Naji Al Ali: Martyrdom for a patriotic artist

By Ghassan Joha

"We are all in need of him, to search into our bodies; to seek our survival and, for sure, to pursue our love." (Nadra Srour, Arab poet)

Today, people still consider the death of the Palestinian caricaturist Naji Al Ali as the greatest loss to the Arab art world. He is still widely remembered as one of the most influential commentators on the Palestinian issue.

Al Ali was assassinated in London on 29 August 1987. Many believe that his assassination was deliberate because of the way he portrayed the Arab political situation in his cartoons. His works influenced all kinds of people, who used to wait impatiently every morning, to see his drawings on the last page of many Arab dailies.

Every cartoon that Al Ali drew, featured his famous hand-made character-the bare-foot little boy 'Hanthalah'who turned his back to the world-became a trademark throughout his long career. The idea came to Al Ali when he was working in Kuwait during the early 1960s. "I created this character to symbolize my lost childhood," said Al Ali, to a reporter once. But Hanthalah was much more than that. Admirers of Ali say he drew the character to represent his frustration with the Arab world.

Born in 'Al Shajarah' village near Nazareth in 1937, he was a victim of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war; his family were forced to leave to the Ain Halwa refugee camp in south Lebanon, at the age of 10. His artistic career began in Lebanon during the late 1950s, when the late Palestinian novelist Ghassan Kanafani-who owned a magazine in Lebanon-published two of Al Ali's cartoons. The years spent in the refugee camp influenced him immensely, and it was there that he first witnessed the constraints imposed on the Palestinian people. He swore then to immerse himself in politics and serve the Palestinian revolution by all the means at his disposal.

Al Ali was originally trained as a mechanic, but his first love was always drawing, which led him to a one-year art course at the Lebanese Art Academy. It wasn't until later, when he worked as a journalist in Kuwait, that Al Ali entered the risky road of politics. He first worked as an editor, reporter, and even as a secretary, at Al Tale'ah weekly magazine. "I was able there to express my feelings and thoughts through the medium of cartoons." Al Ali said.

He often defined himself as a realist, one aligned to his social class-the poor and hardworking. This point of view was apparent in the majority of his cartoons. "The poor people are those who suffer, are sentenced to jail, and die without shedding tears," Al Ali once said. Later on, he returned to the old camp in south Lebanon, and found work with Al Safeer newspaper, but he was dismayed at the change in attitudes.

"When I left the camp, everyone held dearly to the idea of liberating the whole of Palestine, but on my return, I found that people were content with liberating less than half of it," Al Ali was once quoted. He thought that the pursuit of money was responsible for the change in principles.

During the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Al Ali was forced to leave his home again, but this time on ships filled with hundreds of Palestinian fighters. After several years of displacement, Al Ali finally settled back in Kuwait, where he found work with the prominent Arab daily, Al Qabass. It was here that Al Ali dedicated all his energies into highlighting the Palestinian people's feelings and sufferings.

However, the cartoonist soon encountered resistance from certain political pressure groups, and was forced to move to Al Qabass' branch in London. It was his last move before his death in 1987. Many writers and poets have paid tributes to Al Ali and his works. Prominent Arab poet Mahmoud Darwish said, "The death of Al Ali was yet another classic crime-committed by a talented enemy-that mortally wounded our morals and sacred values, and those of the future generations as well."

Jalal Rifai, however, has a more personal tribute, after having met Al Ali in Dubai, in early 1983. "He used only simple lines and traces to depict his sarcastic ideas and thoughts onto paper. His works and thoughts were impressive, unusual and impossible to imitate," Rifai, a well-known Jordanian cartoonist, said.

Radwa Ashour, the prominent Egyptian female novelist, once said, "He was, and still is today, an idol for humanity. His works will always be reproduced in the Arab world, and I hope and pray that another person like him comes along."

In 1992, Al Ali's cult status reached its highest point following an Arabic motion picture about his life, entitled 'Naji Al Ali'. The movie-with Egyptian actor Noor El-Sharif characterizing Al Ali-gained widespread admiration and respect from around the Arab world. We all remember Naji Al Ali as a man who loved Palestine (his homeland), Lebanon (where he grew up), and finally Kuwait (where he gave birth to 'Hanthalah'). Yet, he was more than this; he was a man who loved the whole of the Arab World.

From JORDAN STAR, 24 September 1998