Khalil Al-Sakakini - Later Life

Later Life

Khalil Sakakini's wife, Sultana, died in October 1939 and was buried in the Greek Orthodox cemetery on Mount Zion. He mourned her for the rest of his days, and wrote poems eulogizing her. His son, Sari, completed his Master's degree at the University of Michigan and returned to Jerusalem, to work at the American consulate.

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the Sakakinis were one of the last families to leave the Katamon neighbourhood. A few days before the city was divided, the Sakakini family fled to Cairo. Sakakini was nominated by the Egyptian writer Taha Hussein to join the Arabic Language Academy.

Sari Sakakini's sudden death of a heart attack in 1953 at the age of 39 was a devastating blow. Khalil Sakakini died three months later, on August 13, 1953. Sakakini's two daughters, Dumya and Hala, lived together in Ramallah until their deaths, in 2002 and 2003. The two sisters had long careers in education. Hala edited her father's journals, published in 1955, and wrote two memoirs in English, Jerusalem and I and Twosome.

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