Palestine, Vol. 1: A Nation Occupied

Palestine #1

by Joe Sacco

Marco na história das narrativas gráficas, Palestina, de Joe Sacco, é o livro que redefiniu as bases do gênero "jornalismo em quadrinhos". Publicado originalmente em nove gibis, entre 1993 e 1995, a HQ ganhou uma edição completa em 1996, e ganhou alguns dos mais importantes prêmios tanto dos quadrinhos quanto do mundo literário, como o American Book Award. É já um clássico e está entre as principais histórias em quadrinhos dos últimos 50 anos.

O livro é fruto de uma extensa pesquisa e mais de 100 entrevistas com palestinos e judeus, realizadas no início dos anos 1990, durante diversas visitas à região da Faixa de Gaza e Cisjordânia. Com uma narrativa dinâmica e um talento para reproduzir os diálogos, Sacco apresenta um testemunho humano comovente, mas também um panorama histórico do conflito que continua fazendo inúmeras vítimas.

Esta edição reúne todos os volumes da obra, o prefácio original do crítico literário Edward Said e textos do jornalista José Arbex Jr., além de fotos, desenhos e comentários de Joe Sacco a respeito da produção.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Nonfiction, History, Politics, Bande Dessinée, Middle East

144 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 1993

About the author

Joe Sacco was born in Malta on October 2, 1960. At the age of one, he moved with his family to Australia, where he spent his childhood until 1972, when they moved to Los Angeles. He began his journalism career working on the Sunset High School newspaper in Beaverton, Oregon. While journalism was his primary focus, this was also the period of time in which he developed his penchant for humor and satire. He graduated from Sunset High in 1978.

Sacco earned his B.A. in journalism from the University of Oregon in 1981 in three years. He was greatly frustrated with the journalist work that he found at the time, later saying, "[I couldn't find] a job writing very hard-hitting, interesting pieces that would really make some sort of difference." After being briefly employed by the journal of the National Notary Association, a job which he found "exceedingly, exceedingly boring," and several factories, he returned to Malta, his journalist hopes forgotten. "...I sort of decided to forget it and just go the other route, which was basically take my hobby, which has been cartooning, and see if I could make a living out of that," he later told the BBC.

He began working for a local publisher writing guidebooks. Returning to his fondness for comics, he wrote a Maltese romance comic named Imħabba Vera ("True Love"), one of the first art-comics in the Maltese language. "Because Malta has no history of comics, comics weren't considered something for kids," he told Village Voice. "In one case, for example, the girl got pregnant and she went to Holland for an abortion. Malta is a Catholic country where not even divorce is allowed. It was unusual, but it's not like anyone raised a stink about it, because they had no way of judging whether this was appropriate material for comics or not."

Eventually returning to the United States, by 1985 Sacco had founded a satirical, alternative comics magazine called Portland Permanent Press in Portland, Oregon. When the magazine folded fifteen months later, he took a job at The Comics Journal as the staff news writer. This job provided the opportunity for him to create another satire: the comic Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy, a name he took from an overly-complicated children's toy in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.

But Sacco was more interested in travelling. In 1988, he left the U.S. again to travel across Europe, a trip which he chronicled in his autobiographical comic Yahoo. The trip lead him towards the ongoing Gulf War (his obsession with which he talks about in Yahoo #2), and in 1991 he found himself nearby to research the work he would eventually publish as Palestine.

The Gulf War segment of Yahoo drew Sacco into a study of Middle Eastern politics, and he traveled to Israel and the Palestinian territories to research his first long work. Palestine was a collection of short and long pieces, some depicting Sacco's travels and encounters with Palestinians (and several Israelis), and some dramatizing the stories he was told. It was serialized as a comic book from 1993 to 2001 and then published in several collections, the first of which won an American Book Award in 1996.

Sacco next travelled to Sarajevo and Goražde near the end of the Bosnian War, and produced a series of reports in the same style as Palestine: the comics Safe Area Goražde, The Fixer, and the stories collected in War's End; the financing for which was aided by his winning of the Guggenheim Fellowship in April 2001. Safe Area Goražde won the Eisner Award for Best Original Graphic Novel in 2001.

