Palestine [Paperback]

Joe Sacco (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2009

In late 1991 and early 1992, at the time of the first Intifada, Joe Sacco spent two months with the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, travelling and taking notes. Upon returning to the United States, he started writing and drawing Palestine, which combines the techniques of eyewitness reportage with the medium of comic-book storytelling to explore this complex, emotionally weighty situation. He captures the heart of the Palestinian experience in image after unforgettable image, with great insight and remarkable humour. The nine-issue comics series won a 1996 American Book Award. It is now published for the first time in one volume, befitting its status as one of the great classics of graphic non-fiction.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'A political and aesthetic work of extraordinary originality, quite unlike any other in the long, often turgid and hopelessly twisted debates that have occupied Palestinians, Israelis, and their respective supporters... With the exception of one or two novelists and poets, no one has ever rendered this terrible state of affairs better than Joe Sacco.' Edward Said

About the Author

Joe Sacco was born in Malta and lives in Queens, New York. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in journalism. As well as the award-winning Palestine, his other book, Safe Area: Gorazde, about his time in Bosnia, won the Will Eisner Award for Best Original Graphic Novel in 2001. In 2001 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship to work on his next project.

Product Details

• Paperback: 285 pages
• Publisher: Jonathan Cape (November 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0224069829
• ISBN-13: 978-0224069823
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 0.8 x 10.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,185,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

79 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much more objective than on first impression, April 3, 2003

By 

Chutes (East Brunswick, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Palestine (Paperback)

You have to read Palestine carefully, especially if you are either strongly sympathetic or hostile to Israel. It would be easy to see the book as condemning Israel. It is not, but since Sacco's intention was to get to know the community that we in the US don't know well, the Palestinians, the book shows mainly their experiences and interpretations of them. (It would have been a good idea to include a timeline of the historical events related to the Israel/Palestine tragedy, so that people who do not know the facts could put into perspective the versions of history that Sacco's Palestinian interviewees have.)

I emphasize that this is not the book to turn to in order to figure out whether to side with the Israelis or the Palestinians. It does not give that kind of information, and there are other books for that (Thomas Friedman's From Beirut to Jerusalem is a good one). For the most part there are no terrorists or major political figures interviewed and there is no survey of the historical background, the mistakes and crimes that have left both peoples in this mess. What I saw in this brilliant piece of comic journalism is an on the ground look at what is going on with people caught in the storm.

Palestine is about the human spirit, often humorous and courageous. It is also about the tragedy that is what happens when people suffer at each other's hands, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, as well as physically, and lose the ability to see the human face.

Victims turn into villains. The scenes of the settlers attacking the Arab villages at night reminded me chillingly of Kristalnacht. A 16 year old Palestinian terrorist-in-training is chilling as he describes his recruitment at 13, his loss of interest in anything but the violence, and the version of history that he believes in. Sixteen year old settlers strutting through town with their Uzis are just as chilling. You are appalled by them all, and by the societies that have turned children into murderers. And you are touched by the crowd scenes, where you see tiny figures of men and women in the background, hurrying their children away, keeping them away from the stone throwing crowds.

You see the mythologies that both sides, though mainly (because of the nature of the book) the Palestinians, have created in order to give themselves pride and explain all the pain. You see that these mythologies are not going to save anyone.

Sacco does not idolize his Palestinian subjects, though he is very sympathetic to most of them. He shows the irrational hatred, the elevation of victimhood to almost divine status, and the self-destructiveness of some of the people he interviewed. He really likes the children, especially inquisitive little girls, but he shows that there are some nasty kids too. I emphasize that he likes these people, despite their human failings. Their errors do not mean they are to be dismissed, just as their suffering does not mean that the lines on which Arab politicians have chosen to explain the situation are right. It was Sacco's irony, actually, that allowed me to trust his observations of life in an occupied region, with all that "occupied" implies.

The most troubling part to the book, therefore, was the portrayal of the Israeli soldiers. I wish that he had interviewed Israeli soldiers, since they (and settlers) are the only Israelis present in the Palestian refugee camps, and the soldiers come off looking brutal much of the time. But in looking through the book a second time, I noticed that many of the soldiers looked terrified. This terror coupled with the brutality throws another light on the tragedy afflicting both Israelis and Palestinians.

I've been left haunted by one particular image, the depressed face of his last guide, an educated, unemployed volunteer with a school for the handicapped. It is not a dramatic, self dramatizing depression. Sacco's skill is impressive here, as he shows the man's face change, subtly, according to what is going on (sad tales, checkpoints, the charming chatter of a 10 year old girl)--he has other feelings, but his hopelessness has smothered the intensity.

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Sacco Documentary Comic, June 21, 2002

By 

Bill Corporandy (Yuba City, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Palestine (Paperback)

I do not have much to contribute that has not already been stated by other customer reviewers but I would like to add to the overwhelming consensus that this is an excellent book and, since it is done in comic book style, I would recommend it as an effective tool for adolescent readers in our high schools. Saccco's book was written before the most recent wave of Palestinian suicide bombings which has wreaked havoc both to Israel and to outside sympathy for the Palestinian cause. However, this book should give all open-minded readers insight into the despair that has led so many Palestinians to support terrorism. Sacco's disarmingly informal writing style and his powerful artwork convey both the constant systematic and randomly unsystematic injustice that Israel, its soldiers, settlers and other citizens have directed at the Palestinians. Sacco exposes the economic discrimination that gives incentives to West Bank Jewish settlers and imposes taxes and other bureacratic and physical barriers on Palestinian attempts to earn a living: Palestinian agricultural produce left on the docks to spoil before it is shipped to European customers, the denial of adequate water and permits to drill deeper wells, cutting down groves of olive trees, etc. Sacco also takes us inside hospitals where Israeli soldiers intimidate and beat patients, nurses, and doctors, disrupting surgeries, treatments, etc. Individual Palestinians recount their prison experiences: the psychological and physical torture and the inhuman living conditions, abuses of the legal system, etc. There is much more in this new edition--printed in 2001 and again in 2002--at roughly 300 pages, this is nearly double the size of an earlier edition. Everyone with an interest in the Middle East Crisis or terrorism should read this book. This book is pro-Palestinian but it is not anti-Semitic or against the existence of an Israeli state. It is also recommended by Art Spiegelman, the great cartoonist and author of the Jewish Holocaust comic classics, Maus I and II. For more great info on the plight of the Palestinians, I recommend regular reading of Tikkun, an excellent, liberal Jewish-American bi-monthly periodical.

63 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A poignant account of what the Palestians have had to endure, March 22, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Palestine (Paperback)

Joe Sacco's "Palestine" provides the western world with a powerful account of the Palestinian perspective of their conflict with Israel. Sacco's path takes him through much of the West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem and parts of Israel. He tells the stories of the people he meets and through them paints a picture of the brutality and injustice they endure under the apartheid policies of Israel. With the media coverage of the conflict being what it is, the accessibility of the graphic novel format makes "Palestine" a singularly important work. By communicating the truth, perhaps a lasting solution to this conflict can be found.

Although the journalistic content of "Palestine" is its primary value, it also stands on its own aesthetically. Sacco also writes well and the narrative flows smoothly from one part of his journey to another.