ENGLAND
Veteran Palestinian political cartoonist assassinated in exile (1987)
Naji Salim al-Ali, 46, unquestionably the best-known Arab political cartoonist
was gunned down on July 22, 1987, at broad daylight on a London street.
The shooting was witnessed by hundreds of people during rush hour, but the
assailant was able to escape, and to date, the Scotland Yard was not able
to conclusively solve the case. After shooting al-Ali in the head at close
range, the gunman swiftly walked to a car and drove away. Although Police
gave him a high-speed chase, the assassin escaped. Speculations have been
widely focusing on two scenarios: a. al-Ali angered Yassir Arafat with a
cartoon about one of his alleged mistresses and ordered the cartoonist's
assassination; b. Mossad, the Israeli secret service, arranged the liquidation
of the cartoonist who drew many effective anti-Israeli cartoons. Al-Ali
had received over 100 death threats from a wide variety of sources before
he was killed. Very few regimes and groups in the Middle-East escaped his
biting commentary. He condemned war and religious fanaticism, opposed Palestinian
accesses as much as the Israeli occupation, and passionately advocated human
rights. A few years before his murder he was quoted as saying: "I never
felt fear, failure, or despair... I face armies with cartoons."
Naji Salim al-Ali
The cartoon that may have cost al-Ali's life.
The first man (from right to left) says: "Have you seen Rashida Mehran
(meaning Yasser Arafat's girl friend)?" No," says the second man.
Trying to trap him, the first man asks if he knows her. "No,"
says the second man. The first man then says: "You have not seen her;
you don't know her. Then how did you become her enemy and the PLO's Minister
of Culture, you son of a bitch?"
One of al-Ali's anti-Israeli cartoons.
The curtain, that is being closed to block view of the shining (Muslim)
Moon in the dark night, is covered with little Stars of David.
Al-Ali created "Hanzala" an ever present spectator
of life in his cartoons,
symbolizing himself as a child, frozen in age, at the time when he was expelled
from his native Palestine. The cartoonist, who forsaw his fate, drew this
picture
with Hanzala shot and fallen, shortly before his assassination.
SEE FULL STORY ON AL-ALI, ON PAGES 4-5-6-7,
IN THE SPRING 1988 EDITION (number 3)
OF WITTYWORLD INTERNATIONAL CARTOON MAGAZINE
To order a copy send $9 (USA) $12 (int'l) to WittyWorld, 214 School
Street, North Wales, PA 19454 - USA
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