An haife ni kusa da teku ga uwa 'yar Falasdinu / da uba Ba'aramiye, ga uwa 'yar Falasdinu da uba Ba'ammone, ga uwa 'yar Falasdinu / da uba Balarabe. (Darwish 1994: 69)

I was born close to the sea to a Palestinian mother / and an Aramaic father, to a Palestinian mother and a Moabite father, to a Palestinian mother / and Arab father. (Darwish 1994: 69)

Mawaƙin ƙasar Falasɗinu Mahmoud Darwish (1941‒2008) ya sami wahayi daga abubuwan tunawa da al'adu da zamantakewar Falasɗinu ta dā, waɗanda suke da wadata ƙwarai. Waƙoƙinsa sun ba da zurfin fahimta game da tambayoyin ainihin Falasɗinawa da yadda take ci gaba da samuwa da canzawa. Yayin da yawancin masu kishin ƙasar Larabawa na zamani ke neman keɓantawa da tsantsa, suna ci gaba da neman tsabta da bayyana a gina ainihin ƙasarsu, Darwish kuwa, sabanin haka, ya nemi nau'o'in ainihi masu laushi, gauraye da natsuwa, waɗanda kyautata gadon Falasɗinu mai inuwa da haɗe-haɗe ke wakilta. Wannan gado mai laushi da wadata ya zama wani ɓangare na tsarin ainihin ƙasar Falasɗinawa ta zamani, kuma yadda Darwish ya siffanta wannan ainihi ya bambanta da na sauran. An rene shi a matsayin ɗan gudun hijira a cikin ƙasarsa a Galilee bayan Isra'ila ta lalata ƙauyensa, al-Birwa, a 1948. Daga baya ya yi yawancin rayuwarsa a matsayin mai gudun hijira. Kamar yawancin masana ilimi na Falasɗinu na zamani, Darwish bai fito daga manyan birane ko daga iyalan masu mulki da masu arziki na ƙasar ba, a'a, ya fito ne daga karkara da yankunan gefe na Falasɗinu (Galilee). Duk da haka, Darwish ya zama wakilin ainihin ƙasar Falasɗinawa mai matakai da yawa, kuma shi ne mafi shahara wajen samar da tunawa da harshe da al'ada a Falasɗinu ta zamani. A wajen Darwish, tunanin ainihin Falasɗinawa mai yadudduka da dama yana bayyana ne ta hanyar cewa samfurin dukkan al'adun da suka wuce ta ƙasar Falasɗinu ne.

Palestinian ‘national’ poet Mahmoud Darwish (1941‒2008) was inspired by the incredibly rich social and cultural memories of historic Palestine. His poetry gave a deep sense of such questions of Palestinian identity and its continued formation and transformation. While many modern Arab nationalists strive for uniqueness and exclusivity and continuously search for purity and clarity in constructing their nationalist identities, Darwish, by contrast, searched for the subtle, mixed and subdued forms of identity represented by an appreciation of the shadowy and inclusive heritage of Palestine. This subtle and rich heritage was woven into the fabric of modern Palestinian national identity and the way this identity was particularly framed by Darwish. The latter was brought up an internal refugee in the Galilee after his village, al-Birwa, was destroyed by Israel in 1948. He later lived much of his adult life in exile. Like many modern Palestinian intellectuals, Darwish did not emerge from the urban metropolitan elite or aristocratic families of the country, but came from the countryside and the periphery of Palestine (Galilee). However, Darwish became the embodiment of multi-tiered Palestinian national identity and the most celebrated producer of linguistic and cultural memory in modern Palestine. For Darwish, the multi-layered conception of Palestinian identity is evident by the fact that it is the product of all the powerful cultures that have passed through the land of Palestine:

Hellenanci, Farisa, Romawa, Bizantiya, Aramaic, Balarabe, Yahudawa, Musulmi, Yahudawan Larabawa, Usmaniyya, Baturen Ingila.

the Hellenistic, the Persian, the Roman, the Byzantine, the Aramaic, the Arab, the Jewish, the Muslim, the Arab Jewish, the Ottoman, the British.

Amma, tarihin baka da gadon gani da na zahiri na Falasdinu da muhallinsu na halitta sun kuma taka babbar rawa a cikin waƙoƙin Darwish na 'ƙasa'. Ga Darwish, wakilcin zamani na asalin Balarabe na Falasdinu yana da tushe mai zurfi a cikin tarihi, yanayin ƙasa da iyakokin halitta na ƙasar, sunayen wurare da harshen Larabci da al'adun Falasdinu, da kuma ci gabanta a cikin yankunan Larabawa na kewaye. A cewar wani muhimmin masanin tarihi, *Being Palestine, becoming Palestine* 277

However, the oral history and visual and material heritage of Palestine and their natural settings have also figured hugely in Darwish’s ‘national’ poetry. For Darwish, modern representations of Palestinian Arab identity were deeply rooted in the history, geography and natural boundaries of the country, the toponymy and Arabic language and cultures of Palestine and its evolution within the wider Arab environs. According to a key historian Being Palestine, becoming Palestine 277

na ƙasa, Benedict Anderson (1991), harsunan Turai na gida (waɗanda suka maye gurbin Latin) da yaduwar hotuna a faɗin jama'a ta hanyar jaridu da kuma jari-hujjar bugu sun taka muhimmiyar rawa wajen yadda aka gina da kuma yaɗa 'ƙasar zamani' a matsayin al'umma mai tunanin kasancewa ɗaya a Turai.

of modern nationalism, Benedict Anderson (1991), European vernacular languages (replacing Latin) and the mass circulation of images by the press and in print capitalism played important roles in the way the ‘modern nation’ as an imagined community has been constructed and spread in Europe.

A yanayin Falasɗinu na zamani, bayan shigowar jari-hujjar bugu (print capitalism) a ƙarshen karni na 19, da yaɗuwar ilimin zamani, tunanin harshe, al'ada da addini, Larabci na yau da kullum (standard Arabic) da yaren Falasɗinawa na gida (colloquial) duka sun zama alamomin wata ƙabila ta daban. Watakila ba abin mamaki ba ne cewa jaridar ƙasa mafi tasiri ta zamani a Falasɗinu an sanya mata suna Falastin (1911–1967) – ba Filastin ba – don jaddada sunan ƙasar a cikin yaren gida, Falastin, a matsayin hanyar gina wata ƙabilar ƙasa ta daban ta Falasɗinawa. Baya ga mayar da sabuwar ƙabilar ƙasa ta zama ta yaren gida, gogewar yanayin ƙasa daban, tarihin rayuwa da tunanin al'ada, harshe da addini na Falasɗinu na zamani sun kasance jigo wajen gina ainihin ƙabilar ƙasar Falasɗinu ta zamani. Yaren Falasɗinawa na gida ya taka muhimmiyar rawa wajen hange Falasɗinu na zamani. A shekarar 1909, H. H. Spoer (Abokin Ƙungiyar Makarantar Binciken Tsoffin Abubuwa da Nazarin Gabas a Urushalima) da E. ne suka wallafa Littafin Jagora na Larabcin Falasɗinawa, don Koyon Kai.

In the case of modern Palestine, the introduction of print capitalism in the late 19th century, the spread modern education, linguistic, cultural and religious memories, standard Arabic and vernacular (colloquial) Palestinian Arabic all became markers of a distinct identity. Perhaps it is not surprising that the most influential Palestinian national newspaper of the modern era was called Falastin (1911–1967) – not Filastin – emphasising the local colloquial Arabic name for the country, Falastin, as a way of forging a distinct or separate Palestinian national identity. In addition to the vernacularisation of a nascent national identity, the experience of distinct geography, living history and cultural, linguistic and religious memories of modern Palestine were central to the construction of modern Palestinian national identity. The Palestinian vernacular was certainly important in the visualisation of modern Palestine. In 1909 a Manual of Palestinian Arabic, for Self-instruction was published by H. H. Spoer (Fellow of the American School of Archaeology and Oriental Research in Jerusalem) and E.

Nasrallah Haddad (malamin Larabci a Makarantar Horar Malamai ta Gidan Marayu na Syria a Urushalima,17 wanda kuma aka sani da Gidan Marayu na Schneller). Wannan farkon kishin kasa na yankin ya haɗu da yaɗa harsunan gida da sha'awar tatsuniyoyin jama'ar Falasɗinawa, kuma hakan ya bayyana sosai a aikin majagaba na Tawfiq Cana'an (1882–1964), likita, masanin al'adun ƴan adam, mai ilimin ɗan adam, marubuci mai yawan littattafai, kuma mai kishin kasar Falasɗinu.

Nasrallah Haddad (teacher of Arabic at the Teacher Training Seminary at the Syrisches Waisenhaus in Jerusalem,17 also known as the Schneller Orphanage). This incipient local nationalism was coupled with vernacularisation and interest in local Palestinian folklore, and this was particularly evident in the pioneering work of Tawfiq Cana’an (1882–1964), a physician, ethnographer, anthropologist, prolific author and Palestinian nationalist.

An haife shi a Beit Jala, Cana'an ya yi aiki a matsayin jami'in lafiya a cikin sojojin Daular Usmaniyya a lokacin Yakin Duniya na Farko, kuma daga baya ya zama shugaban farko na Ƙungiyar Likitocin Larabawan Falasdinu da aka kafa a shekarar 1944.

Born in Beit Jala, Cana’an served as a medical officer in the Ottoman army during the First World War and would later serve as the first President of the Palestine Arab Medical Association founded in 1944.

Tabbas, zuwa karni na 19 Falasdinu ta kasance, tsawon ƙarnuka da dama a ƙarƙashin Musulunci, ƙasar Larabawa kuma ƙasar Larabawa (balad, bilad), kuma harshen Larabci (na yau da kullum da kuma na adabi) ya kasance babban alamar asalin al'adunta. Sakamakon tasirin zamantakewa, yaɗuwar harsunan yau da kullum da farkawar al'adu a ƙarshen zamanin Daular Usmaniyya a Falasdinu a rabin na biyu na karni na 19, Larabcin adabi shi ma ya samu sabuntawa da sauƙaƙawa a tsare-tsaren karatun wasu makarantu. A shekara ta 1909, malamin ilimi ɗan Falasdinu Khalil Sakakini (1878–1953)

Of course, by the 19th century Palestine had been for many centuries under Islam an Arab land and an Arab country (balad, bilad) with Arabic (vernacular and standard) being a key marker of its cultural identity. Under the impact of modernisation, vernacularisation and cultural awakening in late Ottoman Palestine during the second half of the 19th century, literary Arabic also went through updating and simplification in the curricula of some schools. In 1909, Palestinian educator Khalil Sakakini (1878–1953)

ya kafa Makarantar Dusturiyyah a Urushalima, kuma ya ƙaddamar da wani tsarin ilimi na zamani, mai ci gaba, wanda ba wai kawai ya mayar da Larabci harshen koyarwa na farko maimakon Turkanci ba, har ma ya gabatar da sababbin hanyoyin koyar da Larabci ta hanyar sabunta nahawun Larabci da sauƙaƙa dokokinsa na asali na gaba ɗaya (Tamari 2003). Daga baya, wannan al'adar ci gaba ta sauƙaƙawa, sabuntawa, da kusantar da Larabcin adabi zuwa harshen Larabcin Falasɗinawa na yau da kullum ta ci gaba a cikin waƙoƙin "ƙasa" na Mahmoud Darwish.

founded the Dusturiyyah School in Jerusalem and pioneered a modern progressive education system which not only made the primary language of instruction Arabic instead of Turkish but also introduced new methods of teaching Arabic by updating Arabic grammar and simplifying its basic general rules (Tamari 2003). Later this progressive tradition of simplifying, updating and bringing literary Arabic closer to vernacular Palestinian Arabic continued in the ‘national’ poetry of Mahmoud Darwish.

Kamar yadda Heidegger ya bayyana ra'ayin ‘zama-na-kasancewa’, kai-wakilci da ‘zama-Bafalastine’ a cewar Darwish, suna da alaka ta wata hanya da yadda aka ke ta kara bayyanawa, fuskanta, hangowa da sake tsara asalin Bafalastine na zamani.

Echoing the Heideggerean notion of the ‘becoming of being’, self-representation and the ‘becoming of being Palestinian’, according to Darwish, are related in some sense to the way modern Palestinian identity was progressively being uncovered, experienced, visualised and reconfigured.

18 Ga Darwish, harshen Larabci da waka da kuma tunanin gama-gari da na al'umma na Falasdinu, musamman, sun kasance jigo wajen gano da gina kebantacciyar ainihin Falasdinawa ta yankin. Ma'aunan waka mai rhythm ta Larabci ana kiranta da 'tekuna' (buhur) a harshen Larabci. Waƙoƙin Darwish masu jan hankali ƙwarai sun kuma zana Falasdinu ta zamani a matsayin wuri tsakanin (Bahar Rum).

18 For Darwish, the Arabic language and poetry and collective and social memories of Palestine, in particular, were fundamental to the uncovering and construction of local Palestinian identity. The metres of the rhythmical Arabic poetry are known in Arabic as ‘seas’ (buhur). Darwish’s highly evocative poetry also visualised modern Palestine as a space between the (Mediterranean)

Teku da Hamada (Hamadar Larabawa), wani ra'ayi da ke da tushe sosai a cikin tunanin Musulunci na Larabawa na tsakiya da kuma abubuwan tarihi na al'umma a Falasdinu. Amma ga Darwish, 'Hinterland ɗin Falasdinu' (bar Filastin) da 'Tekun Falasdinu' (bahr Filastin) – waɗanda aka misalta a zahiri da kuma a alamance ta Tekun Bahar Rum da Hamadar Larabawa – suna wakiltar Falasdinu gaba ɗaya. Su ma wurare ne na gogewa, na sanin zuciya da zurfin tunani, da kuma na gano asalin mutum da al'umma da aka bayyana da gangan.

Sea and the (Arabian) Desert, an idea which is deeply rooted in the medieval Arab Islamic conception and social memories of Palestine. But for Darwish the ‘Hinterland of Palestine’ (bar Filastin) and the ‘Sea of Palestine’ (bahr Filastin) – symbolised literally and metaphorically by the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Desert –represent Palestine as a whole. They are also spaces of experiences, of inner consciousness and subconsciousness and of consciously unveiled personal and collective identities.