Friday, December 15, 1:00 PM EDT
Portrait of a Palestinian Life: Remembering Ref’at Al-Alreer
Ref`at al-Areer is a beloved Palestinian writer, poet, and scholar who was killed by an Israeli strike on 6 December along with his brother and his son, his sister and her three children.
His killing reverberated the world over, with his latest poem, “If I Must Die,” translated into more than 200 languages and recited publicly by poets, scholars, and celebrities in Palestine and internationally.
He is celebrated as a symbol of Gaza’s steadfastness and conscience.
Join us for a conversation with Jehad Abusalim, a former student and friend, in conversation with Bassam Haddad.
Featuring
Jehad Abu Salim is Executive Director of the Jerusalem Fund and Palestine Center in Washington D.C. He is completing his PhD in the History and Hebrew and Judaic Studies joint program at New York University. His main area of research is Palestinian and Arab perceptions of the Zionist project and the Jewish question before 1948. Jehad recently edited the book Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, published by Haymarket Books in 2022.
Bassam Haddad is Founding Director of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program and Associate Professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. He is the author of Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience (Stanford University Press, 2011) and co-editor of A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East (Stanford University Press, 2021). Bassam is Co-Founder/Editor of Jadaliyya Ezine and Executive Director of the Arab Studies Institute. He serves as Founding Editor of the Arab Studies Journal and the Knowledge Production Project. He is co-producer/director of the award-winning documentary film, About Baghdad, and director of the acclaimed series Arabs and Terrorism. Bassam serves on the Board of the Arab Council for the Social Sciences and is Executive Producer of Status Audio Magazine and Director of the Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI). He received MESA's Jere L. Bacharach Service Award in 2017 for his service to the profession. Currently, Bassam is working on his second Syria book titled Understanding the Syrian Calamity: Regime, Opposition, Outsiders (forthcoming, Stanford University Press).