In January 2002 as Israeli forces laid siege to Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah, the Palestinian poet , based in Ramallah at the time, began writing his long poem "State of Siege," which later in the year appeared in book form. Today, as the (...)
Israel's war on Lebanon bears strong reminiscences of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon to expel the PLO out of the country. Below, Al-Ahram Weekly prints poetic testimonies of summer 1982 in Beirut. Dhakira lil-Nisyan ( Memory for Forgetfulness (...)
In a poem published in Arabic last month, Mahmoud Darwish bids farewell
New York/ November/ Fifth Avenue
The sun a plate of shredded metal
I asked myself, estranged in the shadow:
Is it Babel or Sodom?
***
There, on the doorstep of an electric (...)
What we are now seeing is the expression of the will of a people that has no choice but to resist, writes Mahmoud Darwish
This is a war for war's sake, since it has no other aim than its self-perpetuation. Everyone knows this; and, once again, the (...)
Halit Hisar, (State of Siege) Mahmoud Darwish, London & Beirut: Dar Riyad Al-Rayyis, forthcoming. pp96
By Mahmoud Darwish
Mahmoud Darwish's "State of Siege" is to appear shortly in book form. Below, the author's extracts of choice, originally (...)