Did he secretly meet Gamal Abdel Nasser in Moscow and agreed to attend and live in Egypt?

Translated by: Yasmine Mohamed 
Reviewed by: Nada Tamer 

Written by Saeed Elshahat

It was noon when the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish appeared at a global press conference at the Radio and Television Building on February 11, on such a day in 1971, declaring his arrival from Moscow to Cairo, where he would reside. Moreover, he announced that he would never return to occupied Palestine after leaving for the Soviet Union, where he had spent a year.

The event was grand and majestic at that time, as evidenced by the fact that the Minister of Information, Mohamed Fayek, was the person who introduced Darwish at the conference, after he had arrived secretly more than a week earlier, accompanied by journalist Abdel-Malik Khalil, Al-Ahram correspondent in Moscow, according to the confirmation of former journalist and broadcaster at Sawt Al-Arab radio, Abdel-Wahab Qattaya, in his article “The Secret of Mahmoud Darwish’s First Week in Egypt” in the newspaper Al-Arabi Al-Nasseria on August 31, 2008. He revealed that Mohamed Orrouq, the head of Sawt Al-Arab radio, called him to his office on the morning of February 4, and when he entered, he noticed that there was a strange guest he did not know.

“And as for its share in the Sawt Al-Arab programs, he began talking about the considerable space that poetry had in the Sawt Al-Arab broadcasts.
‘Whose poetry?’ asked Orrouq.
Qattaya replied: ‘Everyone’s.’
‘Like who?’ Orrouq asked deliberately, wanting the guest to hear.
Qattaya answered: ‘Mahmoud Darwish.’
Orrouq interrupted him, pointing at the guest and saying: ‘Then go ahead and greet him.’”

Later, people learned that the plan for Darwish’s visit had been made secretly for a long time. Darwish came to Cairo more than four months after President Gamal Abdel Nasser died on September 28, 1970. So people asked: Was the plan made before Nasser died? Did Nasser meet Darwish?

The writer Sayed Mahmoud spoke about this question twice.

In his book, he said that writer Safinaz Kazem explained that the visit was planned while Nasser was still alive. Writer Mona Anis also said that the plan took about a year and a half, but Nasser’s death ruined many things. Another person, Mohamed Fayek, said that Darwish’s visit was important because it gave people hope for the Palestinian resistance.

Sayed Mahmoud discussed the question again in an article. He wrote about what Leila Shahid said on television: she said that Nasser met Darwish secretly in Moscow and invited him to live in Egypt. She also said that Darwish told her that Nasser gave him an Egyptian diplomatic passport so he could travel to Cairo.

Sayed Mahmoud said he had no proof of this story, but he thought it might have happened during Nasser’s last visit to Moscow in July 1970. The Palestinian poet Mu’in Bseiso introduced Darwish to Murad Ghaleb, the Egyptian ambassador in Moscow, who could contact Nasser directly.

Another story from journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal also supports this. Heikal said that he helped Darwish stay away from Palestine so he could be free to write. He said that they took Darwish to the Egyptian embassy in Moscow, and from there, Darwish traveled to Cairo to continue his poetry.

A book by Mohamed Fawzi says that Nasser visited Moscow from June 29 to July 17, 1970, and that Heikal was part of the delegation. Therefore, everything happened at that time.

Source: Al-Youm Al-Sabea

English Langauge Coordinator: Asmaa Ahmed