Democratic Palestine : 26 (ص 5)
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- Democratic Palestine : 26 (ص 5)
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NAJSI AL ALD’S LIFE
In 1983, Naji Al Ali spoke at length
about his life in an interview with the
Lebanese daily Al Safir. Naji was born
in Al Shajarah village in the Galilee,
northern Palestine, in 1936. On May 6,
1948, Naji and his family left their
village and headed for Lebanon, under
the impact of the Zionist aggression. In
Al Shajarah, there was a battle with the
Zionists, in which the famous Palesti-
nian poet, Abdel Rahim Mahmoud,
was martyred.
«We waited under the fig trees of
Bint Jbeil (South Lebanon) for two
months,» Naji said. «We were positive
that we would soon return to
Palestine... Until now, I still have that
feeling, after so many years and
atrocities...» Later, when Zionist policy
made it impossible to return to
Palestine, Naji’s family moved to Ain
Al Hilweh camp, near Sidon.
Recalling his village, Naji said, «I
was ten years old, but I remember my
village very well... not only the houses
and trees, but the grass and stones as
well... It is located between Nazareth
and Tiberius in the northern Galilee...
They say it was called by that name
(shajarah means tree), because Jesus
used to sit under the shade of a tree in
that place.»
About his life in Ain Al Hilweh, Naji
recalled, «Camp life was a daily
humiliation... I obtained the Lebanese
high school degree... but couldn’t find
work... so I started working in the
fields... Later I went to Tripoli and
studied at a vocational school...» He
graduated with a certificate as a
mechanic.
In 1957, he went to Saudi Arabia and
worked as a mechanic for two years.
During this period, he began to draw in
his spare time. In 1959, Naji returned to
Ain Al Hilweh. About that period, he
recalled that he was «influenced by Dr.
George Habash, Abu Maher Yamani
who was principal of one of the schools
in the camp, and Ghassan Kanafani
who was the first to publish one of my
sketches in Al Hourriyeh (at that time,
the magazine of the Arab Nationalist
Movement)... I was impressed by
Ghassan Kanafani when I saw him give
a lecture in the camp. I realized that he
expressed the people’s suffering. They
loved him. We loved anyone who could
come close to our suffering...»
About beginning to draw caricatures,
Naji said, «In the camp I used to sketch
on the inside and outside of the tent we
lived in. Later, in the prison, I drew
alot. (Naji was imprisoned by the
Lebanese military intelligence, the
Deuxieme Bureau)... In 1963, I went to
Kuwait and worked for the Kuwaiti
magazine A/ Talia... | was later con-
vinced that I wanted to be a
cartoonist.»
Naji’s characters are well-know. In
his drawings, the idea comes before the
form. About his characters, Naji
said, «The big-bellied guy represents
the regimes. The poor man, woman and
child represent the masses.» Most
famous of his characters is the ragged
child aptly named Hanzalah, which
means bitterness. Hanzalah was Naji’s
trademark and represented the witness
to events and history. In fact, Hanzalah
can easily be identified with Naji Al
Ali himself. Of Hanzalah, Naji said,
tt
«No to the silencer»
«He is my icon which safeguards my
soul from committing mistakes... He is
the ever alert conscience... When |
draw Hanzalah, I find the cover under
which I take refuge.»
Between 1968 and 1975, Naji worked
for the Kuwaiti newspaper AI Siyasah,
where Hanzalah was first introduced,
facing the reader for one of the few
times. Since then, Hanzalah is most
often drawn with his back to the au-
dience, watching the event depicted in
the cartoon.
Naji went back to Lebanon in 1975
and worked with AI Safir until 1983. In
1983, he joined the staff of the Kuwaiti
daily, Al Qabas, working there until his
forced departure from the country in
1985. Naji then went to London where
he continued working at Al Qabas until
his assassination. About living in Lon-
don, Naji once said with bitterness ob-
vious in his voice: «Isn’t it a heavenly
damnation that I live here? - in Britain,
land of Balfour!
In 1984, Naji was elected president of
the Arab Cartoonists’ League. He was
a founding member of the General
Union of Palestinian Writers and
Journalists, and was elected to its
general secretariat in 1980. His works
have been exhibited in Egypt, Syria,
Jordan, Tunisia, Kuwait, UAE,
Yemen, London, Paris, Chicago,
among other places.
Naji Al Ali was married and had four
children - Khaled, Layal, Judy and
Osamah. On July 22, 1987, Naji Al Ali
was shot. On August 29, 1987, Naji’s
heart stopped beating...
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