Mahmoud Darwish funeral postponed till Wednesday

Ramallah: The funeral of esteemed Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, has been postponed till Wednesday, Palestinian officials said on Monday.

Darwish was scheduled to be buried in the West Bank on Tuesday, but the funeral was pushed ahead because of a delay in releasing his body in the United States, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' office said.

The funeral will be the sponsored by the Palestinian authority, the first such burial since Yasser Arafat died in 2004.

Darwish died aged 67 in a hospital in Texas, following complications during heart surgery.

The poet called Ramallah home since returning from a long exile in the 1990s.