El fedayín y el proceso de la construcción identitaria nacional palestina en la poesía de Mahmoud Darwish

By the end of the sixties, the resurgence of the Palestinian armed resistance movement marked acrucial juncture in the process of nation building. In Lebanon, conditions were so favorable that the guerrillafighter – or fedayín – rapidly became the symbol of a new collective identity. Song lyrics and poetry provideevidence of the immense popularity he enjoyed in those days, both as a national hero and as a paragonof moral virtues. However, the Palestinian armed presence and military activity on Lebanese soil wouldeventually destabilize Lebanon’s fragile political system. After the eruption of the civil war (1975-1990),guerrilla fighters lost their momentum. In his poemAh.mad al-Za‘atar, which was written shortly after themassacre of the Tell Zaatar refugee camp (1976) to commemorate its victims, Mahmoud Darwish capturesthe essence of that historical moment, and portrays the ethos that the fedayín embodied, the notion of heroicsacrifice which to this day legitimates the Palestinian cause.