Samih al-Qasim
| Samīħ al-Qāsim سميح القاسم סמיח אל קאסם |
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Samīħ al-Qāsim in Madrid
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| Born |
May 11, 1939 Zarqa, Emirate of Transjordan (now Jordan) |
| Died | August 19, 2014 (aged 75) Rameh, Israel |
| Occupation | Poet and writer |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Ethnicity | Arab |
| Period | 1963-2014 |
| Genre | Nationalist, tragedy |
Samīħ al-Qāsim (Arabic: سميح القاسم;Hebrew: סמיח אל קאסם; 1939 - August 19, 2014) was an Arabic-language poet whose work is well known throughout the Arab world. Son of a Palestinian Druze family, he was born in Transjordan and lived in Israel throughout his childhood and adult life. His poetry is influenced by two primary periods of his life: before and after the Six-Day War - until 1967 he was mainly influenced by Arab nationalism; in 1967 he joined the Israeli Communist political party, Rakah, and later activated in the closely related Front for Democracy and Equality "Hadash".
Al-Qasim has published several volumes and collections of poetry.
Al-Qasim was born in 1939 in the Emirate of Transjordan (now Jordan), in the northern city of Zarqa, while his father served in the Arab Legion of King Abdullah. He came from a Druze family from the town of Rameh in the Upper Galilee. Al-Qasim attended primary school there and then later graduated from secondary school in Nazareth. His family did not flee Rameh during the Palestinian exodus of 1948 (Nakba). 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.
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