Note Type
Historical NoteNote
Born in Anbata to the town's mayor, Sami Khalil received her primary education in Nablus, Tulkarm, and Ramallah. She enrolled in Beirut Arab University to study Arabic literature in her 40s, but dropped her studies because occupation policies following 1967 precluded traveling to take her final exams.
She re-emerged as a prominent humanitarian figure after the Naksa, when she again encouraged women to engage in emergency charity response. She was the founder of the Arab Women's Union in 1952, co-founder and President of the Family Revival Society, secretary of the Executive Committee of the General Union, and member of the Palestine National Council. Much of her fame came from her work with the Family Revival Society, which sought to provide vocational training programs for women . The original budget of $140 has grown to an annual budget of $6 million.
Khalil became a member of the command council of the Palestinian National Front in 1973, and in 1979 was elected the only female member of the National Guidance Committee. Further, she was an honorary member of the Union of Arab Lawyers as well as the Arab Women's Union.
Throughout her lifetime she was arrested multiple times, imprisoned twice, and placed under house arrest. Khalil represented Palestinian women in twenty congresses worldwide. She received the Jerusalem Medal for Culture, Arts and Literature in 1991. In 1996, she challenged Yasser Arafat in the first Palestinian presidential elections and gained over 11% of the vote. The four objectives of her work were: educating children, enabling mothers to work, enshrining volunteer work principles, and preserving heritage.