UNESCO Director-General expresses sorrow over death of Palestinian poet Darwish – UN news item

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Director-General of UNESCO expresses sorrow over death of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish

UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura today expressed his sorrow over the death of renowned Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, who died on 9 August, at the Memorial Hermann Medical Centre in Houston, Texas, USA.

Mahmoud Darwish was widely recognized as a poet of universal significance who gave voice to the Palestinian people from his exile until 1996 and then from Ramallah, the city he had chosen to live in. In his verses, he evoked his land through metaphors and collective memories and called for a peaceful and equitable co-existence.

“There will be no real peace in the Middle East until the dove of peace, flying with justice on one wing and freedom on the other, reaches the land of the olive branch, the land of the Prophets and the land of peace”, Darwish concluded his speech at the 26th Session of the UNESCO General Conference in 1991, in his capacity of Head of the Palestinian Delegation to the General Conference.

Mahmoud Darwish received numerous literary awards, including the prestigious Prince Claus Award in 2004 and the Lannan Foundation Prize for Cultural Freedom in 2001.

Considered as one of the Arab world’s most renowned contemporary poets, Darwish had published more than 30 collections of poetry and prose, and his work has been translated into 35 languages. He was the founding editor of the highly regarded literary review Al Karmel which fosters intercultural debate on intellectual issues and links Arab writers with the international literary community.

Over the past years, Mahmoud Darwish has been associated with many cultural events hosted by UNESCO at its Headquarters and in the Arab region, in particular for celebrations of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

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