Handala- the Palestinian Refugee Child

“The child Handala is my signature everyone asks me about him wherever I go… His name is Handala and he has promised the people that he will remain true to himself. I drew him as a child who is not beautiful; His hair is like the hair of a hedgehog who uses his thorns as a weapon. Handala is not a fat, happy, relaxed, or pampered child. He is barefooted like the refugee camp children, and he is an icon that protects me from making mistakes.”

Palestinian cartoonist Naji Al Ali (1938 – 29 August 1987)

HANDALA posts on my blog

Al-Ali was born in 1938 or thereabouts in the northern Palestinian village of Al-Shajara, located between Tiberias and Nazareth (now subsumed by Ilaniya).^[9] He lived as an exile in the south of Lebanon with his family after the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight, the Nakba, and lived in Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp near Sidon,^[10] where he attended the Union of Christian Churches school. After graduation, he worked in the orchards of Sidon, then moved to Tripoli where he attended the White Friars' vocational school for two years.

Al-Ali then moved to Beirut, where he lived in a tent in Shatila refugee camp and worked in various industrial jobs. In 1957, after qualifying as a car mechanic, he travelled to Saudi Arabia, where he worked for two years.

 

 Handala

Handala, also known as Handhala (Arabic: حنظلة), is the most famous of Al-Ali's characters.^[14] He is depicted as a ten-year-old boy, and appeared for the first time in Al-Siyasa in Kuwait in 1969.^[14] The figure turned his back to the viewer from the year 1973, and clasped his hands behind his back.^[15] The artist explained that the ten-year-old represented his age when forced to leave Palestine and would not grow up until he could return to his homeland;^[16] his turned back and clasped hands symbolised the character's rejection of "outside solutions".^[15] Handala wears ragged clothes and is barefoot, symbolising his allegiance to the poor. In later cartoons, he is actively participating in the action depicted not merely observing it.^[15] The artist vows that his figure, Handala will "reveal his face to the readers again only when Palestinian refugees return to their homeland".^[17]

Handala became the signature of Al-Ali's cartoons and remains an iconic symbol of Palestinian identity and defiance. Handala has also been used as the web mascot of the Iranian Green Movement.^[18] The artist remarked that "He was the arrow of the compass, pointing steadily towards Palestine. Not just Palestine in geographical terms, but Palestine in its humanitarian sense—the symbol of a just cause, whether it is located in Egypt, Vietnam or South Africa.

Assassination

It is still not known who opened fire on Al-Ali outside the London office of Kuwaiti newspaper Al Qabas in Ives Street on 22 July 1987. He was subsequently taken to hospital and remained in a coma until his death on 29 August 1987.^[19] Although his will requested that he be buried in Ain al-Hilweh beside his father, this proved impossible to arrange