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ELITE Issue 8, June 2019 | P a g e 6

Naji Al-Ali: A

Memory for Palestine

Mayar Tarek
Political Science- Third Level
Last semester, it was my pleasure to conduct a research on Naji Alali, this figure might not be widely known;
however, once I saw a documentary about him, I felt this is the topic that deserves to do as many researches as
possible about. This might be attributed to my great interest in the Palestinian case and to my endless desire to
know more about its details since its beginning in 1948. Moreover, Naji Alali represents a voice that has been
long awaited in the Arab world. So, let me, my dear reader, take some of your time to have a closer look at this
treasure called Naji Alali.

Naji Alali was born in 1937, he left his homeland Palestine when he was 10 because of the Israeli occupation
and the first phase of his life took place in Ain Elholwa camp in Lebanon where he spent a long period. His
political and national inclinations started to take shape at this period of time. It all started when he was a young
man refusing the occupation and denouncing its existence on the pure Palestinian land, and declaring his denial
by drawing on the camp walls which led him to be the caricature artist who defended the Palestinian case till
his assassination in 1987.
Naji Al-Ali worked in many different newspaper stations during the various phases he went through in his life
and he left an impact on every platform he worked for, either in Lebanon, Kuwait or even London, his last
phase where he was assassinated, and he clearly expressed, by his work, his denial to the occupation. He was
always threatened because he strongly criticized the political Arab systems without caring about anything else.
Still, he went on despite all the difficulties he faced.
If you would like to know more about him, you can type his name in any search engine and all his great
caricatures that make a history will appear to you, but the most important work that will appear in all his
characters is the 10-year-old young boy "Hanzala", Hanzala is the symbol of the Arabic weakness as he always
has his hands tied behind his back, and his face is not show up. It is the symbol of children in shelters since
he's barefooted and has many cuts in his clothes. He is the symbol of Naji Alali himself as Hanzala's age is the
same as Naji's when he left his home. Naji stated once that Hanzala never grows up and that he remains as he
is until he gets back to Palestine and then he will grow up. He once talked about the time that Hanzala's face
will show up when the Arabs start to restore their sense of freedom and humanity, and of course when
Palestine is restored again. Afterwards, Hanzala became the official signature on his caricatures instead of his
name. Another famous caricature you can find in his work is "Fatima", who is the mother, land and home. She
is a strong persistent woman regardless of the weaknesses that surround her, she is the woman holding the key
of hope to return to Palestine one day, and there are many other characters ...

Naji Alali is a symbol of the Palestinian who rejects the disgraceful situations around him and the occupation
which confiscated his land and obliged him to get out of it which led him to live all his life homeless. He also
rejects the weak political Arab systems that could have changed the current status; however, they are busy
doing other things like settling useless issues that leads to more losses to the land. His caricatures were diving
deeply into the core of the case, they were hitting with an iron hand any person, regardless of his position, who
does not act to bring Palestine back. Naji Alali was a symbol of persistence, resistance and courage. He left an
impact on every place he went to ...

Dear reader, in addition to all what you read till now, but even if you know Naji Alali only from movies or his works, this
tendency to freedom that distinguished him will be transmitted automatically to you, although he spent his life as a prisoner
for his homeland occupation, for the weakness of the political Arab systems, and for refraining of many, but this tendency
didn't leave him one day. Until the very last moment, he considered himself a free human since he could draw and criticize
as he pleases. This freedom is represented by what Nour Elshareif said when he performed the character of Naji Alali in a
movie that is named after him: "I swear, I swear that Palestine won't be back without freedom."

To the scream of Palestineone day you will return with freedom…

ELITE HIGH BOARD: Prof. Dr. Mahmoud Elsaid (Chairman)--Prof. Dr. Hanan Mohamed Ali (member)--Prof.Dr. SamyElsayyed (member)--Prof. Dr.
Mazen Hassan (member)--RamyMagdy Ahmed (editor in chief)
Editorial Board: Silvana Sobhy—Nahed Taha Elzeiny--Mai Osama Soliman--Lina Hesham—Sara Naserldin --NermineTawfik
Editors (this issue): Farah Ezzeldin—Abdelrahman ElHadidi—Mayar Tarek—Caroline Kamal—Amr Samy--Dina- Ehab—Esraa Ibrahim-Abdelrahman
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