Samiha al-Qubaj Salameh Khalil (
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
: سميحة خليل; born 1923 in
Anabta
Anabta ( ar, عنبتا) is a Palestinian town in the Tulkarm Governorate in the northern West Bank, located 9 kilometers east of Tulkarm. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Anabta had a population of 7,329 inhabitants in 2 ...
,
Mandatory Palestine
Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...
– died February 26, 1999 in
Ramallah
Ramallah ( , ; ar, رام الله, , God's Height) is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank that serves as the ''de facto'' administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerus ...
), also known as Umm Khalil, was a
Palestinian charity worker as well as a prominent figure in
Palestinian politics.
Khalil's father was the mayor of Anabta, where she was born. She dropped out of high school at the age of seventeen to marry Salameh Khalil. After the
1948 Arab-Israeli War
Events January
* January 1
** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated.
** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect.
** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form Britis ...
, the couple fled to
Gaza where they raised a family of five children, and in 1964 Samiha finally returned to school and graduated.
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 the largest and most effective Palestinian welfare organization. In 1977 she became the first and only female member of the
National Front Committee.
During the 1980s, Khalil was tied to the
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and detained six times by the
IDF
IDF or idf may refer to:
Defence forces
*Irish Defence Forces
*Israel Defense Forces
*Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006
*Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917
Organizations
*Israeli Diving Federation
*Interaction ...
; she saw two of her children deported from
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
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
The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine, , 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
The Palestinian National Council (PNC) ( ar, المجلس الوطني الفلسطيني, "'Almajlis Alwataniu Alfilastiniu"') is the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and elects the PLO Executive Committee, which ...
up until her death in 1999.
References
External links
Al Inaash al-Usra society
biography, at PASSIA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khalil, Samiha
1923 births
1999 deaths
People from Anabta
Palestinian clothing
Palestinian women in politics
Palestine Liberation Organization members
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine politicians