In his poetic works, Darwish explored Palestine as a metaphor for the loss of Eden, birth and resurrection, and the anguish of dispossession and exile.

[3] The "Rita" of Darwish's poems was a Jewish woman whom he loved when he was living in Haifa; he revealed in an interview with French journalist Laure Adler that her name is Tamar Ben-Ami.

[26] Seven years later, on 1 May 1965, when the young Darwish read his poem "Bitaqat huwiyya" ["Identity Card"] to a crowd in a Nazareth movie house, there was a tumultuous reaction.

[tone][34] In the 1970s "Darwish, as a Palestinian poet of the Resistance committed himself to the ... objective of nurturing the vision of defeat and disaster (after the June War of 1967), so much so that it would 'gnaw at the hearts' of the forthcoming generations.

"[35] Darwish addressed the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in Ward aqall [Fewer Roses] (1986) and "Sa-ya'ti barabira akharun" ("Other Barbarians Will Come").

"[3] Mahmoud Darwish died on 9 August 2008 at the age of 67, three days after heart surgery at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas.

[38] According to Ibrahim Muhawi, the poet, though suffering from serious heart problems, did not require urgent surgery, and the day set for the operation bore a symbolic resonance.

In his Memory for Forgetfulness, Darwish centered the narrative of Israel's invasion of Lebanon and 88-day siege of Beirut on 6 August 1982, which was the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.

By his choice of that day for surgery, Muwahi suggests, Darwish was documenting: "the nothingness he saw lying ahead for the Palestinian people.

"[40] Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning to honor Darwish and he was accorded the equivalent of a State funeral.

[14][41] A set of four postage stamps commemorating Darwish was issued in August 2008 by the PA.[42][43] Arrangements for flying the body in from Texas delayed the funeral for a day.

[45] After the ceremony, Darwish's coffin was taken in a cortege at walking pace from the Mukataa to the Palace of Culture, gathering thousands of followers along the way.

The Arabs are ready to accept a strong Israel with nuclear arms – all it has to do is open the gates of its fortress and make peace.

"[50] In 2005, outdoor music and dance performances in Qalqiliya were suddenly banned by the Hamas-led municipality, with authorities saying that such events were forbidden by Islam.

"[51][52][53][54] In July 2007, Darwish visited Israel for the first time in over 35 years[citation needed] and spoke at an event sponsored by the Hadash party.

"[56][57] Additionally, he criticized the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Fatah as "a public attempt at suicide" and a barrier to Palestinian statehood: "Gaza won its independence from the West Bank.

[65] This dissertation, completed at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO) in France, delves deeply into the themes of exile, identity, and memory that permeate the Palestinian poet’s work.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak rejected the proposal on the grounds that the time "is not ripe" to teach Darwish in schools.

[74] It has been suggested that the incident had more to do with internal Israeli politics in trying to damage Prime Minister Ehud Barak's government than with poetry.

The curriculum used in Arab education is one agreed in 1981 by a committee whose sole Jewish member vetoed any works he thought might 'create an ill spirit'.

"[77] In July 2016 a controversy erupted over the broadcasting of Darwish's poem "Bitaqat hawiyya" ("Identity Card")[78] on Israeli radio station Galei Tzahal.

[80][79] Many of Darwish's poems were set to music by Arab composers, among them Marcel Khalife,[81] Reem Kelani,[82][83] Majida El Roumi and Ahmad Qa'abour.

In the 1980s, Sabreen, a Palestinian music group in the 1948 territories, recorded an album including versions of Darwish's poems "On Man" and "On Wishes.

"[84] The composer Marcel Khalife was accused of blasphemy and insulting religious values, because of his song entitled "I am Yusuf, oh my father," which he based on Darwish's lyrics, and which cited a verse from the Qur'an.

In 1976, Egyptian-born Palestinian singer Zeinab Shaath adapted his poem "Identity Card" into an English-language song, titled "I Am An Arab," from her EP The Urgent Call of Palestine.

[87] In 2002, Swiss composer Klaus Huber completed a large work entitled "Die Seele muss vom Reittier steigen...", a chamber music concerto for cello, baritone and countertenor that incorporates Darwish's "The Soul Must Descend from its Mount and Walk on its Silken Feet.

In 2011, the Syrian composer Hassan Taha created the musical play "The Dice Player", based on the poems and lyrics of Mahmoud Darwish.

[93] Inspired by the attempted suppression of Khalife's composition "I am Yusuf, oh my father," the Norwegian singer-songwriter Moddi composed a fresh melody to the poem.

In 2016, his poem "We Were Without a Present" served as the basis for the central song, "Ya Reit" by Palestinian rapper Tamer Nafar in the film "Junction 48".

In 2017, British musician Roger Waters set to music an English translation of Darwish's "Lesson From the Kama Sutra (Wait for Her)" on his album Is This the Life We Really Want?