PALESTINE/ON THE HILLS OF GOD

PALESTINE

PALESTINE Joe Sacco Wakeel 3coks. 2002 184 pages, £9.95 pb, 09957230220

ON THE HILLS OF GOD Ibrahim Fawal River Ctty Pub., 2002 444 pages, 1579660029 Pb

CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY

Books about Palestine make me angry. It’s not that I have a vendetta against books written about one of the most conflicted plots of land on earth; it’s just that everything about Palestine gets me angry. No matter what policy changes or developments occur, the issue of Palestine remains one of the most torturous and unresolved endgames in history. While other countries in the region suffer through their cycles of turbulence followed by relative calm, alternating between lean times and times of relative prosperity; Palestine just never seems to get a break. Regardless of what the world may decree or what compromises are made, nothing can break the deadlock imposed by a belligerent military occupation and the numerous modes of resistance it has spawned. When I first heard a purported hadith saying “Palestine will be in a state of war till the Day of Judgment”, I wasn’t too concerned with the chain of narrators. Whemer or not it was an authentic hadith, it certainly had an undeniable ring of truth to it The statement seems destined to remain true, whoever originally said it.

To further confuse the issues which Palestine raises, one need only look at the majority of writings on the topic. Many of the writers dealing with the subject have vested interests; whether Zionist Petrolist or Palestinian nationalist. A cursory but objective glance at how the issue of Pales- tine has been treated reveals a glaring discrepancy; especially on the Palestinian side. Even in me often highly educated Diaspora we find a great deal of writing which is incoherent, hysterical or just plain parochial. The notable exceptions – the Edward Saids of the world – are too few to effectively combat the Zionist media machine that has been in the game for far longer and with greater success. The overwhelming tendency among support- ers of Palestine is toward melodrama and overkill. A colleague of mine remarked when we traveled to Gaza that the situation was like Germany in 1945. Such statements are the norm but they deal a fatal blow to any argument to follow. In spite of atrocities committed in Gaza, or Jenin or even Sabra- Chatilla, the analogy is inept and erroneous in light of the engines of destruction unleashed by the Third Reich. To have tempered one’s comment to something like: “it’s like Germany in 1933,” would better serve the purpose. The ghettoes and pass systems, the genocidal rage of movements like Kach, the rape and pillage of a population and the growing unease that things can only get worse are all in place. What is not in place are death camps, world indifference and an occupying force wholly surrendered to a fascist frenzy. Not yet anyway.

When the magazine office discovered a book, a graphic novel, entitled Palestine I insisted we get a copy for review. I had seen what the Spiegelman Maus books had done for the Holocaust industry. Maus presented a cat and mouse world in which the mice are subjected to a mouse shoah by Nazi cats. The horrors of a holocaust were presented in the most pop cultural context possible: a comicbook. Mòre pretentious acquaintances insisted that such books were actually graphic novels. The term “graphic novel” has for years now been little more than a euphemism for “comics for adults”. Until I read Palestine.

The premise is simple enough. A cartoon artist, Joe Sacco, visits Palestine in order to create a comic book style narrative of his journey to the Occupied Territories. To start the book is to check all your preconceptions of comic book, graphic novel, literature and journalism at the door. The discoveries Sacco makes as an unbiased outsider entering into the Palestinian crisis are the stuff of great journalism. His skill in choosing which details to present, when to pass judgement; his ear for bilingual dialogue, and the eye for damning detail all contribute to a depth of coverage and content that is Tolstoyean in impact. Be forewarned. The name of Tolstoy is not being bandied about lightly. This is a book with a great deal of uproarious humor as well as heartbreaking pathos and tragedy. You will laugh, often at your own expense, as Sacco’s self-styled protagonist blunders his way through the refugee camps, holy sites and combat zones of Palestine. You will also, if you have a heart, cry. Cry over the humiliations and injustices heaped upon the Palestinians, and cry over the fact that no matter how much you try to sympathize or proselytize or lobby you will forever eat at a table that will always be much easier, freer and more opportunityladen than the dish served cold to generations of Palestinians.

Equally important is Sacco’s unwillingness to turn a blind eye to the foibles, petty squabbles and internecine fighting that so divides the Palestinian cause. Feminists, Marxists, Nationalists, angstridden Anarchists, and Fundamentalists all populate the page with a vibrancy and verisimilitude lacking in all but the best straight fiction. Or the best nonfiction for that matter. Sacco renders the ongoing Palestinian catastrophe in situ, and with staggering accuracy and empathy delivers one of the most impassioned condemnations of the Occupation, lending as well a moral substance to the learned helplessness crippling the sons of the camps.

To anyone who spent time in Occupied Palestine, this book is the stuff that post traumatic stress disorder is made of. Within the “comic book” format the locales are so lovingly and accurately drawn that the text proves unnecessary for anyone familiar with the terrain. The taxi stand in the center of Gaza City and the streets of Al-Quds and Ramallah are rendered with such consummate skill and economy of detail that one could well use the book as a travel guide. If you were ever planning to visit Palestine but haven’t gotten it together enough to make the trip, buy this book.

On second thought, regardless of reasons or lack thereof, buy this book.

Sacco deserves more than praise or thanks. He deserves support. Attention must be paid when such a volatile and confusing issue is given the scope and treatment it requires. That such treatment is given in “comic book” format makes the victory all themore stunning. Supporters of the graphic novel genre also owe a debt here, since Palestine shows what heights the medium is capable of reaching. And just think, he did it all without cute little animals …

The book is perhaps most important as part of an arsenal against anti-Semitism in its truest sense. As the Holocaust industry continues to churn out reminders to silence Israel’s detractors, there is cause for hope when someone like Sacco can point the finger and say “but it’s again.”

