On Monday 20th April, the Belfast Jesuit Centre, in partnership with Christians4Palestine, had the privilege of welcoming Dr Yousef Aljamal: a Palestinian author, journalist, and the Gaza Coordinator for the Palestine Activism Program at the Quaker American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).
Dr Aljamal’s quiet strength and the clarity of his witness held the room and those who joined us on ZOOM in a deep, attentive hush. Born in a refugee camp and raised under occupation, he spoke without bitterness, even as he named the many immediate family members (sixteen in all, including four of his siblings and his father) killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces. Instead, he offered something far more arresting: a resilient hope that refuses to die. “Faith,” he said, “keeps hope alive in Gaza.”
He shared stories of his teacher, the late poet and professor Refaat Alareer (killed in an Israeli airstrike in Shuja’iyya, Gaza, on 6th December 2023) who urged his students never to fall into the trap of dehumanising or othering the oppressor. In a context where such a stance seems almost impossible, this commitment to human dignity becomes a radical act of resistance in itself. Dr Aljamal recalled Alareer’s affection for Shakespeare, and the way he would turn to the character of Shylock not to reinforce the old caricature, but to subvert it: inviting his students to imagine themselves in Shylock’s place, to feel what it is to be cast as the outsider, and in so doing to recognise how easily any people can be diminished by the stories told about them.
Dr Aljamal has since edited a book of his former professor’s work, If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose. The book takes its title from the poem of the same name, written by Alareer years before his death, which opens with the lines, “If I must die, / you must live / to tell my story.” Dr Aljamal told the story of his teacher’s life with gratitude, gentle humour, and above all, great hope.
He also spoke movingly of the oppression the Israeli government inflicts on its own people by sending their sons and daughters into a conflict so bloody that they are traumatised for life by what they witness and by the atrocities they are forced to carry out. “When I go to my bed at night, I can sleep peacefully, knowing that I am not an oppressor of anyone,” he said, poignantly.
Throughout the evening, he returned again and again to the power of narrative: how storytelling becomes a way of insisting that Palestinian voices matter, that their lives and losses are not erased, and that their humanity is neither negotiable nor forgotten. His words reminded us that hope is not naïve; it is a discipline, a way of refusing to surrender the truth of one’s own story.
Speaking with gratitude of the aid agencies at work in Gaza, he mentioned two in particular: UNRWA, which he credited with giving him opportunities that would otherwise have been impossible to access; and the AFSC, the organisation he works for, which “works with communities worldwide to challenge injustice and build conditions for lasting peace.” He encouraged those present to donate to these organisations if they are able.
The hope that ran through the evening grew even stronger when Michael Malone of Christians4Palestine gave an update on a twinning initiative between the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Diocese of Down and Connor. This partnership will see the West Belfast Family of Parishes twinning with parishes in the West Bank, providing concrete support that helps Palestinians remain in the land they call home. As Alareer wrote, “If I must die / let it bring hope / let it be a tale.”