Background
Darwish was born Kafr Qasim in 1948.
Darwish was born Kafr Qasim in 1948.
In 1979, Darwish established an underground organization called Usrat al-Jihad ("The Family of Jihad"), whose goal was to establish "an Arab Islamic state in Palestine." Two years later, he was arrested together with several accomplices, and convicted of membership in a terrorist organization. He remained in prison until 1985, when he was freed as part of the Jibril Agreement between the government of Israel and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command. Following his release, Darwish became publicly active and began to express opposition to Israeli Arabs taking part in violent behavior.
In 1992, he explicitly condemned the killing of three Israeli soldiers by an Israeli Arab group.
He has expressed a commitment to the rule of law, and to integration into the State of Israel and its institutions. In a 2001 newspaper interview, he said:.