WEST BANK: Palestinian cartoonist Mohammed Sabaaneh finds fame despite limited scope for publishing his work

Mohammed Sabaaneh, a young Palestinian cartoonist living in the West Bank city of Jenin, is popular and hopes to follow in the footsteps of famous Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali, but complains that cartoonists like him face difficulties finding outlets for their work. Despite a dearth of publications in the Palestinian territories in which to display his work, 27-year-old Mohammed Sabaaneh has managed to make a name for himself as a perceptive and poignant cartoonist. Sabaaneh says it was his faith in his talent and his perseverance which saw him succeed in a competitive field and secure a job at the al-Hayat al-Jadida Palestinian daily newspaper. "The most important issue for an artist, writer, Journalist or anyone creative is to challenge the restrictions imposed on him. He has to continue, to pick up a blank sheet of paper, or any other medium he uses, and complete his work as he believes it should be done. If it is not published, if he does not find a chance to publish his work, he can hold on to it for the future," Sabaaneh said at his home in the West Bank city of Jenin. The biggest practical difficulty Palestinian cartoonists face is the shortage of publications which will buy their work. "If we want to talk about chances for making a living out of drawing cartoons, the only place you can publish cartoons is in the newspapers. In Palestine, in our country, there are only three newspapers published, so in actual fact there are only three work positions for all the cartoonists in Palestine," he said. In addition to al-Hayat al-Jadida, the other two main dailies in the Palestinian territories are al-Ayyam and al-Quds. Sabaaneh was born to Palestinian parents in 1979 in Kuwait. Following the Gulf War of 1991, Sabaaneh's family returned to the Palestinian territories. Sabaaneh, the third of six siblings, studied Graphic design at the al-Najah university in the West Bank city of Nablus. Sabaaneh's work centres on the character of Abu Faik, which translated roughly into English as Mr. Awake. The character always appears dressed in a green torn jacket and the white Arab headdress, and provides scathing commentary on developments in the Palestinian territories and the wider Middle East. One of Sabaaneh's cartoons shows Abu Faik gesturing rudely at armed men from both Hamas and Fateh, the two Palestinian factions which were locked in deadly internal fighting in the Gaza Strip in June. Another shows a hungry Abu Faik imagining the peace dove being roasted on a spit for his dinner, while in a third a U.S. military tank rolls over both Shi'ite and Sunni clerics in Iraq. Sabaaneh said he never had any doubt he was meant to pursue his chosen career. "I remember when I was working in a hotel in the city of Nablus, I used to sketch drawing on the bills, and I was fired from my job because I used to draw on the bills during work time," he said. Sabaaneh's hero is Naji al-Ali, a Palestinian political cartoonist who became famous for his sharp criticism of Israel and stinging commentary on Arab public opinion, and who was assassinated by unknown persons in London in 1987. Al-Ali's character Handala has become a symbol of Palestinian defiance. "The best cartoonist in my opinion, as I've already mentioned, is the martyr Naji al-Ali. I really admire him as a human being, an artist and a Palestinian thinker. I do not consider that he is a cartoonist only, he created a whole school of art," Sabaaneh said. Sabaaneh has published a collection of his cartoons, also translated into French. He has published a number of works in regional newspapers.

ITN Source | November 7, 2007

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