Wednesday, January 11, 2006



Top is a picture of my aunt; above is a picture of my aunt killed. My aunt (a favorite aunt), 78, Nabilah AbuKhalil, the last surviving sister of my late father, was killed by two robbers at her house in Qana, near Tyre in Lebanon two days ago. The person who murdered her used to do some electrical work in the building next to her, and she often gave him food. On the day of her murder, according to a Canadian-Lebanese scholar who was at the village at the time and who emailed me from Qana, she gave one robber coffee, and the other riz b-halib (a dessert). Later, those two showed up at her house, and one robber slit her throat, and stabbed my aunt's maid, Sutira Qumari, who survived and gave descriptions of the killers. The Lebanese Army is taking credit for the capture of the two, but the credit should go Sultan Abu Al-`Aynayn (the top PLO official in Lebanon) who helped in capturing the culprits, and for that (and for his strong statements and efforts), I thank him. My aunt had been in mourning for more than three decades; two of her children drowned in the sea off Tyre. This is the account of the murder in As-Safir, and this is in An-Nahar, and this is in Al-Mustaqbal.