He has also contributed short pieces of graphic reportage to a variety of magazines, on subjects ranging from war crimes to blues, and is a frequent illustrator of Harvey Pekar's American Splendor. Sacco currently lives in Portland.

Reviews

[Tawfek · Rating 4 out of 5]

okay i didn't expect to like this novel this much.
but Joe has a way of getting you mixed up in all his adventures.
of course i said adventures i mean this guy has actually risked walking among the very strict occupation forces with a camera in his hand while they were shooting and beating up Palestinians
and he got away with it only to find out that he is a journalist not a camera man and his photo sucked so bad that they couldn't use it..
and him mixing up with the Israels and the Palestinians is also a treat because of how much i love to travel and mix up with different people from different countries but then again i don't have money to do that so i might as well read about someone else doing it
joe made a very good case of writing about the state in the occupied country and nation of Palestine
(which is currently losing its capital to the occupied nation with the big OK from USA government)
he may have been not accurate or may have been judging and a wrong judge at some points
but he did a great job overall
and i couldn't help but read some of the reviews and their was this Arabian girl who said that beating woman isn't in our culture and that this whole book is BS
well well well we both know that isn't really true.
lets say a guy hits his wife in any civilized country she can sue him and put him in jail
but here no she goes to her family and they convince her to go back with her husband and he might even do it again to the point that if he is an insane wife beater they would eventually have to divorce because there is no way she can live with him after all the chances.
there is a whole generation of well educated open minded people and then again there is whole generations of people who will never get rid of all the things that make living among this culture a living hell.

[JBP · Rating 3 out of 5]

A patron at the library filled out a form to have this graphic novel removed due to fact it was "lies" and "propaganda" so I was one of three people reviewing it. My verdict: return to the shelf immediately. Political? Yes. Offensive to Jews? No, but it is an indictment on the treatment of Palestinians in the 1980s and early 1990s.

[Fatima Younis · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is full of BS and perpetuates stereotypes. If you want to learn about Palestine, don't read this book. Read a book actually written by an Arab or by an ally who won't tell you thing like that wife beating is a part of Arab culture. I appreciate the effort to bring awareness to the occupation of Palestine, but going to Egypt and Palestine and critiquing Arab culture and writing things that are extremely negative (and even untrue) is not the way to do it.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

graphic novel about a guy travelling in palestine and israel. it's a really great account of what is happening in palestine and israel everyday. its an old book but the stories remain true. anyone with a passing interest in the conflict should read it. it made me think of a lot of the situations i ran into when i was there and the stories people told me.

[Akmal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buku ini memang luar biasa, sangat pantas menerima penghargaan American Book Award 1996. Joe Sacco menggabungkan antara komik dan reportase, kemudian dengan piawainya mendeskripsikan pada kita kengerian demi kengerian yang dialami oleh warga Palestina akibat penjajahan kaum Zionis.

Berbagai bentuk penyiksaan yang dilakukan oleh tentara Zionis berhasil digambarkan tanpa harus terperangkap dalam adegan-adegan vulgar dan sarat kekerasan. Teror fisik dan mental, yang membutuhkan teknik ilustrasi tingkat tinggi, juga berhasil digambarkan dengan nyaris sempurna. Kebingungan, kegelisahan, kejenuhan, frustasi; pembaca diajak berpacu dengan adrenalinnya sendiri, sehingga semua perasaan itu menjadi milik kita bersama.

[Abderrahman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Je pense c'est important de lire à propos de la cause palestinienne à des plumes non arabes ni musulmans. Autant plus de la plume d'un bédéiste qui a fait un travail documentaire en rencontrant et témoignant sur place.
J'ai aimé les dessins et le travail de Joe. Je recommande.

[Sasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cured me of my Sunday School Indoctrination.

[Rahmadiyanti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brengsek! Brengsek! Brengsek!
Zionis Israel memang BRENGSEK!

Sepertinya saya nggak perlu minta maaf dengan kata "brengsek" yang saya tulis, kan?
Kata "brengsek" sungguh terlalu halus buat mereka. Dan kata tsb berkali-kali saya umpatkan saat membaca buku ini.

