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Title: Palestine
ISBN: 156097432X
Author:
Joe Sacco
Edward Said
Publicate Date: 2002-01
Publish: 2002-01
List Price: $24.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $13.90
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $9.66
Amazon Merchant Price: $16.47
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Inspired Art
Starting with a typical attitude of "Who cares?" Sacco shows us how his visit to the West Bank and Gaza in the early 1990s transformed him completely. Palestinians have much against them in today's world, not least the stereotypes of "supporting terror" etc, etc that the Israeli propaganda machine heaps on them every day. These stereotypes create a formidable barrier between the Palestinian people and Americans. Americans do not feel like they should even pay attention to these "insignificant terrorists" - and that is precisely the goal of the propagandists in the first place: to silence the Palestinians and prevent their very humanity (let alone their message) from being recognized.
Enter Joe Sacco! With master strokes of a cartoonist's pencil, he succeeds Single-handedly in shattering those barriers. For the first time in an American publication, you actually see Palestinians as people, you enter their households, you talk to them, you listen to their problems, and you think about it. Well, so what?
If you always thought that the middle east problem is "too complicated" or "has been going on for too long" to be able to understand it, it is time to get out your credit card and buy this book now. In the most enjoyable cartoon style that makes it hard for you to let go of the book, you will see things like you've never witnessed them before. This is the raw human story, not the clinically sterilized CNN version of events, or the dry history book polemics. I guarantee that after reading Sacco's Palestine, something will click and you will finally understand what's been going on, more clearly than you ever have before.
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2: Great Condition
I ordered the book for a class and didn't want to pay a lot. It got here in time and is in great condition. You would never know it was a used copy.
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3: A Dose of Reality
Palestine puts a very human face on the ongoing tragedy of the people living in their own country, specifically those areas that have not been claimed by Israel. It's not about who's right or wrong, it's about how to deal with the challenge of simply living under very difficult, often fatal, circumstances. There's a sad parallel with the situation faced by native Americans, where even self-imposed exile failed to accommodate the intrusive settlements.
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4: Tells a seldom told side of the story
Joe Sacco, as usual, brings an almost documentary style of storytelling to his real-life description of the hardships faced by Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. I think his efforts should be recognized as a public service, as the point of view of the Palestinians is a seldom shown and unpopular view. Nonetheless, in today's climate, it is important to remember that the vast majority of Palestinians have dreams, lives, and difficulties that aren't represented by the stereotypical suicide bomber's farewell video.
I don't pretend to represent that this one perspective is the only book you should read to fully understand the complex realities, plural, of the Middle East. The tale is told with a certain point of view. However, every story has a point of view, whether explicit or implicit. Joe Sacco merely makes his explicit.
In addition to being an important story, it is also well told. As mere entertainment or as education, "Palestine" is an important and fascinating work.
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5: Accurate and Heart-Rending Portrayal
Joe Sacco lived in Palestine for 2 months, living and conversing with Palestinians about the horrors of Israeli occupation. He shows visually what Human Rights reports can only give in statistics: the shame and inhumanity of arbitrary checkpoints, the immense grief of losing a son or daughter to blatant Israelis aggression and Chauvinism, the deadening effect of a life fully controlled by a racist occupying force in one's own country, and the stoic resolve with which innocent Palestinians (women, children, men) are tortured by Israeli Shin Bet.
Israeli apologists and closet bigots will ironically (and predictably) call this book "propaganda" and "lies". Unfortunately for them, truth does not conform to the subjective imaginings of a flawed and hypocritical ideology. Zionism is founded on the exploitation and suffering of the Palestinians, and no amount of prevarication, sophistry, and lies can change this fact.
Sacco's artwork is unique and eye-catching, meticulous and quirky. The images are worth the price alone. A must-read.
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