Other titles by Sacco deal with similar travels in Bosnia and Serbo-Croatia; showing the author’s concern for unmasking oppression and the fruits of racism and bigotry. Having been so thoroughly floored by Palestine, I can’t shake this one persistent question, directed to the author: Wanna go to Baghdad, Joe?

To further confuse the issues which Palestine raises, one need only look at the majority of writings on the topic. Many of the writers dealing with the subject have vested interests; whether Zionist Petrolist or Palestinian nationalist. A cursory but objective glance at how the issue of Pales- tine has been treated reveals a glaring discrepancy; especially on the Palestinian side. Even in me often highly educated Diaspora we find a great deal of writing which is incoherent, hysterical or just plain parochial. The notable exceptions – the Edward Saids of the world – are too few to effectively combat the Zionist media machine that has been in the game for far longer and with greater success. The overwhelming tendency among support- ers of Palestine is toward melodrama and overkill. A colleague of mine remarked when we traveled to Gaza that the situation was like Germany in 1945. Such statements are the norm but they deal a fatal blow to any argument to follow. In spite of atrocities committed in Gaza, or Jenin or even Sabra- Chatilla, the analogy is inept and erroneous in light of the engines of destruction unleashed by the Third Reich. To have tempered one’s comment to something like: “it’s like Germany in 1933,” would better serve the purpose. The ghettoes and pass systems, the genocidal rage of movements like Kach, the rape and pillage of a population and the growing unease that things can only get worse are all in place. What is not in place are death camps, world indifference and an occupying force wholly surrendered to a fascist frenzy. Not yet anyway.

When the magazine office discovered a book, a graphic novel, entitled Palestine I insisted we get a copy for review. I had seen what the Spiegelman Maus books had done for the Holocaust industry. Maus presented a cat and mouse world in which the mice are subjected to a mouse shoah by Nazi cats. The horrors of a holocaust were presented in the most pop cultural context possible: a comicbook. Mòre pretentious acquaintances insisted that such books were actually graphic novels. The term “graphic novel” has for years now been little more than a euphemism for “comics for adults”. Until I read Palestine.

The premise is simple enough. A cartoon artist, Joe Sacco, visits Palestine in order to create a comic book style narrative of his journey to the Occupied Territories. To start the book is to check all your preconceptions of comic book, graphic novel, literature and journalism at the door. The discoveries Sacco makes as an unbiased outsider entering into the Palestinian crisis are the stuff of great journalism. His skill in choosing which details to present, when to pass judgement; his ear for bilingual dialogue, and the eye for damning detail all contribute to a depth of coverage and content that is Tolstoyean in impact. Be forewarned. The name of Tolstoy is not being bandied about lightly. This is a book with a great deal of uproarious humor as well as heartbreaking pathos and tragedy. You will laugh, often at your own expense, as Sacco’s self-styled protagonist blunders his way through the refugee camps, holy sites and combat zones of Palestine. You will also, if you have a heart, cry. Cry over the humiliations and injustices heaped upon the Palestinians, and cry over the fact that no matter how much you try to sympathize or proselytize or lobby you will forever eat at a table that will always be much easier, freer and more opportunityladen than the dish served cold to generations of Palestinians.

Equally important is Sacco’s unwillingness to turn a blind eye to the foibles, petty squabbles and internecine fighting that so divides the Palestinian cause. Feminists, Marxists, Nationalists, angstridden Anarchists, and Fundamentalists all populate the page with a vibrancy and verisimilitude lacking in all but the best straight fiction. Or the best nonfiction for that matter. Sacco renders the ongoing Palestinian catastrophe in situ, and with staggering accuracy and empathy delivers one of the most impassioned condemnations of the Occupation, lending as well a moral substance to the learned helplessness crippling the sons of the camps.

To anyone who spent time in Occupied Palestine, this book is the stuff that post traumatic stress disorder is made of. Within the “comic book” format the locales are so lovingly and accurately drawn that the text proves unnecessary for anyone familiar with the terrain. The taxi stand in the center of Gaza City and the streets of Al-Quds and Ramallah are rendered with such consummate skill and economy of detail that one could well use the book as a travel guide. If you were ever planning to visit Palestine but haven’t gotten it together enough to make the trip, buy this book.

On second thought, regardless of reasons or lack thereof, buy this book.

Sacco deserves more than praise or thanks. He deserves support. Attention must be paid when such a volatile and confusing issue is given the scope and treatment it requires. That such treatment is given in “comic book” format makes the victory all themore stunning. Supporters of the graphic novel genre also owe a debt here, since Palestine shows what heights the medium is capable of reaching. And just think, he did it all without cute little animals …

The book is perhaps most important as part of an arsenal against anti-Semitism in its truest sense. As the Holocaust industry continues to churn out reminders to silence Israel’s detractors, there is cause for hope when someone like Sacco can point the finger and say “but it’s again.”

Other titles by Sacco deal with similar travels in Bosnia and Serbo-Croatia; showing the author’s concern for unmasking oppression and the fruits of racism and bigotry. Having been so thoroughly floored by Palestine, I can’t shake this one persistent question, directed to the author: Wanna go to Baghdad, Joe?