Bayangkan segala kekejian. Semua pernah dilakukan oleh Israel.
Mematahkan tangan anak-anak.
Melarang remaja terluka untuk dibawa ke rumah sakit setelah mereka tembak, dan kemudian remaja tsb tewas.
Menangkap dan memenjara orang Palestina tanpa ada alasan.
Menyiksa para tahanan dengan tidak berperikemanusiaan. Mengurung 40 orang tahanan di dalam ruangan 3x4 meter dengan ventilasi seukuran uang logam.
Merangsek masuk ke rumah sakit untuk menginterogasi yang mereka curigai dengan kejam, bahkan membawanya entah ke mana.
Membakar pohon zaitun yang menjadi sumber penghidupan bagi orang Palestina (yang dapat menghasilkan 20-30 liter per tahun dan telah berusia 100 tahun). 1000 pohon? 2000 pohon? Tidak. Israel membabat 120,000 pohon zaitun hanya dalam 4 tahun pertama intifadah. Untuk apa? Untuk memperluas pemukiman Israel.
Dan masih banyak lagi teror fisik dan mental yang dilakukan Israel.

Joe Sacco dengan gamblang menuturkan dalam bentuk grafis segala kekejian Israel dan kengerian yang dialami rakyat Palestina. Sebagai jurnalis dan komikus, Sacco dengan cerdas mengkombinasikan teknik reportase dengan gambar-gambar yang sarat emosi. Ia mengunjungi wilayah pendudukan pada musim dingin di akhir 1991 dan awal 1992. Hanya 2 bulan, tapi begitu banyak kekejian yang ia "dapatkan". Yerusalem, Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah, termasuk Gaza adalah sebagian kota di Palestina yang ia kunjungi. Juga Kairo dan Tel Aviv. Ratusan orang ia wawancara.

Jadi, buku ini harus dibaca siapapun yang ingin memahami kejahatan Israel terhadap Palestina. Untuk memahami apa yang sebenarnya terjadi di Palestina melalui medio gambar. Buku ini masih sangat kontekstual dibaca. Tidak pernah terlambat untuk membacanya, sebab Israel terus dan terus mengangkangi Palestina. Membunuhi orang Palestina (anak, remaja, dewasa, wanita) yang sering kali tanpa alasan. Membuldozer rumah-rumah untuk membangun pemukiman bagi rakyat Israel (oh, mereka bukan rakyat. rakyat takkan membekali diri dengan senjata kemudian membunuh). Ingat kan tak lama Donald Trump terpilih sebagai presiden AS, Israel langsung memberi lampu hijau pembangunan pemukiman baru di Yerusalem Timur --> http://www.bbc.com/indonesia/dunia-38.... Kemudian disusul dengan rencana provokasi Trump memindahkan kedutaan AS ke Yerusalem yang sebelumnya di Tel Aviv --> http://www.bbc.com/indonesia/dunia-38...

Zionis Israel is the real terrorist!
Israel is the terrorist state!

*saya pernah baca komik ini saat pertama kali diterjemahkan oleh DAR! Mizan dalam 2 buku di tahun 2003. Dan saya baru ngeh dengan edisi barunya ini (yang sebenarnya sudah lama juga, tahun 2008). Tapi membacanya kembali seperti membaca buku baru.

[Gerardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutally honest, profoundly compassionate, Joe Sacco offers the reader a series of stories, most of them startling, to say the least, about the Palestinian lives at the beggining of the 90's. It is infussed with some of the most moving stories I've ever read in a graphic novel, aswell as by drawings that not far from actual pictures of the conflict.
If you are a comic-book lover, or if you are interested (no matter how vaguely) in the Israel/Palestine conflict, then this is a must-read.

[Colleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting to like this a lot more than I did. I'm sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians, so that part I appreciated, but I didn't like the art and don't think it really contributed to the story. I learned a few things and it was a short read, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone other than hard-core graphic novel/memoir enthusiasts.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant first person report of life in Palestine.

[Steve]

Rachel inspired me to read this and develop my own graphic novel - thanks

[Pedro Alves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Na vanguarda da abordagem de um tema não ficcional na banda desenhada, Joe Sacco apresenta a sua perspetiva do contexto e “estado da arte” da desgraça dos palestinos, no início dos anos 90, através de um “caderno de desenhos” e testemunhos das suas viagens por esta realidade - pelo Médio Oriente e sobretudo pela Palestina ocupada.

