Mahmoud Darwish Is Gone: Death of a Nation

The “Palestinian Authority” and a number of Arab intellectuals have asked Israel for Mahmoud Darwish to rest in his homeland, close to Akka. The answer was no, and the poet will be buried in Ramallah. Obviously, the Israeli state could not grant such a request. During
his whole life in exile (since 1970), the poet got a permit for a short stay in his homeland only three times, the last one being last year, for a lecture in Haifa (see previous post).

Mahmoud Darwish always asked to be heard as an artist, and not as the spokesman for the Palestinians. The world's reaction to his death shows that he succeeded in becoming recognized as the great poet he was. But he died before he could see any success on the other side of his life struggle, a real solution for the Palestinians, including for them the right to return, even after their death, where they were born.

The link to the original (and a bit different) post in french and a excerpt from Notre musique, a movie by Jean-Luc Godard which shows Darwish discussing with a Jewish student.