George Elias Khoury

Mar 19, 2004 - George Elias Khoury, 20, a Christian Arab and the son of well-known veteran attorney Elias Khoury of Beit Hanina in east Jerusalem, was shot to death from a vehicle while jogging in the north Jerusalem neighborhood of French Hill. The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which claimed responsibility for the attack, later published an apology for killing an Arab.

George Khoury, a second year student at the nearby Hebrew University, had taken his mother's car and driven two kilometers from his family home for his weekly Friday night jog in French Hill. At about 7:20 p.m., as he ran on Rehov Hahayil, he was gunned down by terrorists who opened fire from their passing car. The attackers then sped away via the adjacent Arab neighborhood of Isawiya, in the direction of Ramallah.

George, the middle son in the Khoury family, was a graduate of the Anglican International School in Jerusalem. He was active in sports and played the piano, representing his school in international music competitions. Like his father and grandfather, George tried to promote Jewish-Arab co-existence, participating in interfaith dialogues in Germany and England. He was studying economics and international relations at the Hebrew University and planned to follow in his father's footsteps and become a lawyer. His cousin described him as both athletic and an intellectual, who loved books and films.

Khoury's father, Elias, is a prominent east Jerusalem lawyer who has represented Palestinian political figures and Israeli Arabs in court. His grandfather, Daoud Khoury, was killed in a terrorist bombing at Zion Square in Jerusalem in July 1975.

Ibrahim Kandalaft, Arafat's adviser on Christian affairs, eulogized Khoury on behalf of the PA chairman, describing him as a shaheed (martyr) of the Palestinian cause. But the victim's mother interrupted him by declaring that her son was an "angel, not a shaheed."

George Khoury was buried in the Christian cemetery on Mount Zion. He is survived by his parents, an older brother and younger sister.