On the 80th anniversary of the birth of the late poet, a French, Algerian and Palestinian won the Mahmoud Darwish Prize for Creativity 

The Mahmoud Darwish Foundation announced - today, Saturday - that the French researcher and historian Henri Lawrence, the Algerian plastic artist Rachid Qureshi and the Palestinian director Muhammad Bakri, has won the 12th session of its annual prize for creativity, which bears the name of the late Palestinian poet.

The announcement of the winners coincides with Mahmoud Darwish's birthday (1941-2008) and National Culture Day on March 13th.

The jury said that it adopted 3 criteria in its choices, which are: the effective cultural presence of the personality, the contribution to the Palestinian, Arab and international cultural movement, and the defense of the values ​​of right, freedom and justice in the field or through the cultural achievement.

In the rationale for awarding the award, she said that she chose Henry Lawrence "because of the objectivity of his research and his connection to Arab issues and the Palestinian issue in particular."

It also chose Rashid Qureshi for his "tremendous work in restoring all that is human through art, formation and color," in addition to that "the Palestinian issue" constituted one of his core concerns.

As for Muhammad Bakri, he chose his cinematic and documentary efforts for the Palestinian cause and struggle, especially the film "Jenin ... Jenin", which documents the massacre in the Jenin camp during the April 2002 invasion.

According to the Mahmoud Darwish Foundation's website, the award consists of the award's logo, the award innocence signed by the Palestinian president, and a cash reward of $ 25,000 for each winner.

The three winners

Lawrence is a French historian and academic who authored many books and historical studies on Palestine. He also has the book "The Question of Palestine", whose Arabic translation was published by the National Center for Culture and Translation in 5 volumes.

Among the works of Lawrence are "Bonaparte and Islam .. Bonaparte and the Jewish State," "The Intellectual Origins of the French Campaign against Egypt ... The Islamic Outlook in France 1698-1798", "The Adventurer and the Orientalist," "Arabism in Crisis," and "The Impossible Kingdom. France and the formation of the modern Arab world, and the Palestinian Question 1922-1947 ... a sacred civilization mission.

As for the Palestinian artist and director, Muhammad Bakri, from the village of Al-Ba'nah in the Galilee, he directed the movie "Jenin Jenin", which begins with a dumb young man explaining what he witnessed in the invasion of Jenin camp (2002) with his whole body. The young man imitates shooting with his hands and killing snipers by pointing his finger on his head And the fear of hiding and running from one corner to the other, while Bakri's camera pursues him to say that whoever cannot even utter a word will narrate the horror of what he saw!

In an open interview with Bakri (1953) last Tuesday, hypothetically organized by the Khalil Sakakini Center in Ramallah, during which it was interviewed by journalist Samah Basoul, the Palestinian director talked about the story of "Jenin Jenin," the film that the Israeli judiciary pursued for nearly two decades. A decision to ban him last January, and the director was also fined $ 70,000 in compensation for an Israeli soldier, assuring Al Jazeera Net that he had filed the case to the Court of Appeal.

The Algerian and international artist, Rachid al-Quraishi, is known for transcending the limits of artistic talent, making all the elements of words, numbers, light and shadow, their connotations and symbolism, spiritual messages that Quraishi has been working on for many years to achieve.

Qureshi (1947) is interested in the spirit of Arabic calligraphy and Sufi culture, and his works combine traditional traditions and modernity, and he has won many awards, including the Jameel Prize from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2011 for his work "The Unknown Masters" consisting of banners embroidered with Arabic letters and symbols.

In 2008, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree establishing the Mahmoud Darwish Foundation, which announced the award on this day, which the Palestinian government decided to consider as a day for Palestinian culture at a later time.