Born in the village of Al-Birwa, in Galilee, on 3/13/1941.

In 1948 he sought refuge in Lebanon at the age of seven and stayed there for one year. After that, he infiltrated into Palestine and stayed in the village of Deir al-Asad (north of the town of Majd Krum in Galilee) for a short period, after which he settled in the village of Al-Jadida.

He completed his primary education after returning from Lebanon at the Deir al-Assad School in disguise. He was afraid that he would be exiled, and he lived during that period deprived of citizenship, and he received his secondary education in the village of Kafr Yasif near the village of Al-Jadida.

Mahmoud Darwish joined the Communist Party in occupied Palestine, after completing his secondary education, his life consisted of writing poetry and articles in newspapers such as “Al-Ittihad” and magazines such as “Al-Jadeed” which he later became supervising its editor, both of which are affiliated with the Communist Party. He also participated in editing a newspaper "Al Fajer" and settled in the city of Haifa in his youth.

His famous poem "An ID Card", in which he addresses an Israeli occupier policeman, has become a collective cry of defiance against the Israeli occupation.

He was harassed by the Israeli occupation authorities and was arrested more than once since 1961 on charges related to his statements and political activities, until 1972 when he left to Moscow and then to Cairo, and then moved to Lebanon, where he worked in publishing and studies institutions of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and served as editor-in-chief of  "Palestinian affairs" magazine.

In 1980, he issued "Al-Karmel" magazine, then moved to Cyprus before finally settling in Ramallah, and remained its editor-in-chief until his death.

He was elected as a member of the Executive Committee of the Liberation Organization for several consecutive terms.

He resigned from the membership of the Executive Committee after the signing of     Oslo Accords in 1993.

In the years following his departure from Beirut in 1982, Darwish resided between Cyprus, Tunisia, Paris, and Amman.

Mahmoud Darwish wrote the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, which was read by President Yasser Arafat at the eighteenth session of the Palestinian National Council in Algeria on 11/15/1988.

He returned to the Palestinian territories in 1996 and resided in Ramallah.

His poetic works have been translated into more than 20 languages, and he was considered the poet of the Palestinian resistance, as international intellectuals considered him "the poet of humanity." 

He was one of the few poets who wrote prose that is no less in its characteristics, qualities, and beauty than his poetry.

He died on 8/8/2008 after undergoing an "open heart" operation, after which he fell into a coma which led to his death at the Houston Medical Center in the United States of America.

His body was transferred to Ramallah and buried in a special mausoleum on 13/8/2008 near the Palace of Culture.