A Life on the Path of Poetry and Resistance: Mahmoud Darwish
Birth and Childhood
Mahmoud Darwish was born to a Muslim family on March 13, 1941, in the village of Al-Birwa, in the city of Acre in the Galilee region of Palestine. His father was Elim, and his mother was Huriyye (Halil, 2011, p. 15). At that time, Palestine was under British mandate. Darwish was born in a land marked by war and suffering throughout history. His birth year came seven years before the Nakba (the Great Catastrophe), a period of intense suffering.
In 1948, Israel occupied most of Palestine, including Darwish’s village of Al-Birwa (al-Naqqash, 2011, pp. 96-97). Mahmoud Darwish was one of the first victims of the occupation and the subsequent political conflict, pain, and tears.
At the age of seven, Darwish was forced to flee to Lebanon due to the war, only to return to his homeland, Palestine, illegally with his family after some time (Halil, 2011, p. 16).
The family first settled in Dayr al-Asad and later in the village of Al-Jadida, where Darwish began his primary education (Dekroob, 2015). During inspections by the Israeli Ministry of Education, the school principal locked Darwish away to avoid any problems due to his illegal return to the country. In addition to these hardships, Darwish’s family struggled with financial difficulties (Amr, 2012, p. 9).
In his autobiographical work, In the Presence of Absence, Darwish describes how his father struggled to cover their education costs and how one of the siblings was asked to leave school to ease the financial burden. When each sibling volunteered, Darwish described his father’s and siblings’ situation (Darwish, n.d., Vol. II, p. 253).
The period following Israel’s occupation of Palestine deeply impacted Darwish’s life. In one of his poems, Darwish expresses how the occupation changed his life and how he had no permanent address:
“A square meter in prison,
A seat on a train,
An intensive care unit,
A room in a hotel.”
These lines summarize Darwish’s life spatially. His life is a reflection of exile: a spatial exile moving between prison, travel, and hospital and a psychological exile witnessing Israel’s massacres. Both types of exile are evident in his life and literary identity.
During his primary school years, Darwish was passionate about drawing, but due to his family’s financial difficulties, he had to give it up. However, encouraged by his teacher, Nemr Marcos, Darwish turned to poetry. After reciting a poem addressing a Jewish child at an Israeli Independence Day celebration at the request of his school principal, Darwish found himself before an Israeli military judge. The judge threatened the young Darwish, warning that if he continued writing such poems, his father would lose his job (al-Naqqash, 2011, p. 104).
Youth
Despite the judge’s threats, Darwish published his first poetry collection, Wingless Sparrows, in 1960. At the time, Darwish had just finished high school, which he attended in Kafr Yasif, near Haifa (Wazin, 2008, p. 3).
Haifa is vital in Darwish’s life, where he lived for ten years and experienced his first love. Darwish began adopting Marxist ideas in high school and joined the Israeli Communist Party in 1961 (Amr, 2012, p. 12). The party’s slogan, “Against Colonialism with the Arab People,” strongly influenced the young Darwish. He was encouraged to join the party by Palestinian Christian Emile Habibi, who represented the party in the Israeli parliament until 1972. Darwish worked for the party’s publications, al-Ittihad newspaper, and al-Jadeed magazine. In his twenties, he became the editor of al-Jadeed (Halil, 2011, p. 16).
With his growing reputation as a poet, particularly after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and the Arab public’s increasing interest in Palestinian resistance literature, Darwish’s star rose. However, his participation in a youth festival in Sofia in 1968 as part of an Israeli delegation, along with his Palestinian poet friend Samih al-Qasim (d. 2014), sparked harsh reactions in the Arab press (al-Naqqash, 2011, p. 252).
Recâ al-Naqqash, who has done extensive research on Mahmoud Darwish, believed the criticism was unfair, noting that the festival’s organizing committee had rejected the participation of any official Israeli institution, allowing the Israeli Communist Party, which included Palestinian poets like Darwish, to attend (al-Naqqash, 2011, p. 255).
Darwish’s affiliation with the party never prevented him from criticizing Israeli oppression. As a result, he experienced imprisonment at a young age. He was first arrested in 1961 and again in 1967 after reading his poem The March of Men at a poetry night organized by the Hebrew University (al-Naqqash, 2011, p. 109).
His poetry readings often resulted in Israeli military forces surrounding the venues, as his poems were perceived as powerful blows against the Israeli state.
During the 1960s and 70s, Darwish was placed under house arrest by the Israeli military government and forbidden from leaving Haifa (Halil, 2011, p. 18). On one occasion, Darwish poignantly described the sadness of being unable to accompany his mother to the street to say goodbye on a holiday due to the restrictions imposed by the Israeli state:
“The State of Israel does not permit you to leave your home after sunset, even to say goodbye to your mother. On a holiday, you find yourself alone once again and sit on an old chair. You listen to Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1 and suddenly cry in a way you never did as a child.” (Darwish, n.d., Vol. III, p. 265).
