Palestinians mourn poet Darwish's death
Palestine, People, 8/11/2008

Palestinians yesterday mourned the death of Mahmoud Darwish, one of the Arab world's greatest modern poets.

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas declared three days of official mourning in a televised address after Darwish died on Saturday in a US hospital from complications following open-heart surgery.

"How much does it pain my heart and my soul to announce to the Palestinian people, the Arab and Islamic world, and to everyone who loves peace and freedom, the passing of the star of Palestine," President Abbas said.

"The absence of our great poet Mahmud Darwish, the love of Palestine and the pioneer of the modern Palestinian cultural project... will leave a great void in our cultural, political, and national life," President Abbas added.

The 67-year-old penned over two dozen books of poetry and prose in a career spanning nearly five decades that captured the Palestinian experience of war, exile, and the struggle for national self-determination.

He won numerous international literary prizes, he also is widely considered one of the Arab world's greatest writers.

The Arab League hailed Darwish as the "voice" of Palestine and said his death "deprives the Palestinians and all the Arabs of one of their most noted representatives for contemporary poetry and culture."

"With his poetry Darwish transcended all the frontiers and broke the chains of narrow patriotism in order to become the voice of Palestine," said Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa.

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