I wrote briefly the other day about the passing of Dr. `Abdullah Lama. I failed to mention that he was the personal physician of George Habash. When Habash had his first heart attack, a physician at AUB leaked the news to An-Nahar which then released to the world although Habash was staying under a fake name. But An-Nahar could not withhold the news, of course. His passing reminded me of my activism in my youth because of that one first meeting I attended at his house. Hana sent me this about him:
"As’ad; It saddened me quite a bit to hear about the death of Dr. Lama. He was my family doctor and a close friend of my grandfather. A one-of-a-kind person, who is remembered by most people who lived in the Southern Suburb of Beirut, where he treated folks in his Burj El Barajneh clinic whether or not they had money, Lebanese and Palestinians. He kept coming to his clinic in the darkest of days in Dahiyeh, and we had many of those. He retired at an old age, and his daughter for a while picked up his clinical duties. He continued to drive to Palestine via Jordan and visit his homeland until a year or two ago. He could do that because he is an American Palestinian. His name is mentioned in Dahiyeh with a reverence that is usually reserved to prophets and saints. An inspirational, beautiful and stubborn-as-hell man."
"As’ad; It saddened me quite a bit to hear about the death of Dr. Lama. He was my family doctor and a close friend of my grandfather. A one-of-a-kind person, who is remembered by most people who lived in the Southern Suburb of Beirut, where he treated folks in his Burj El Barajneh clinic whether or not they had money, Lebanese and Palestinians. He kept coming to his clinic in the darkest of days in Dahiyeh, and we had many of those. He retired at an old age, and his daughter for a while picked up his clinical duties. He continued to drive to Palestine via Jordan and visit his homeland until a year or two ago. He could do that because he is an American Palestinian. His name is mentioned in Dahiyeh with a reverence that is usually reserved to prophets and saints. An inspirational, beautiful and stubborn-as-hell man."