Moscow Days
In 1970, Darwish left his beloved Haifa and went to Moscow. Despite the hardships he faced in Haifa, his departure filled him with sadness and longing for his homeland, which he expressed by drawing a parallel with Nazım Hikmet:
“Yet, a drop of water on the feather of a lark from a Haifa stone…
Is equal to all the seas.
It cleanses me of my sins.
Take me to the lost paradise.
I will cry out like Nazım Hikmet: Ah… my homeland!”
Darwish stayed in Moscow for educational purposes for only a short time. After Moscow, his next stop was Egypt, where his poetry began to evolve and mature. Cairo became the first Arab capital he visited.
Cairo Days
Between 1971 and 1972, Darwish lived in Cairo and saw himself as a product of Egyptian culture. At the suggestion of journalist Mohamed Heikal, Darwish started working for the al-Ahram newspaper. In Cairo, Darwish was surrounded by influential writers and poets like Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz (d. 2006). There, Darwish wrote poems such as In Egypt and Serhan Drinks Coffee at the Cafeteria. During this period, Darwish also joined the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) led by Yasser Arafat (d. 2004) (Halil, 2011; Amr, 2012). In his poem reflecting on his time in Egypt, Darwish captures the influence of Egyptian culture on him:
“In Egypt, the hours are never the same.
Each minute is a memory renewed by the birds of the Nile.
I was there…
Humankind was inventing.
The Sun God. No one calls themselves a ‘someone’.
I am the son of the Nile, and this name is enough for me.
From the very beginning, you call yourself the son of the Nile to avoid being forgotten.
Together, the living and the dead harvest the cotton clouds from the soil of Upper Egypt.”
Darwish considered his time in Cairo one of the most critical events in his life. He was delighted to live in an Arab city where the streets had Arabic names, and people spoke Arabic. In Cairo, Darwish decided never to return to Palestine. In Cairo, the characteristics of his poetic transformation were completed, and a new phase of his literary life began (Amr, 2012, p. 31).
Mahmoud Darwish’s journey to Egypt and his stay there are reminiscent of the famous Arab poet al-Mutanabbi’s escape to Egypt after falling out with the ruler of Aleppo, Sayf al-Dawla. The reason both poets traveled to Egypt was political.
Al-Mutanabbi (d. 965 CE) sought refuge with the emir of Egypt, Kafur, after falling out with the emir of Aleppo. Disillusioned with his time in Egypt, al-Mutanabbi wrote satirical poems about Kafur, including one famous verse in which he mocks Kafur’s past as an enslaved person:
“Only buy an enslaved person with a stick.
For enslaved people are impure and rebellious.”
Beirut Years
After Cairo, Darwish’s next refuge was Lebanon, where he lived between 1973 and 1982. While in Beirut, Darwish founded the journal al-Karmel in late 1980 and edited the magazine Issues of Palestine, the publication of the Palestinian Research Center. Darwish maintained close relations with the PLO, led by Arafat, and became the unofficial poet of the Palestinian resistance, handling the cultural aspect of the movement. Darwish wrote Arafat’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly in 1976 and drafted the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, announced in Algiers in 1988 (Halil, 2011, pp. 18-20; Yılmaz, 2013, pp. 17-22).
In 1977, Darwish married Sanaa Kabbani, the niece of Syrian poet Nizar Kabbani, though their marriage lasted only three years. In the mid-1980s, his second marriage was to Egyptian translator Hayat Hani, but it also ended in divorce after a year. Darwish had no children from either marriage (Yılmaz, 2013, pp. 21-22).
At the time, Beirut was the cultural capital of the Arab world, home to numerous literary, intellectual, and political movements. However, the Lebanese Civil War, which began in 1975, and the subsequent Israeli invasion reduced the city to ruins (Cleveland, 2008, pp. 427-429).
During his time in Beirut, the assassinations of friends like Ghassan Kanafani (d. 1972) and Majid Abu Sharar (d. 1981) by Zionists led Darwish to incorporate elegies more prominently in his poetry. One of the most significant events that left a deep psychological mark on him was the assassination of his friend Majid Abu Sharar by Mossad agents during a conference in Rome in 1981. Darwish wrote the following lines in memory of his fallen friends:
“My friends!
Think of me a little.
Love me a little.
Please, do not die as you died; do not die!
Wait for me another year.
A year…
Just one more year…”
In 1982, Israel launched a military offensive against Lebanon to expel PLO forces led by Arafat, culminating in the occupation of Beirut. Several tragic events, including the Sabra and Shatila massacre, marked the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. On September 16, 1982, Israeli-backed far-right Christian Phalangist militants attacked Palestinian refugee camps in Sabra and Shatila, killing hundreds of people, including children (Cleveland, 2008, pp. 431-432).
