Jacksonville, FL – In the week of the Palestinian martyr and poet Refaat Alareer’s birthday, the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network came together with over 50 community members for a weekend of fostering connections, flying kites in solidarity, and honoring the martyrs of Palestine.

In the two-day event from September 27 to 28, organizers guided children and parents in kite building and flying, while learning about the symbolic meaning of kite flying in Gaza, Palestinian sumud* and resilience, and the life and legacy of Alareer among other prolific Palestinian writers.

Throughout the Saturday kite-building day, JPSN members showed community members iconic symbols of the Palestinian people, like the Key of Return, Handala, tatreez patterns and the kuffiyyeh motif. Families were engaged in materials on the history of kite flying in Palestine.

“Why do children in Palestine fly kites?” one JPSN speaker asked in her opening statement, “Because it lets children feel free, where they are occupied. Because even when the land, air, and sea are under siege, the occupation can never take away the hope for a better tomorrow, a tomorrow with a Free Palestine.”

Inspired by the more than 15,000 kites flown in Gaza, breaking the world record in 2011, JPSN honors the children of Gaza and promises to continue Refaat Alareer’s legacy. On Sunday, as children flew their kites high, his poetry echoed in the park.

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 tale

Alareer dedicated his life to teaching hundreds of Palestinians how to write their own stories. He acknowledged the importance of cultural production as resistance, in direct opposition to the historic subjugation of Palestinian narratives by Zionists and Western imperialists.

Alareer famously said in a 2019 lecture, “Palestine was first and foremost occupied in Zionist literature,” referring to documents like the 1917 Balfour Declaration that set the stage for British occupation and Zionist collaboration.

One JPSN speaker said between reciting poems, “Alareer, like Kanafani and the Tuqan siblings, understood the necessity to combat propaganda and we remember their words lit the fire of resistance and we have the duty to pass the torch, from generation to generation.”

*Sumud is the Arabic word for “steadfastness” largely attributed to the perseverance of Palestinians in the face of Zionist occupation

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