MOROCCO: Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish holds a reading of his poetry at the National Theatre in Rabat

Record ID: 791930

  • Title: MOROCCO: Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish holds a reading of his poetry at the National Theatre in Rabat
  • Date: 18th February 2007
  • Summary: WOMEN IN AUDIENCE; MORE OF AUDIENCE
  • Embargoed: 5th March 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Morocco
  • Country: Morocco
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVABXA5W725F0B9CP6UOS7NOY5HG
  • Story Text: Hundreds of enthusiastic fans of renowned Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish attended a poetry reading at Rabat's Mohammed V theatre on Friday (February 16, 2007).
    Darwish, considered by many to be the most important living Arab poet, has visited Morocco on several occasions and Friday's reading was his seventh at Rabat's Mohammed V theatre, a place Darwish concedes to having an affinity with.
    "The poet should not only develop the creative beauty of his poetry but should also take into account the role of poetry in real life and in society. I manage to attract the elite and popular crowds at the same time," Darwish told Reuters, who read his poetry to a full house which included members of Morocco's literary and political elite.
    "I am proud of this and proud of the fact that poetry can be something beautiful and at the same time attract people to read it and listen to it," he added.
    Darwish is known to millions of Arabs as "Palestine's poet" and for many he is a source of pride and a symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation.
    "On top of being a poet, Mahmoud Darwish is a militant who carries the name of Palestine, the sufferings and the ambitions of the Palestinian people to different parts of the world because his poems who are now in every part of the world, express the sufferings and the ambitions of the Palestinian people," said the Palestinian Ambassador to Morocco, Mohammed Abderrahman.
    Darwish is one of the few living Arab poets whose work has transcended cultures and borders. For example, his poems have struck a chord in France, where there is much interest in and enthusiasm for his work, with readings of his poetry being held all over the country. Darwish has even featured in a film by the legendary Paris based film director, Jean Luc Godard.
    Darwish, a Palestinian Israeli, returned from 26 years of exile when he arrived in the West Bank in 1996. Upon his return, Israeli authorities allowed Darwish to make a brief visit to his native village of Jdaideh, near the city of Acre, for the first time since 1970. The Palestinian village became part of Israel after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
    Between 1960 to 1970, the Israeli authorities jailed Darwish several times and placed him under administrative detention for his activities in Arab nationalist groups.
    He then left Israel and joined the PLO, moving from Lebanon to Tunis to Paris and to Jordan.
    His poems have been made into songs popularised throughout the Arab world. His fans say his works embody Palestine, and the pains of living in prisons and in exile. His friends call him the poet of the revolution.
    In 1964, from his jail cell, he wrote a poem about a prisoner yearning for his mother's touch, his mother's coffee, his mother's bread.
    From exile, he wrote the poem "My Homeland Is My Suitcase". His strong Arab nationalism was expressed through his famous refrains: "Write, I am an Arab" and "I am my language."
    Darwish, a tense and private man whose youthful appearance belies his age, has said he gleaned "human and creative maturity" from his life in exile.
    Darwish has strongly criticised Israel in his poems. He resigned from the PLO's Executive Committee to protest against the organisation's 1993 peace accord with the Jewish state. He said the agreement did not meet the minimum requirements of the Palestinian people.
    In exile, Darwish's verse was a mixture of simplicity and complexity, symbolism and history, religion and nationalism. Upon his return he said his poems would become more transparent to reach a wider audience.
    He published his first book of poetry, "Leaves of Olives," in 1964 at the age of 22, and has since published over 30 poetry collections and prose works that have been translated into over 30 languages.
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