Following the Lebanese invasion, Palestinians and Darwish became disillusioned, feeling abandoned by the Arab countries. In his sorrowful words, Darwish expressed the Palestinians’ sense of isolation:
“Oh, my brother (Palestinian)!
You have neither brothers nor friends.
Oh, my friend!
You have neither a fortress nor water.
Neither medicine nor sky…
Neither blood nor sailboat,
Neither a future nor a past.”
After Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, Palestinian armed groups were disbanded, and PLO leaders, including Arafat, were exiled to Tunisia (Cleveland, 2008, p. 432).
Tunisia
After the PLO leadership departed from Lebanon, Darwish remained in Lebanon for a short time. However, following the Sabra and Shatila massacre, he decided to leave, traveling to Tunisia via Damascus. During this period, he wrote poems such as Ode to the High Shadow and The Siege of Praise for the Sea. At the suggestion of Yasser Arafat, Darwish traveled from Tunisia to Cyprus to oversee the publication of al-Karmel magazine with the help of the poet Salim Barakat (b. 1951). In doing so, he did not abandon his comrades during these difficult times (Yılmaz, 2013, p. 18).
Darwish frequently traveled between Tunisia, Cyprus, and Paris during this period. His next destination, and perhaps his new exile, was Paris, where significant changes and transformations would occur in his personal and literary life.
Paris Years
Darwish spent nearly a decade in Paris, a period he described as a turning point in his literary career, attributing great value to the poems he wrote during this time. He particularly emphasized that the climate of Paris encouraged his creativity (Amr, 2012, pp. 42-43).
While in Paris, Darwish was elected to the PLO Executive Committee and, in 1987, wrote the Palestinian Declaration of Independence at the request of Arafat. Paris became a place of peace and inspiration for Darwish, where he could fully embrace his creative powers. While during the Beirut years, he was known primarily to the Arab world, his time in Paris allowed him to gain international recognition in literary circles. He became known as a poet of resistance whose work centered around “exile,” a global theme.
During his exile, Darwish continued his cultural struggle against Israel through his poetry while reluctantly taking on specific political duties (Amr, 2012, p. 21). Although involved in politics, he never accepted anything unquestioningly. For instance, he opposed the Oslo Accords, which led to his separation from Arafat. The negotiations, which resulted in the 1993 Oslo Agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, marked the first official contact between the two sides (Cleveland, 2008, pp. 546-554). In protest of the agreement, Darwish resigned from the PLO and his position in the Palestinian National Council. He explained his resignation as follows:
“This agreement is not just. It neither meets the minimal emotional attachment of Palestinians to their identity nor provides any geographical basis for that identity. It simply leaves the Palestinian people in a state of limbo during a transitional phase.” (Ibrahim, 2009, p. 7).
Ramallah Years
Despite the comfortable living conditions in Paris, Darwish returned to Palestine in 1994, settling in Ramallah among his people. This decision was a testament to his deep love for Palestine despite the hardships he faced there. However, Darwish’s time in Ramallah would be marred by new sufferings as the Israeli occupation continued to add to the pain he had endured throughout his life.
During his time in Ramallah, Darwish traveled frequently between Ramallah and Amman. He continued to write poetry and oversee the publication of al-Karmel magazine (Halil, 2011, pp. 19-20). His works during this period include A State of Siege, Do Not Apologize for What You Have Done, Like Almond Blossoms or Even More, In the Presence of Absence, and The Butterfly Effect.
During his residence in Ramallah, the city was placed under siege by Israeli forces. From 2000 to 2005, during the Second Intifada, Darwish once again faced Israeli oppression. His office was ransacked, and he was briefly detained (Yılmaz, 2013, p. 21). Darwish supported Palestinian resistance movements against Israeli oppression throughout his life with his pen, as words were his only weapon (Darwish, 2005, Vol. I, p. 282). In 2002, members of the International Writers Association visited Darwish in Ramallah before Israel attacked Gaza, witnessing the cruelty of the Israeli occupation firsthand.
In 2008, after undergoing open-heart surgery in the United States, Mahmoud Darwish passed away on August 9. The then-President of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas (b. 1935), mourned Darwish’s death by declaring a three-day mourning period across Palestinian territories, referring to Darwish as a “Lover of Palestine” and the “Pioneer of the Modern Cultural Project.”
Thousands of people from Palestine and the Arab world attended Darwish’s funeral, and he was laid to rest on August 13, 2008, on the grounds of the Ramallah Cultural Palace. On July 27, 2008, the Palestinian Ministry of Information and Communication issued a postage stamp featuring Darwish’s portrait (Mahmoud Darwish Foundation, 2009).
With Darwish’s death, the Palestinian people lost a key figure in their cultural resistance against Zionism, and modern Arabic poetry lost one of its most influential voices.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eyüp Akşit
Lecturer, Izmir Katip Çelebi University, Faculty of Islamic Sciences.
