Cartoon of Palestinian Boy Inspires, Years After Creator’s Murder

 

Columbia students occupying Hamilton Hall — which they renamed Hind’s Hall — in April unfurled a banner with the Palestinian cartoon character Handala, a boy with his back turned. Photo by Bing Guan for The New York Times

 

By Aruna D'Souza for The New York Times:

 

"When pro-Palestinian student protesters took over Hamilton Hall at Columbia University last month and renamed it 'Hind’s Hall,' the banner they unfurled contained images of a cartoon character created over 50 years ago that symbolizes the resilience of Palestinians.

"On either side of the text were two images of a barefoot boy with tattered clothes and spiky hair, his back turned to us.

"The character is called Handala (variously transliterated as Hanzala or Handzala), a name derived from a native plant that is deep-rooted, persistent and bears bitter fruit, and has become a potent symbol of the Palestinian struggle. The image was created by the Palestinian political cartoonist Naji Al-Ali in 1969, one of the most widely read cartoonists in the Arab world, who was murdered in London in 1987. (The case remains unsolved.)

"Handala is 10 years old, the same age that Ali was when he became a refugee in 1948.

"After the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, also known as the Yom Kippur War, Ali exclusively depicted Handala with his back turned, a gesture that transformed him into a silent witness of the horrors and outrages going on around him. The stance, according to the cartoonist, represented a rejection of the political machinations of foreign nations when it came to the fate of ordinary Palestinians."

 

 

More here.