Weekly Report 6

Mahmoud Darwish was a famous Arabic poet. He was from Palestine, and many of his poems had political themes related to Israel and the liberation of Palestine. He used the country as a metaphor for the loss of Eden, birth and resurrection, and the anguish of dispossession and exile. Additionally, he served as an editor for several literary magazines in Israel. Mahmoud Darwish was born in Western Galilee. He and his parents had to flee from his home village when it was attacked by Israeli forces. They ended up destroying the whole town to prevent former Palestinian inhabitants from returning. He wrote his first book of poetry at the age of 19, entitled “Wingless Birds.” He published poems in the literary periodical for the Israeli Communist party Al Jadid, and eventually became its editor. He left Israel in 1970 to study at a university in Moscow, before moving to Egypt and joining the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization). He was married twice and divorced. He wrote more than 30 books of poetry in his life and eight books of prose. Some were quite controversial, like “ID Card”, which speaks of Palestinian revolt after being maltreated by the Israelis for so long and included the following lines.

But if I starve
I will eat my oppressor’s flesh
Beware, beware of my starving
And my rage

Some of his works include Awraq Al-Zaytun (Leaves of olives) 1964, Ashiq min filastin (A lover from Palestine) 1966, Akhir al-layl (The end of the night) 1967, Yawmiyyat jurh filastini (Diary of a Palestinian wound) 1969, and Habibati tanhad min nawmiha (My beloved awakens) 1969.