9 years after demise, Darwish lives on through words

He lived through occupation and exile, taking on the Israeli oppression head-on with poems that drew attention to the Palestinian plight.

Mahmoud Darwish's (1964–2008) words still ring true today, nine years after his passing on August 9, 2008.

Commonly regarded as Palestine's national poet, Darwish is among the most celebrated figures of his country in modern times, having given the Palestinian resistance a poetic voice.

Born in Western Galilee, Darwish's home village was destroyed by the Israeli army, who then turned the area into a settlement of their own.

Said to have "given voice to the Palestinian dreams of statehood" and "helped to forge a Palestinian national identity," Darwish crafted the 1988 Declaration of Independence, which called for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He also took part in the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO,) from which he quit, following the 1993-1994 Oslo Accords.

For his literary work, which has been translated into some 20 languages, and activism, he has won several international awards, including the 1983 Lenin Peace Prize, the $350,000 Lannan Foundation Prize for Cultural Freedom in 2001, and the 2004 Prince Claus Fund.

Years after his death, Darwish lives on through his words.