http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=31199

In a land where the dawn sears
We have become more doltish
And we stare at the moments of victory.
There is no starry night in our nights of
   explosions.
Our enemies stay up late, they switch on
   their
Light in the intense darkness of this tunnel.

Thank you Roswitha

I grew up reading and singing poems of Mahmoud Darwish. 

They feared his words when he was alive and they feared him when he was dead so they forbid that his body be burried in his hometown close to Akka in Western Galilee. His words are immortal.

Stripped of my name and identity?
On soil I nourished with my own hands?
Today Job cried out
Filling the sky:
Don’t make an example of me again!
Oh, gentlemen, Prophets,
Don’t ask the trees for their names
Don’t ask the valleys who their mother is
From my forehead bursts the sword of light
And from my hand springs the water of the river

All the hearts of the people are my identity
So take away my passport!

here is the link to his great poem "the passport" sang by Marcel Khalife.

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=NIirqJ1Ow8Q

Quoting the article from Roswitha:

"Bethlehem - Ma´an – Preeminent Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish died on Saturday after open heart surgery in the United States, medical officials confirmed.

Darwish underwent a successful open heart surgery on Wednesday. The operation took place at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Huston, Texas, in the United States.

Darwish´s condition then took a downturn on Saturday due to complications related to the surgery.

Darwish was born in 1941 in a village called Al-Barwah, near the city of Akka, in the north of what was then Palestine. The village was destroyed by Zionist forces in 1948. After being detained several times by the Israeli army, he was forced into exile.

Darwish composed the 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence which was announced by Yasser Arafat during a meeting of the Palestine National Council in Algeria.

He served on the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) until 1993, when he resigned in protest of the Oslo agreement with Israel.

"He started out as a poet of resistance and then he became a poet of conscience," said Palestinian lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi, quoted by the AP news agency.

One of the foremost Palestinian poets, many of his poems express his deep love for his homeland. His work has been translated into at least 22 languages and he has won numerous awards."

Very interesting! Bethlehem is such a magical place in my imagination... I can only think of Christmas when I hear this name! Too sad that such horrible events are going on there..

It is sad indeed...check this article entitled "memories of a bethlehem christmas"  talks about christians &  muslims of bethlehem , checkpoints and the wall...It is worth reading i think.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1697404,00.html