Darwish was born in
Kafr Qasim in 1948. After completing his religious studies in
Nablus, he returned to Kafr Qasim and began advocating a return to
Islam and Islamic tradition, and subsequently established the
Islamic Movement in Israel in 1971. 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".
Usrat al-Jihad attempted to burn down an Israeli textile factory, set fire to forests, and was involved in the death of a suspected Israeli collaborator. 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 1985 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. Following the
Oslo Accords, the Islamic Movement in Israel Darwish had founded, split between the "Northern Branch" (in northern Israel), led by Darwish's
protégé Sheikh Raed Salah—that opposed the agreement—and one led by Darwish himself, referred to as the "Southern Branch" (in southern Israel) that supported it and wanted to participate in the
Israeli political process. In later life, he continued as the spiritual leader of the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel. In partnership with
Rabbi Michael Melchior, he played an important role in setting up a major interfaith meeting in
Alexandria,
Egypt in 2002, during the
Second Intifada; this group produced a joint declaration rejecting murder in the name of God and pledging a joint quest for peace. Darwish founded the "Adam Centers for Dialogue Between Religions and Civilizations", and—with Rabbi Melchior—founded the
Religious Peace Initiative, both of which arranges for interfaith dialogue between
Muslims,
Jews, and
Christians. This network worked behind the scenes to ease inter-communal tensions in
Acre in 2008, and to prevent inter-communal violence in 2014, when
Eid al-Adha and
Yom Kippur occurred on the same day. In 2007, Darwish won praise for being the first Muslim leader to speak at the
Global Forum for Combatting Anti-Semitism. During his speech, he criticized
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for denying
the Holocaust, saying: Tell all who deny the Holocaust to ask the Germans what they did or did not do." == Legacy ==