Não deixa de ser extraordinária a coragem e a visão de Sacco ao denunciar sem medo a realidade desumana imposta por Israel à região quando tão poucos ousavam falar, quando a globalização era apenas ainda um sonho ou pesadelo de alguns e a internet dava os primeiros passos para o controlo total.
É ainda mais extraordinário que 30 anos depois o sofrimento, a atrocidade e o genocídio continuem a ser perpetuados por Israel com os apoios dos capitalistas mais poderosos e de um Ocidente amoral.

O traço de Sacco tem algo de real ainda que não seja realista, algo de nítido ainda que nem sempre claro; o preto e branco traz tristeza, dor e privação - como diria Berger: “o carvão é a cor da ausência”. Os testemunhos contam provações, desesperos e realidades incompreensíveis agora, há cinquenta anos ou há cem anos. Em relatos simples, num discurso de oralidade, diretos e claros todos podemos entender do que se chora quando se fala do povo palestino. E neste caso podemos mesmo atirar com o chavão clássico: Entendeste ou queres que te faça um desenho?

Lamentável a falta de cuidado com a tradução/revisão da edição portuguesa da Mundo Fantasma, bem como a paginação ou o mau corte do livro.

[McKenna Deem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: reading as part of the 2008 omnibus that is not listed on Goodreads

This is an interesting, visceral, and (almost too) neutral introduction to a series that I am sure to be amazing. Sacco’s storytelling and art are compelling, as is his dedication to sharing his internal monologue throughout the story.

[Rick Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Palestine was a series of comics published by graphic journalist Joe Sacco, chronicling his encounters with Palestinians and Israelis during the First Intifada. Presented as a series of strips, Sacco recounts conversations and observations of his time traveling to various portions of the Occupied Territories. This first volume collects the stories contained in Palestine #1-5, and paint a grim picture of the realities of Palestinians living under occupation. This is a decidedly very one-sided look on the conflict, with more Arab accounts making up the bulk of the narrative. Though Sacco isn't too unsympathetic to the Israelis here, with him even making the argument in the strip entitled "Brother for a Day" that many Jews don't agree with the occupation. There's no getting away from the fact that this is a deeply political comic, and it's almost unapologetically so.

The grimmest story in the bunch is "Moderate Pressure", a story told in two-parts. It's the second part, where a Palestinian man is detained by the IDF for nearly three weeks and kept sleep-deprived as they attempt to interrogate him for his involvement in a terrorist organization. Every few days, the man is brought before a court while the government lawyers request additional detention days to dig up more evidence on his involvement with illegal organizations. Despite never turning up any evidence, the man is kept in horrifying conditions and begins to hallucinate all manner of horrors. On the 19th day, he's released due to lack of evidence - when the actual legal detention period was meant to just be 48 hours. The illegality of these detentions, along with the horrifying conditions of these detention centers, is elaborated on in another story about the Ansar III detention center.

Other ills visited upon the Palestinians arise from the routine taunts and humiliations from settlers, as shown in stories like "Hebron" and "The Bucket". Routine checks and limited mobility placed upon them demonstrate the further erosion of rights for the Palestinians, who cling to a sense of national identity despite no support from even their Arab neighbor states. Yet despite this, their cultural spirit remains strong. Sacco takes some time to sprinkle in traditional norms in the form of cuisine and culture amidst the many stories told here. There are moments of levity too, with stories like "Valley of Kidron" placing Sacco himself at the butt of a joke.

Palestine remains one of the most important and foundational works in the medium of graphic journalism. There are moments where Sacco definitely puts his thumb on the scale with respect to biasing the appraisal of the situation, but I personally believe the Palestinian side of the story is crucial towards understanding what is at stake. I write this review decades after the First Intifada, where multiple uprisings have happened since. Palestine remains an occupied state - if it can even be referred to as a state is a controversy in it of itself. What this work does is humanize those who have not been afforded the same courtesy by the rest of the world. And for that alone, this is essential reading for anyone willing to put in even the slightest bit of effort into understanding one of the most defining geopolitical conflicts of the 21st century.

[Trinity · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. The author brought you along on his journey. A sad tale but a story that certainly deserves to be told. I would have liked to see a better balance in the politics but well ... it is written from one perspective and whether or not you agree with it, the story itself is well worth reading.

