I detest suicide. I like the poetry of Khalil Hawi very much. It frustrated him a great deal in his life that Nizar Qabbani was more appreciated as a poet than he was. And I agreed and still agree with Hawi. He is a very original poet. But I don't believe that we, the living can or should interpret somebody's suicide, politically or otherwise. Yes, Hawi was fiercely opposed to Israel and Zionism, and he was disgusted with Israel's invasion of Lebanon. But Hawi's personal life, for those who knew, shed enough life to indicate that one is not sure that his suicide belongs to us, so that we can fire it in the struggle against Israel. Let us read his poetry, and not try to derive political capital for a deed that he alone can explain. (I once saw him go totally and unreasonably crazy when a woman at a panel at AUB asked him a question in non-classical Arabic. He literally stormed out, and started cursing and yelling. If you saw that--and I have--you would be cautious before you try to interpret his suicide one-dimensionally.)