Watch: Irish artists paint martyred Palestinian academic’s 'If I must die' at Falls Road

In a touching tribute and show of solidarity, Irish artists painted an amazing artwork at Falls Road in North Ireland’s Belfast City depicting the words of Refaat Al-Areer’s poem 'If I must die' to honor the Palestinian academic assassinated by the Israeli Occupation Forces in Gaza. Read More

Belfast (Ireland): In a touching tribute and show of solidarity, Irish artists painted an amazing artwork at Falls Road in North Ireland’s Belfast City depicting the words of Refaat Al-Areer’s poem 'If I must die' to honor the Palestinian academic assassinated by the Israeli Occupation Forces in Gaza.

Refaat Al-Areer was a highly respected Palestinian activist and an acclaimed Professor of World Literature and Creative Writing at the Islamic University of Gaza and the Editor of Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine (2013). He was killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces in a cold-blooded murder on December 6, 2023, along with his brother, nephew, his sister, and three of her children.

Refaat is famous for sharing countless narratives about the horrors of the Israeli occupation and system of apartheid. He mentored a number of Palestinian writers, including Yousef Aljamal, who describes him as“the giant of the Palestinian narrative coming out of Gaza”, and Alia Kassab, one of his student, who while mourning the brutal killing of Refaat said, “… the world lost a great educator, a free soul, a remarkable storyteller, a powerful man and a father.”

Following his brutal murder at the hands of the Zionist forces, Refaat Al-Areer’s poem ‘If I must die’ originally written in English, is being widely shared on different social media platforms and by various websites.

A dedicated website ‘ifimustdie.net’ has also been launched which along with the original transcript also has translation of the poem in more than 60 languages including Arabic, Urdu, Spanish, Hindi, Marathi, Greek, Russian, Italian, French and others.

If I Must Die

If I must die,
you must live
to tell my story
to sell my things
to buy a piece of cloth
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail)
so that a child, somewhere in Gaza
while looking heaven in the eye
awaiting his dad who left in a blaze —
and bid no one farewell
not even to his flesh
not even to himself —
sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above,
and thinks for a moment an angel is there
bringing back love.
If I must die
let it bring hope,
let it be a story.

Renowned actor Brian Cox has given the poem his voice whereas quite a few musical rendering of the poem sung by popular singers are also occupying the Internet and social media spaces.

‘If I must die’ riffs on Harlem Renaissance poet Claude McKay’s “If we must die” written in response to the ‘Red Summer’ of 1919 which became for many African Americans an anthem for resistance against the anti-black violence sweeping the United States of America.

Already available in text and audio, Refaat’s ‘If I must die’ has now been amazingly depicted into an artwork by the Belfast artists at Falls Road which is witness to some historic events and civil rights movements, especially the turbulent time of August 1969. Watch below:

Amazing art works depicting the words of 'if I must die' poem were painted by Belfast artists at Falls Road to honor the Palestinian academic Refaat Al-Areer, who was assassinated by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. pic.twitter.com/9HDwjCSWhk

— PALESTINE ONLINE (@OnlinePalEng) March 6, 2024

Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic.