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As Haifa didn't have coastal road
So the fighters seized the opportunity when convoys crossed from west to north
parallel to this street was 'Hijaz' railways
beyond the railways we have 'Almuntar' mountain
Qawoqji came and formed the fighters into a triangle
the base beside the railway and the pinnacle on top of the mountain
We wanted to strike two birds with one stone and hit a British convoy
protecting buses carrying Jewish immigrants
on the opposite hill, the Palestinians headed by Haj Muhammad
the general leader of the Palestinian revolution
were positioned on the foothills, but didn't engage actively in the battle
then Qawoqji withdrew some months later
and Haj Muhammad took the lead...
the revolution became 100% Palestinian
the fighters dropped a plane, while other sources say two
and many Arab fighters were killed, three of them were from Anabta
they were buried after a grand funeral. We recall one of them called Muheddin Aldurzi
here..in this area
it was a big and proper funeral, and he came forward and recited the poem on the
grave of Muheddin Aldurzi
he was one of his closest friends
one of the most beautiful poems of martyrdom was conceived here
I don't know how many drafts he had torn before reaching this maturity
I will carry my soul in my palm And throw it into the abyss of death
Either to live pleasing your friend Or to die annoying your foe
What to live for? If I am not being feared defending my land
I swear I can see my death, but I am speeding my steps to it
I see my death, without my deprived rights and homeland, as my end
I swear this is how men die and whoever desired a noble death then here it is
this poem contains planning for his life and future
he says: I'll carry my soul with my palms
and will throw it into the abyss of death
'will' is for the near future
he is a poet who stand in between commitment and rejection
between committing to neoclassical notions on one hand
but on the other he rejected these notions
and moved towards the new 'romantic school'
Britain was disturbed with his revolutionary activism
so it set to arrest him alive or dead
and a telegraph was sent to the police in Nablus
it was received by his friend who was working as telegraph officer named Kamel
Kamel was a friend and a poet
he contacted Abd Alraheem's family immediately and told them
that he is wanted alive or dead
the family had no choice but to arrange for Abd Alraheem Mahmud
to escape from Palestine. They arranged with a train driver
for Abd Alraheem to wear a train worker uniform
and he took the train to Haifa, there it was agreed he would meet with bishop
Najeen Qubien
who would smuggle him from Haifa to Syria
After our failed revolution in 1939, I was forced with many to seek shelter in Iraq
a revolution lead by Rashid Ali errupted there
and Abd Alraheem joined it!
wherever there is a national patriotic battle you'll find him
and he became to know the poet movement emerging in Iraq
and he knew many literal and poetic strands there
After Britain had pardoned all the rebels who had escaped
Abd Alraheem returned
On his way in the desert he composed a beautiful poem
considered a pinnacle in romantic poetry;
he stood in front of a stone and addressed it:
Why is your solitary? with no friend in sight in this scary Wilderness
Do you prefer the desert over the shadow of ornamented abundance?
Are you seeking a monk's loneliness there and philosopher's isolation?
when he entered Palestine he was arrested by the British forces
they forced him to sign a commitment not to resume his patriotic activites, which he did
but of course after two months he commenced the national struggle
in the middle of the forties he stayed in Nazareth
and he had relations with the Palestinian Communist Party
where he started to be influenced by social ideas
in his poetry he leaned towards the poor, that's why people thought he was a leftist
with the wave coming from Russia
but this wasn't accurate, his father used to acquire
books about Muslim theology and Jurisprudence
he has important poems about workers, where he calls them to rebel
and to claim their rights by force
here I can repel this label of him being 'communist'!
his ideas were leftist because social justice is embedded in Islam
we can't say that he belonged politically to the communist party
these poems didn't exist in Touqan's nor Karmi's poetry
Look at me; and make your kindness pour out of your looks
Wink to me; I have been waiting long for your winks
Smile to me my Love; Wishes are made out of your smiles
Consider me human who makes mistakes; but I repent
I am tormented; so to which Paradise I shall return
Would you accept a wiggling and wondering heart!?
the language Abd Alraheem uses in Love poems is not classical
He loved a girl from Nablus by the name of Salma
he was madly in love with her and wrote poems for her
but he left her and rebelled against her when he felt she had turned against him
and started a relation with another rich man who owned a car
in this poem he expressed not only his rebellion against her but against women
in general
Those who burn our hearts with their fire
Who make their eyes into rods
They approach in herds...
(Women!)
They approach in herds like deer
Divided into battalions for war
I'm not embarrassed to say that poets are like birds
he likes to move from one branch to another,
to drink from this spring or that one
you see!
this applies to all poets and I've tried it...