Naji Al-Ali
Naji Al-Ali was one of the most prominent cartoonists in the Arab world. In Ash Shajara, a village in Palestine, he was born in 1936. In 1948, Ash Shajara was one of the 480 villages destroyed in what is known as the “Nakba,” or catastrophe. Naji Al-Ali was 10 years old when he and his family were expelled from Palestine to the Ein Al-Hilweh refugee camp in Lebanon. With brutal honesty, Naji Al-Ali analyzed the relationships between the governments of the United States, Israel and the Arab regimes and the ramifications for the Palestinians. Time Magazine described him saying, “This man draws with human bones.” On July 22, 1987, in London, Naji Al-Ali was assassinated as he walked towards the offices of Al-Qabas newspaper. He died in the hospital on August 29th. His murderer has never been apprehended.
