From Palestine to Mahmoud Darwish

Mahmoud Darwish was born in the Galilean village of al-Birwa of March 13th 1941. Forced from his home village in 1948, along with hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, Darwish spent much of life in exile but Palestine never left him. This Palestinian experience of displacement and exile, and a profound love for his homeland, was the focus of much of his literary work which saw him go on to become the national Palestinian poet and the leader of the resistance poetry movement. Yet throughout his life, his literary work and his political activism became deeply intertwined.

Read the MEMO Profile on Mahmoud Darwish.

In 1970, Darwish first joined the PLO and was later elected to its executive committee in 1987. The following year it was Darwish who wrote the text for the ‘Palestinian Declaration of Independence’ that Yasser Arafat proclaimed in November of that year. Yet only 6 years later, Darwish penned his resignation following the signing of the Oslo Accords.

Darwish died in Houston, America, in 2008 and his body was returned to Palestine where he was finally laid to rest alongside the Ramallah Cultural Palace. His death was felt deeply by across Palestine and by Palestinians the world over and his State Funeral was followed by 3 days of national mourning.

On the fourth anniversary of Darwish’s death, the Mahmoud Darwish Musem was opened alongside his tomb in Ramallah. At the opening ceremony, then Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad stated that the museum, “was made to befit this poet’s enormous imprint on the Palestinian people”.

Had it not been for his untimely death, March 13th 2015 would have marked Mahmoud Darwish’s 74th birthday although even after his death his work and vision remain alive in many Palestinians today. In al-Birwa Park in Ramallah, the museum stands as a small but significant tribute to a man whose life work was devoted to the struggle for Palestinian rights. Inscribed at the monument alongside his tomb are the words ‘From Palestine to Mahmoud Darwish’.

Images by MEMO Photographer Rich Wiles.