The Novel Palestine

Palestine BY SACCO

Palestine by Joe Sacco is a unique narrative because it is based on author's first hand knowledge of the conflict and comes in the form of comic strip. Sacco makes a strong case against Israel. It must be made clear from the onset that this book favor Palestine and Arabs and not the Jews.

The author is speaking for a people who cannot speak for himself as he jokingly tells us that, "These guys could use the services of a good public relations officer!" It is obvious from the book that the author feels for the Palestinians who became victims of Israeli aggression simply because they refused to share their land with them. It was Palestine's land to begin with. Sacco spent two months in Palestine at the end of first uprising. The nine issues of his comics were published in a book form and according to Edward Said, this accessible form matches the "political and aesthetic work of extraordinary originality." Said maintains that apart from one or two other writes, "no one has ever rendered this terrible state of affairs better than Joe Sacco." Terrible is not the right word, however, for the state of affairs discussed by Sacco in the book. There is some gruesome about the images and they contrast sharply with the other jovial mood of the 'normal' world outside.

This is a conflict you can never truly understand as an outsider. It is grounded in years of severe hatred that almost seems irrational. But it is not- not at least to the people involved. The western media doesn't tell us the truth and while we see Palestinian youth throwing stones and hurling things at Israeli tankers but you may fail to understand why this is happening. It appears almost bizarre to a western eye but it makes absolute sense to the people living in these conflict-ridden region. Sacco has talked to people to find out how they feel about the conflict and is shocked at their naked hatred for the Israeli. The hatred is so obvious that they do not even try to mask it.

The brilliance of this book lies in its sincere desire to bring real stories to life while staying objective. While it is one thing to read about these stories, it is totally different to live with brutality and violence on daily basis. The author puts so much life into these stories that you wonder why are people still willing to live. But that is the essence of human spirit. It doesn't die. The utter nightmare of life in Palestine is not easy for any reader to digest or live with. So most of them would want to forget the whole thing as soon as they put the book down. But while you may want to forget, the utter brutality of these naked images will continue to haunt you. Sacco explains how beneath the obvious such as -- "traffic, couples in love, falafel-to-go, tourists in jogging suits licking stamps for postcards" --, the brutal truth is living a powerful life in the form of "people strapped to chairs, sleep deprivation, the smell of piss" all in the name of national security.