Khalil Sakakini (; 23 January 1878 – 13 August 1953) was a Palestinian Orthodox Christian teacher, scholar, poet, and Arab nationalist.
Biography
Khalil Sakakini was born into a Palestinian Christian family in Jerusalem on 23 January 1878. He received his schooling in Jerusalem at the Greek Orthodox school, at the Anglican Christian Mission Society (CMS) College founded by Bishop Blyth, and at the Zion English College where he read Literature.
Later, Sakakini traveled to the United Kingdom and from there to the United States to join his brother Yusif, an itinerant salesman living in Philadelphia. During his nine-month stay in America, Khalil Sakakini wrote for Arabic literary magazines on the East Coast, and did translations for Professor Richard Gottheil at Columbia University. He supported himself by teaching Arabic and working in a factory in Maine; he also worked as a street vendor. Upon his return in 1908, Khalil Sakakini worked as a journalist for the Jerusalem magazine Al-Asmai''' and taught Arabic at the Salahiyya school and tutored expatriates at the American Colony. He also contributed to Al Nafais Al Asriyyah, a literary magazine based in Jerusalem. Sari followed Wadie Tarazi (Prominent Gaza Christian that attended Friends School of Ramallah) to Haverford College and was a freshman in 1932 but seems to have dropped out or transferred as is mentioned in Haverford's 1936 Yearbook. Haverford 1932 yearbook: https://archive.org/details/recordofclass1932have/page/158/mode/2up
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 for the American consulate.
During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the Sakakinis were one of the last families to leave the Katamon neighborhood. A few days before the city was divided, the Sakakini family fled to Cairo. There, Khalil 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 13 August 1953. Sakakini's two daughters, Dumya and Hala, lived together in Ramallah until their deaths, in 2002 and 2003, respectively. The two sisters had long careers in education. Hala Sakakini edited her father's journals, published in 1955, and wrote two memoirs in English, Jerusalem and I and Twosome''.
Pedagogic career
In 1909, Khalil Sakakini founded the Dusturiyyah school or National School, which became known for its Arab nationalist approach. Sakakini pioneered a progressive education system: no grades, prizes or punishments for the students, and emphasis being placed on music, education and athletics. He also introduced new methods of teaching Arabic, and made it the primary language of instruction instead of Turkish.
Wasif Jawhariyyeh, noted for his memoirs of early 20th century Jerusalem, was a pupil of his in the Dusturiyyah School. He praised Sakakini's education style.
Sakakini led a movement to reform and change into a more Arab approach to what he considered to be a corrupt Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, and wrote a pamphlet in 1913 titled "The Orthodox Renaissance in Palestine", which led to his excommunication from the Greek Orthodox Church. Ottoman authorities arrested him on the last day of Ottoman Rule in Jerusalem in 1917, after he had sheltered a Polish-American Jew and fellow citizen of Jerusalem, Alter Levine. Both were sent to a prison in Damascus. Levine became an enemy when the United States joined the Allies of World War I. Even so, Levine and Sakakini became close friends during their incarceration. Upon his release, Sakakini boarded for a brief time with Musa Alami, a former pupil, and then joined the Arab Revolt, for which he composed its anthem.