"If the colonization of Palestine entailed the uprooting of its indigenous inhabitants and the erasure of their history and culture, Darwish’s monumental achievement was to preserve and reinscribe Palestine in his poetry and “build a homeland out of words.” A homeland in and of words is not a luxury, but the cultural and political oxygen for millions of refugees who were born in camps in and outside of Palestine and who are denied their right of return, among many other
rights." (thanks Sameer)