Abd al-Karim al-Karmi (Abu Salma)

Born in Tulkarm in 1909, he took part as a student in Damascus in the demonstration against Lord Balfour’s visit in April 1925, then taught in Palestine, qualified at the Jerusalem Law Classes in 1941 and practised law in Haifa until 1948. In October 1936 his ode “The Flame of Poetry”, attacking the Arab kings and princes who had called on the Palestinians to end the general strike, caused a wide uproar. He received the Lotus Prize in 1979, was elected president of the General Union of Palestinian Writers and Journalists in 1980, and died in the United States on 11 October 1980.

An introductory profile. The source material below provides the fuller record.