Mahmoud Darwish, the Palestinian "murdered" poet, writes French newspaper

Source: Le Figaro (25 August)

"The Former Foreign Affairs Minister [Dominique de Villepin] indicated that he had met with the President again "in June to discuss Europe and the world situation". Full of emotion, he explained that he had been "touched" when Nicholas Sarkozy entrusted him with an "assignment": to represent France at the funeral of murdered Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish."

Intriguingly, the paper does not specify the circumstances of the supposed murder of Mahmoud Darwish. It is unclear who is responsible for the misprint/error: Mr. de Villepin or Le Figaro's journalist.

To put the record straight, Mahmoud Darwish was not murdered, he died earlier this month at the age of 67 of natural causes after undergoing open-heart surgery in a hospital in Houston, Texas.

Alghouth the "misinformation" was picked up by several readers and by Menahem Macina, here, it has not been corrected.

"L'ancien ministre des Affaires étrangères a confié qu'il avait revu le président "en juin, pour parler de l'Europe et de la situation du monde". Sur un ton vibrant d'émotion, il a raconté que Nicolas Sarkozy lui avait confié une "mission" qui l'avait "touché" : représenter la France aux obsèques d'un poète palestinien assassiné, Mahmoud Darwich."
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