Ramallah - Mahmoud Darwish, who advocated for Palestinian statehood in his poems known throughout the Middle East, died Saturday after undergoing a heart operation in the United States, Palestinian television reported.

The 67-year-old had undergone an operation in Houston on Wednesday and his condition had worsened. He had had two previous such operations.

Darwish was known as one of the most outstanding poets in the Arab world and as the poetic voice of the Palestinians. His 30 volumes of poetry have been translated into 
30 languages.

While stressing his commitment to a Palestinian state, he advocated a peaceful existence with Israelis.

Darwish was born in a village near the northern Israeli city of Akko and left Israel in 1970, splitting his time between Amman and Ramallah.

He worked for a time as editor of the communist Arab newspaper Al- Ittihad.

He was elected to the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1987, but resigned from the organization in 1993 to protest the signing of the Oslo peace accords. (dpa)