Samih al-Qasim

Information about Samih al-Qasim

Samih al-Qasim (1939-Present) is a Druze Palestinian poet and citizen of Israel whose Arabic poetry in well-known in the Arab World.

Early life

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Palestinian family in early 1900s

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 •  • [ e]
Al-Qasim was born in 1939 in the city of az-Zarqa in northern Jordan while his father served in the Arab Legion of King Abdullah. He came from a Druze family from the town of Rame in the Upper Galilee. He attended primary shool there and then later graduated from secondary school in Nazareth (an-Naseriya). His family did not flee Rame during the Palestinian exodus (Nakba) of 1948. In his book About Principles and Art, he explains,
While I was still at primary school the Palestinian tragedy occurred. I regard that date as the date of my birth, because the first images I can remember are of the 1948 events. My thoughts and images spring from the number 48'.

Life as a poet and journalist

As of 1984, al-Qasim had written twenty-four volumes of nationalist poetry and published six collections of poems. His poems in general are relatively short, some being no more than even two verses. Some of his famous poems include:
  • Slit Lips
  • Sons of War
  • Confession at Midday
  • Travel Tickets
  • Bats
  • Abandoning
  • The Story of a City
  • Conversation between Ear of Corn and Jerusalem Rose Thorn
  • How I became an Article
  • Story of the Unknown Man
  • End of a Discussion with a Jailer
  • The Will of a Man Dying in Exile
  • The Boring Orbit
  • The Clock on the Wall
He has contributed to the journals of Al-Ittihad, Al-Jadid, Index and others. Most of his poetry relates to his childhood years before and after the Nakba, the Palestinian and broader Arab struggle, Arab nationalism, and Arab tragedies. Al-Qasim wrote about these subjects when they were at the climax of their popularity among the Arab population in the later half of the 20th century. When asked by his Iraqi friend, poet Buland al-Haidari if he had visited Baghdad, he replied by saying he did not have to, since he compares any Arab city to the Arab residence he currently occupies as the same city.

Present Life

Al-Qasim currently works as a journalist in Haifa where he runs the Arabesque Press and the Folk Arts Centre. He recites many of his poems to large audiences in the Arab towns and cities of the Galilee monthly. He has been jailed several times for his political activities that have involved advocacy for Palestinian rights and dissent against government policies, starting in 1960 for refusal to enlist in the Israeli army.[1] He has also been under house arrest. He has refused to leave Israel. In an interview with Index he is quoted as saying "I have chosen to remain in my own country not because I love myself less, but because I love my country more".

Sources

A Bilingual Anthology of Arabic Poetry - Victims of A Map by Samih al-Qasim, Adonis, and Mahmoud Darwish. Al-Saqi books 26 Westbourne Grove, London W2 1984

Sadder Than Water: New & Selected Poems by Samih al-Qasim, translated by Nazih Kassis, introduced by Adina Hoffman. 2006. Ibis Editions [1]

Notes

1. ^ The Druzes in the Jewish State: A Brief History 171.
Druze (Arabic: درزي, derzī or durzī, plural دروز, durūz; Hebrew: דרוזים‎, Druzim
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Palestinian people (Arabic: الشعب الفلسطيني, ash-sha'ab il-filastini), Palestinians (Arabic:
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A poet is a person who writes poetry. This is usually influenced by a cultural and intellectual tradition. Some consider the best poetry to be, to some extent, and universal, and to address issues common to all humanity; others are more absorbed by its particular, personal and
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العرب

Arab family from Ramallah, 1905.
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Pronunciation: /alˌʕa.raˈbij.ja/
Spoken in: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman,
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Arab World (Arabic: العالم العربي; Transliteration: al-`alam al-`arabi) stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea
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Palestinian people (Arabic: الشعب الفلسطيني, ash-sha'ab il-filastini), Palestinians (Arabic:
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The term Palestine and the related term Palestinian have several overlapping (and occasionally contradictory) definitions.

Palestine

Origin of the term

See also: Palestine – Boundaries and name
The term Palestine
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Palestine (from Παλαιστινη; Palaestina; formerly also פלשתינה Palestina
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Palestinian territories is one of a number of designations for those portions of the British Mandate of Palestine captured and administered by Jordan and by Egypt in the late 1940's, and later by Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War.
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Palestinian refugee camps were established after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War to accommodate Palestinian refugees who fled from the war.

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Location: Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and Israel

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Map references: Middle East

Area:
total: 360 km²
land: 360 km²
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GDP (PPP)  estimate
 -  Total $770 million (160th1)
 -  Per capita 600 $ (167th1)
Currency Israeli new sheqel (de facto) (ILS)
Time zone (UTC+2)
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Geography of the West Bank

Location: Middle East, west of Jordan

Geographic coordinates:

Map references: Middle East

Area:
total: 5,860 km²
land: 5,640 km²
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The West Bank (Arabic: الضفة الغربية,
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Palestinian National Authority

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List of cities (and towns) in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The permanent political status of the two areas are pending further negotiations.

West Bank

Note: Ariel, Betar Illit, Ma'ale Adummim, and Modi'in Illit are Israeli settlements (see settlement types and
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East Jerusalem refers to the part of Jerusalem captured by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and subsequently by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. It includes Jerusalem's Old City and some of the holiest sites of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, such as the Temple Mount, Western
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The list of Arab localities in Israel includes all population centers with a 50% or higher Arab population in the State of Israel. The city of Acre has an Arab minority of 45% and both Lod and Ramla have Arab populations of 20%.
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Palestinian National Authority

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The Palestinian National Council (PNC) is the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization and elects its Central Committee, which assumes leadership of the organization between its sessions. The Council normally meets every two years.
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Palestinian National Authority

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Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) (Arabic: الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين,
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Anthem
Biladi


Capital Ramallah
Largest city Gaza City
Official languages Arabic and English
Government Republic
 -  President Mahmoud Abbas
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Palestinian National Authority

This article is part of the series:
Politics of the Palestinian National Authority

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The Palestinian flag (Arabic: علم فلسطين) was originally designed by Sharif Hussein for the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire in 1916.
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This is an incomplete timeline of notable events in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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The Palestinian Christians are Palestinians who follow Christianity. In both the local dialect of Palestinian Arabic and in classical or modern standard Arabic, Christians are called Nasrani (a derivative of the Arabic word for Nazareth, al-Nasira) or
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Al-Aqsa Mosque (The Farthest Mosque) (Arabic: المسجد الاقصى, [IPA /æl'mæsdʒɪd æl'ɑqsˁɑ/, Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa
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