar universities.

Most recently, the Israeli military carried out the demolition of Al Israa University in southern Gaza with explosives Jan. 17. It was videotaped by the Israel Defense Forces and distributed to Israeli media, prompting the Biden administration to ask Israel for clarification for the reasons for its destruction.

The IDF said in a press statement this week that it was investigating the approval process for the demolition.

Among the dozens of university professors that the Palestinian Ministry of Higher Education reports have been killed in the Israel offensive, one loss cited by students and academics was Sufyan Tayeh, an award-winning professor, renowned figure in the field of theoretical physics, and former president of the Islamic University of Gaza.

Dr. Tayeh, who held the UNESCO Chair for Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Space Sciences in Palestine, and a top researcher in his field, was killed Dec. 2 alongside his family in an Israeli airstrike in the Al Falouja area in the Jabaliya camp.

“It is not just a loss for us academics, but for the whole world, to lose this scientific knowledge” and contributions, says colleague Amany al-Maqadema, head of the Islamic University’s international relations department. “These killings are a targeting of Gaza’s intellectual elites.”

The list of names of Gaza Palestinian artists, writers, and educators killed in the war is growing by the day as the conflict grinds on.

Other notable figures killed by the Israeli offensive include the artist Heba Zaqout, writer Youssef Dawwas, novelist Nour Hajjej, poet Muhamed Ahmed, photographer Rushdi al-Sarraj, artist Ali Nasman, and Dr. Hamam Allouh, Gaza’s only nephrology specialist.

“It is heartbreaking to know that there are many others whose stories remain untold and not adequately shared to preserve their valuable contributions” to Palestinian society and the wider world, says Ms. Batniji, the artist and photographer, whose own gallery was destroyed in a missile strike.

“The occupation fails to understand the depth of our rich cultural heritage,” she says. “By targeting these individuals, they reveal the extent of their discomfort with our vibrant cultural scene” as Palestinians in Gaza.

For many artists, the war has reinforced the relevance of a favorite quote that was oft repeated by Mr. Qraiqea, the digital artist killed in the hospital blast.

Upon observing the aftermath of the Shatila camp massacre in Lebanon in 1982, French novelist Jean Genet said, “The struggle for a country can fill a very rich life, but a short one.”