The President of the Anna Lindh Foundation, André Azoulay, has paid tribute today to the unique contribution of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, describing how his poetry ‘spoke for the voiceless and helpless, forging the national Palestinian identity and increasing awareness of the suffering and hopes of the Palestinian people’.

Mahmoud Darwish was widely renowned throughout the Arab world, an author of thirty poetry and prose collections translated to over thirty languages, and regarded as the Palestinian national poet. In a career spanning nearly five decades Darwish worked for a number of Egyptian and Lebanese newspapers, and was the editor in chief of the prestigious literary review Al Karmel.

Speaking today in Rabat, André Azoulay reflected on his own experience and encounters with the great poet:

"I personally remember many occasions where we were both together, in France, Spain and in Italy. Mahmoud Darwish would read his poems in Arabic. No one in the audience was fully understanding the words, but each one of them was captivated and deeply moved by the essence of Mahmoud's beautiful and powerful messages."

André Azoulay goes on to explain that “Mahmoud Darwish was one of the very few Arab intellectuals who,, through his poems and his unique voice, allowed the world community better understanding the plight and hope of the Palestinian people".

It is this combinationMr. Azoulay comments, that whatwill be a loss for evermore, the way that his voice conveyd, at the same time, the grief and the warmth of hope. This hope that Mahmoud Darwish expressed in certainty and gracefulness when he said "one day our poems will see the beauty of the red color in roses rather than blood".

Within the work of the Anna Lindh Foundation, Mahmoud Darwish has always been considered a man of a great value whose poems gave voice to people across the Arab world. More recently, in the framework of the Foundation’s campaign ‘1001 Actions for Dialogue’, the Anna Lindh Network in Luxembourg organized the event "Discovering Mahmoud Darwish", during which a documentary about the late poet was broadcast and followed by a poetic performance,.

Indeed, as President Azoualy reflects, it is the ‘universal uniqueness of the poetryof Darwish ‘which will ensure that his name will continue toenlighten the Palestinian, Arab and universal cultural heritage.