MAHMOUD DARWISH (1941 - 2008)
THE POET OF PALESTINIAN IDENTITY
“I have learned and dismantled all the words in order to draw from them a single word: Home.”
Excerpt from I Belong There, 1986
A cornerstone of Arabic literature, Mahmoud Darwish was a deeply beloved poet, author, and cultural icon. Expelled from his village of Al-Birweh in 1947, he soon returned to find that it had been destroyed, two Israeli settlements standing in its place. Over the course of his life, he lived as an exile in seven countries, as a refugee in his own homeland, and as a prisoner behind Israeli bars for resisting the colonization of his land through pen and paper. “Sometimes they arrest you while you are committing a dream,” he wrote. [1] No stranger to Israel’s silencing tactics, Darwish was even placed under house arrest when Palestinian demonstrators turned his poem Identity Card into a protest song.
Darwish’s over 30 books of poetry speak of love, of exile and longing for homeland, of Palestinian resistance, and of the joy and pain of the common human experience. His writing has on multiple occasions sent Israeli society and politicians into uproar. ''The Israelis do not want to teach students that there is a love story between an Arab poet and this land,'' Darwish said. ''I just wish they'd read me to enjoy my poetry, not as a representative of the enemy.'' [2]
In 1996, Israel granted him permission to live in the Palestinian city of Ramallah. He passed away in 2008. A kind, polite man with a sharp wit and sense of humor, a humanist and poetic tour-de-force, Darwish will forever be remembered as the Palestinian National Poet.
Ancestors of Palestinian Liberation is a collaboration of Anemoia Projects and Palestine Advocacy Project
Learn more about Mahmoud Darwish:
The Palestine Project- Exile is so strong within me ,I may bring it to the land, an interview with Mahmoud Darwish.
An English translation of an extensive interview with Darwish, conducted in Hebrew by the Israeli poet and literary critic Helit Yeshurun. It explores in depth themes of identity and exile.
Mahmoud Darwish Foundation- Biography from Darwish Museum
A biography of Darwish largely consisting of his direct quotes. It covers everything from his flight from Palestine, to his political evolution, to his exile in Moscow, Cairo, Beirut, Tunisia, and Paris, to his return to Palestine, to his hobbies and idiosyncrasies.
Mahmoud Darwish Foundation-
Documentary film about Mahmoud Darwish: فيلم وثائقي عن الشاعر
A documentary about the life and work of Mahmoud Darwish, including clips of his interviews and poetry readings.
Democracy Now!- Mahmoud Darwish, Poet Laureate of the Palestinians, 1941-2008
Amy Goodman examines Darwish’s life and work in interviews with those who studied his work.
Original image reference: Denis Dailleux /Agence VU'