Khalil Toama (photo: Aviva Ein-Gil, June 1976)
Khalil was my dear friend and comrade. Coming from a class-conscious proletarian home with deep rural roots, he joined Matzpen in the early 1960s as a committed socialist and internationalist. It was clear he found a natural political home.
The most vivid early impression he made on me was the inner calm he radiated, with a trace of a kind and amused smile.
My strongest bond with him was formed in 1967, before the June war and following it. We found ourselves as a besieged group. The Israeli society around us went berserk with chauvinism, paranoia before the war and intoxication after the catastrophic victory.
We desperately needed each other to share our feelings and views. We met very often together with other comrades.
Shortly after the war, Khalil and I had two projects that brought us even closer. A personal project was lessons in Arabic that he kindly gave me. He was a patient teacher.
The second, more important, project was political. At that time it was relatively easy to go unhindered to east Jerusalem and the West Bank. We used to go together to look for and contact people with whom we shared much of our outlook or with whom we could have fruitful political discussions. Khalil proved to be an amazing communicator.
One of the people we met was Ahmad Khalifa, who was a member of Qawmiyun al-Arab. It was for harbouring him, ‘a member of a hostile organisation’ that Khalil was arrested in early 1968 and sentenced by a military court to nine months imprisonment.
Khalil Toama in the military court
While Khalil was still in Damoun prison, Ilana, I and our children moved to London.
After his release and exile to Germany, we kept in contact and met many times.
Our last meeting was in May 2008, when we spoke on the same platform at a Berlin conference commemorating the hopeful May of 1968.
His loss leaves an open wound in my heart.