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Following an impressive memorial fit for a head of state, complete with a 21-gun salute and a eulogy from Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, poet and cultural icon Mahmoud Darwish was buried in the West Bank on Wednesday.
The 67-year-old died last week following complications after undergoing open-heart surgery at a hospital in Houston, Texas.
He was "the symbol who expressed our national feeling," Abbas said of Darwish, whom he also hailed a "pioneer, a leader and a teacher".
No other poet captures the Palestinian consciousness and collective memory the way he does.
He gave a voice to the Palestinian people and was regarded as the chronicler of their suffering.
In death, as in life, Mahmoud Darwish united Palestinians in more ways than one.
Darwish was remembered for his uncompromising passion for Palestine - leaving his imprint on Palestine's memory and politics.
We ask: How will all those touched by the work of Mahmoud Darwish remember him?
In this day and age, can the pen mobilise the masses to pick up the sword?
Mahmoud Darwish was, after all, a poet not a politician.
Discussing the life and times of Mahmoud Darwish are Lamis Andoni, an expert on Middle Eastern affairs and a renowned Palestinian writer, Yitzhak Laor, an Israeli poet and author, and Ahmed Harb, a Palestinian novelist.
Watch part two of this episode
This episode of Inside Story aired from Thursday, August 14, 2008
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