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Omar Fares Abu Shawish | |
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عمر فارس أبو شاويش | |
Born | Omar Fares Omar Abu Shawish 22 March 1987 Nuseirat Camp, Gaza Strip |
Died | 7 October 2023 Nuseirat Camp, Gaza Strip | (aged 36)
Occupation(s) | Poet, novelist and social activist |
Omar Fares Abu Shawish (Arabic: عمر فارس أبو شاويش; 22 March 1987 – 7 October 2023) was a Palestinian poet and novelist. He was a well-known social activist at the Nuseirat refugee camp. He was killed at the refugee camp by an Israeli airstrike in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war.[1]
AAbu Shawish was born in the Nuseirat refugee camp on 22 March 1987.[2] His family are refugees from Barqa, Gaza, which was occupied and depopulated on 13 May 1948 during Operation Barak, a Yishuv offensive in southern Palestine just prior to the outbreak of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.[3] He received a bachelor's degree in journalism from Al-Azhar University, Gaza.[2] He was a member of the General Union for Palestinian Writers and the People's Committee for Refugees.[4] He was a co-founder of the Palestine Youth Cultural Network. He also wrote a number of patriotic and humanitarian songs, which spread widely during the Gaza War (2008–2009).[2]
He won several local and international awards, including:[2]
He published a number of collections of poetry, and a novel, titled 'Alā qayd al-mawt (Arabic: على قيد الموت), which was published by Bayt al-Yasmin in 2016.[6] His novel was critically received in Palestine.[7][8] The book was republished by Al Manhal in 2018.
On 7 October 2023, he was killed in an Israeli airstrike which hit his home in Nuseirat Camp during the Israel–Hamas war.[9][10]