Mahmoud Darwish Quotes
To be under occupation, to be under siege, is not a good inspiration for poetry.
Rothschild, Matthew. "Mahmoud Darwish." The Progressive, vol. 66, no. 5, May 2002.
Japan, then a militaristic power in the East had occupied and controlled Manchuria after the Russo-Japanese War. The League of Nations voted that Manchuria should be placed under international control until elections and independence can be arranged. (See {627074}.) The Japanese then had a rapidly growing population and Japan felt that the Japanese Islands were not sufficient to produce the raw materials, oil and agriculture needed to sustain a larger Japanese population. Therefore, the Japanese argued that they were entitled to grow and expand to nearby territories to provide for their nation’s needs. When the league of nations rejected the Japanese position, Japan walked out of the League of Nations. Japan would occupy part of China and Korea all leading to WWII.
This quotation was very important to the issue of Freedom of the Press in America in the early 21st century. Al Jazeera was an independent Qatar News Network founded in 1996 and was heavily viewed throughout the Middle East. They then started an English Language Channel. Despite some very innovative News Reporting and access that other news networks were not able to get, there were many areas and cable networks in the United States (and other countries) that would not broadcast Al Jazeera. Their reason was twofold: First, that the English version was generally very moderate and responsibly designed to create a favorable opinion of the Arab World in the Middle East. However, for the Arabic, original channel, the broadcasts are extremely inflammatory with regard to Islam and the West and the Israeli-Arab Conflict. Second, that key Al Jazeera officials were supporters of terrorism and subtly were advocating terrorism in their broadcasts in English, and overtly in Arabic. These quotations by the Chief Editor, established that he had a strong political point of view and justified and advocated Palestinian terrorism. Most news network chief editors, have political opinions of one kind or another but are careful to keep them private. The fact that Sheikh did not, and supported the deliberate. Intentional killing of innocent women and children caused most American and many other networks to refuse to carry Al Jazeera despite the excellent journalism they had in other areas. Al Jazeera in its Arab version has never reported that the number of Palestinians killed by Israelis is far fewer than other historical occupations of similar length. For terrorist acts, even murder, Israel does not have capital punishment. Over the years, the Jordanians and Syrians have killed many more Palestinians than Israel has in all the occupation. Likewise the PLO, Hamas and other Palestinian organizations have deliberately murdered more Palestinians than the Israelis have inflicted casualties over the years. After the Arabs refused to accept the United Nations 1949 decision to partition Palestine, the Arab nations attacked the Jews with over a dozen Arab Armies. Over the years, Israel has negotiated a peace treaty with Egypt and Jordan, but the Palestinians have always refused to even sit down and negotiate an overall treaty.
Mahmoud Darwish was a Palestinian poet and author who was regarded as the Palestinian national poet. He won numerous awards for his works. Darwish used Palestine as a metaphor for the loss of Eden, birth and resurrection, and the anguish of dispossession and exile. He has been described as incarnating and reflecting "the tradition of the political poet in Islam, the man of action whose action is poetry." He also served as an editor for several literary magazines in Palestine.
