Mártir Naji al-Ali

By LatAm ARTE

Naji Salim Hussain al-Ali (Birth: 1938 – Death: August 29, 1987). He was a Palestinian cartoon artist, noted for the political criticism of Arab regimes and Israel in his works. He has been described as the greatest Palestinian cartoonist and probably the best-known cartoonist in the Arab world. He drew more than 40,000 cartoons, which often reflected Palestinian and Arab public opinion and were highly critical commentaries on Palestinian and Arab politics and political leaders. He is perhaps best known as the creator of the character “Handala,” depicted in cartoons of him as a young witness to the politics or satirized event depicted, and who has since become an icon of the Palestinian struggle. On July 22, 1987, while standing outside the London offices of al-Qabas, a Kuwaiti newspaper for which he drew political cartoons, he was shot in the neck and fatally wounded. Naji al-Ali died five weeks later at Charing Cross Hospital in London. He was assassinated by the Mossad group (Israel's intelligence agency). They murdered Naji Al Ali, the Palestinian cartoonist who gave a voice to our people and that is a great crime!