Samiha Al-Khalil (1923-1999) was born in Anabta in Tulkarem. Her father, Yousif Al-Qabaj, was the chairman of the municipality of Anabta for thirty-six years. Her mother is Halima Tukan. Samiha was a charity worker and a prominent figure in Palestinian politics.
She was enrolled in a private school in the city of Nablus when she was seven years old. She studied until the second grade of elementary school. In the early thirties, she joined a school in TulKarem and studied until seventh grade, and then she joined “The Friends” School in Ramallah and studied until second grade in high school. She continued her studies of the Arabic language until her third year in Beirut Arab University but could not finish her studies because she was banned from travelling by the Israeli occupation.
She earned her high school degree twenty-five years after she got married. In 1940, she married Salama Khalil.
In 1948 Samiha and her family became refugees. They lived in Gaza where she used to sell jewelry to survive until leaving by boat to Lebanon. IN 1952, all the family left Gaza by boat to Beirut and returned to the West Bank.
The experience of war and of being a refugee shaped her life as she struggled to gain back her country by shaking off the effects of Israeli occupation and oppression.
Samiha was an active women and she was considered one of the pioneers in social and women’s action in the West Bank.
In 1965, Khalil came to the public eye when she founded the al-Inaash al-Usra society in her garage – it would grow to become one of the largest and most effectivePalestinian welfare organization.
The organization empowers women through vocational skills trainings. The center also offers residential child care and, through its sale of embroidery and crafts, helps preserve Palestinian heritage and culture during the years of occupation. From modest beginnings, Ina’ash El-Usra has grown to have a $6 million annual budget, giving Palestinians the opportunity to maintain their dignity and hope as they struggle to maintain their presence in their historic home.
In 1970, she became a member in the leadership of the “National Front in the West Bank”.
In 1978, she was chosen to be a member in the “The National Committee of Guidance,” the supreme leading bureau of the Palestinian people inside Palestine. She was the only woman in that committee.
She established, and later became president of, the “Society of Reviving the Family” for thirty consecutive years. This society was one of the most prominent national societies to stand up against the occupation of the West Bank after 5 June 1967.
During the 1980s, Khalil was tied to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and detained six times by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) ; she saw two of her children deported from Israel and the other three (who had been out of the country at the time) forbidden from re-entering. She was eventually placed under town-arrest in al-Bireh.
In 1996 she ran for president of the Palestinian Authority, losing to Yasser Arafat, while garnering 11.5% of the vote.
A grandmother of 13, Khalil remained an active member in the political scene, serving on the Palestinian National Council up until her death in 1999.
She was a member of the Young Christian Women, of the administrative bureau of the Union of Charities in Jerusalem, the chairman of the Union of Volunteer Women Societies, which includes fifty-five societies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, member of the administrative committee of the branches of the Charities Union in Jerusalem, Al-Khalil, and Nablus, the treasurer of the Illiteracy and Senior Teaching Committee, of Al-Maqasid Charity, an honorary member of the Arab Lawyers Union
She wrote a poetry book entitled Uprising to Statehood.
Medals and Prizes:
- Medal of Jerusalem for culture and literature-1991
- Medal from the Public Union of the Students of Palestine-1992
- Medal from the Cultural Sports Center, Baka Al-Gharbiya
- Medal from the Arab American Society, Ramallah-1993
- Medal from the American Union, Ramallah-1993
- Medal from the Palestinian Society of Mathematical Sciences-1993
- Medal from the Palestinian Ministry of Culture-1995
- Medal of “For you, Jerusalem” Conference-1995
- Medal from Al-Bira municipality, Palestine-1995
Sources:
Further reading:
– When life hands you lemons
http://www.cipe.org/blog/2010/03/11/making-lemonade-from-lemons/#.VH2JFZUtDtQ
–Women Beyond Borders
