Region | Palestinian Territories
Palestinians bid farewell to poet Mahmoud Darwish
Thousands of mourners gathered in the West Bank city of Ramallah for the funeral of Mahmoud Darwish, one of the most influential poets in recent Arab history.
- Agencies
- Published: 14:25 August 13, 2008
- Thousands of Palestinians gather around the cortege carrying the coffin of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, who gave a voice to the Palestinians' longing for independence, during his funeral procession in the West Bank city of Ramallah
- Image Credit: AP
Ramallah: Thousands of mourners gathered in the West Bank city of Ramallah for the funeral of Mahmoud Darwish, one of the most influential poets in recent Arab history.
Darwish, whose poetry encapsulated the Palestinian cause, is getting the equivalent of a state funeral - an honor only previously accorded to PLO leader Yasser Arafat.
Darwish was instrumental in forging a sense of Palestinian national identity, analysts say.
The 67-year-old writer died from complications following heart surgery in a US hospital in Houston, Texas.
The poet's body was flown back from the US to Amman, Jordan, where a 26-member honour guard saluted as 12 Palestine Liberation Army officers carried the flag-draped coffin from the helicopter.
Eight uniformed pall-bearers carried the casket from the helicopter across the courtyard as a military band played.
He was to be buried on a hill near the Ramallah Cultural Palace, where he read his last poems in July.
President Mahmoud Abbas, senior PA officials, diplomats and leading Muslim and Catholic clergy took part in the ceremony.
Abbas led mourners and read a eulogy to the poet.
Abbas had earlier declared three days of national mourning. People held candle-lit vigils on Saturday and Sunday in the darkened streets of Ramallah, where Darwish's poems were read aloud and some mourners wept.
The poet, born in territory now Israel, had made his home in the West Bank city since returning in the 1990s from a long exile during which he rose to prominence in Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).
In the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Mahmoud Al Zahar, a senior leader of the Islamist group, described Darwish as a symbol of Palestinian culture and literature whose poetry crossed psychological and geographical boundaries.
"Darwish has managed to break many of the taboos between the occupier and the people who resist the occupation," he said.
Share this article
Related Articles
-
Darwish as his friend knew him
Darwish as his friend knew him
-
Poets from region pay rich tribute to Palestinian icon
Poets from region pay rich tribute to Palestinian icon
-
UAE aircraft to transfer Darwish's body
UAE sends aircraft to transfer Darwish's body
More from Palestinian Territories
More from Region
Popular in News
News Editor's choice
-
Italian PM gets 'Rockstar of the Year' title
Magazine hails Berlusconi's lifestyle
-
What drives Africa's new kind of refugees?
Warming-driven factors have led many in the continent to flee their homes
-
Reader helps police to bust brothel
More than 20 gang members recently arrested from running brothels in Dubai
