On Wednesday, 3/13/2024, the Yasser Arafat Foundation commemorated the birth anniversary of the revolutionary poet and master of the word, Mahmoud Darwish, in Al-Muntada Hall of the Yasser Arafat Museum. The event began with the Palestinian national anthem, a minute of silence, and the reciting of Al-Fatiha for the souls of the late President Yasser Arafat, the poet Mahmoud Darwish, and all the martyrs of Palestine.
Dr. Ahmed Soboh, Director General of the Yasser Arafat Foundation, attended the event, which comes within the "In National Memory - Companions of the Path" program, which highlights symbols and leaders from the founders and companions of the late President Yasser Arafat, pointing that the birth anniversary of Abu Ali Mustafa, Majed Abu Sharar, and Salim Al-Zaanoun will also be commemorated this year.
Dr. Soboh reviewed some of the aspects and characteristics of Mahmoud Darwish, stating that he was not an ordinary poet but a phenomenon and a national industry of a rare type. He also recalled that the most important documents of our contemporary people were characterized by the aesthetics and creativity of Mahmoud Darwish in Yasser Arafat’s speech before the United Nations General Assembly in 1974 and the Declaration of Independence in 1988 in Algeria. The Foundation presented a film entitled “The Poet of the Revolution and the Master of the Word,” reviewing the biography and career of the poet Mahmoud Darwish and his contribution to the Palestinian revolution.
Writer and storyteller Muhammad Ali Taha, a member of the Mahmoud Darwish Foundation, gave a speech in which he thanked the Yasser Arafat Foundation for this event and what they did in commemorating the birth anniversary of Mahmoud Darwish, the master of the word. Taha continued, “Today we meet next to the phoenix, Yasser Arafat, and the owner of the feather of creativity, the artist Mahmoud Darwish, and we remember his qualities as an exceptional poet who possesses words, prose, and poetry that are linked to the land, the homeland, the diaspora, and the exile, to guard the homeland with his words.” He continued that the Palestinians will not leave and that they are on the path of Mahmoud Darwish.
Muhammad Baraka, head of the High Follow-Up Committee for the Arab Citizens in the Occupied Territories, said that this event is nothing but a form of sophistication enjoyed by the Palestinian state, and from the Yasser Arafat Museum, we celebrate the poet Mahmoud Darwish and place him in the position of leaders. He stressed the necessity of internal Palestinian unity and that no poet or writer has depicted our profound Palestinian revolution in all its details with the most accurate expressions and feelings like Mahmoud Darwish. Baraka added, that in these difficult circumstances that our people are experiencing in all their places, especially Gaza, we rely on the words and poetry of Mahmoud Darwish to ease the burden of what we are experiencing. Describing this, the victim faces the ambiguity of the killer, and at that time we seek help from almond blossoms.
Nabil Amr, the friend of Muhammad Darwish, recalled some personal stories about Darwish, such as his good and distinguished relationships with all writers and writers' unions, his mother's last visit inside the occupied Palestinian territories, and how Mahmoud wrote the most important speech to the Palestinian people, the “Declaration of Independence,” as he wrote it alone.
The event was attended by members of the Executive Committees of the Liberation Organization and the Central Committee of the Fatah Movement, members of the Revolutionary Council, many legal figures, and writers. A photo exhibition entitled “Photos from the national memory of the late poet of the revolution and master of the word, Mahmoud Darwish” was also included.