[Nimitha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sacco appeared as a creepy, 'looking for scoop' journalist in this. I understand that some sort of it is ok in journalism, but without a generous touch of humanitarianism there is always the danger of one remaining a war tourist, a vulture who thrives on corpses.!

[Rolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, though I wish it weren’t quite so focused on Sacco’s gaze and his interpretations of things he sees (he provides his commentary, but doesn’t interrogate the assumptions behind his commentary much).

[Emer Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I urge anyone who wants to understand some of the ongoing tension between Israel and Palestine to read this book. It is an eye opener to say the least. Heartbreaking and illuminating.

[Rebeca Carvalho · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was at my grandparents’ house and decided to read this for learning purposes. I always see stuff about Palestine on the news, but I’d never really looked into it deeply. And even though this book is in comic format, which I feel like makes a lot of people dismiss it as a “light read” or “not that important”, Joe Sacco proves the exact opposite.

I read it in less than a day, and right from the start, he explains a lot about journalism, photojournalism, how the news is controlled by a handful of powerful corporations, and even the roots of the Palestine vs. Israel conflict. He also dives into personal stories from Palestinians that, as you read more, you realize aren’t that “personal”, because the injustices they go through aren’t rare. It’s everyday life. It’s already a rountine for the remaining Arab population living in the territory that was taken over by Israel (and that was back in 1992… which makes thinking about today even more terrifying).

At the beginning of the book, the author points out how when the US is at war and sends soldiers to another country, we know everything about those guys, names, ages, families, partners, their virtues, and they’re treated like heroes. But when it’s time to talk about Arab people, about Palestinians and their daily struggles, they’re treated like faceless nobodies. Joe Sacco does the opposite in this book, he shines a light on these people the media tries to erase, gives them space to tell their stories, and lets them show what their reality is really like.

[Kanwarpal Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel is documentation of atrocities Palestinians faced in their day to day life in their own country because of US interference and other Arab countries silence and community difference. After 4 decades of Israel it became a state for Jewish people.

In the early 1990s, Joe Sacco spent about two months visiting Palestine. His narrative and images are eye-opening, brutal, and depressing -- all in one. Life has been hell for these people: they have been uprooted from their ancestral homes, jammed into occupied areas or refugee camps, and subjected to harsh rule, including persecution and torture, by the Israeli Defense Forces.

Novel fails to tell a compelling story. It is too reportorial, with story after story, of young men being jailed, beaten, shot and women being treated as second class citizens. Several reviewers have described Sacco as a documentarian. His attempt to distance himself detracts from the power of the narrative I believe he is trying to promote. Glad to have read it, as this perspective is too infrequently provided in the West. As he was told about the conditions in Palestine camps and homes of Gaza and other Palestine camps. He shows what Israel and Jewish settlers are ignorant about things around them and their views about Palestinians in Tel Aviv, when he met Laura there

[Aline Batista dos S. Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indicação Semanal = “Palestina: Uma Nação Ocupada"
🖋 PUBLICAÇÃO DE = Joe Sacco
📃 PÁGINAS = 146
Avaliação: 5.0 ⭐

Produção com reverberações inúmeras, que discorre sobre ocorrências negligenciadas pelos planos de manipulação das narrações apropriadas pela mídia sob mecanismos para alienação global, como os cúmplices do cenário de caos impulsionado pelos radicalismos. Em suma, a premiada Graphic Novel aborda impressões e experiências individuais de um profissional do ramo jornalístico, o mesmo incumbido da produção da obra, que vivenciou a pesarosa condição do povo palestino que padece pela aplicabilidade do Sionismo cego.

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[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reportage a fumetti dalla Palestina dei primi anni '90, sul finir della prima Intifada. Prima degli accordi di Oslo e di un sacco di altre cose, che hanno modificato anche lo sguardo di noi occidentali sulla questione mediorientale. Il punto di vista rappresentato può quindi apparire parziale e militante, ma restano l'umanità partecipe dello sguardo, il senso del grottesco nel tragico, l'inconciliabilità delle differenze culturali, e una traduzione grafica efficace, coerente e non convenzionale.

[Krishnendu · Rating 4 out of 5]

A one-of-a-kind detached spectator account of Palestinian suffering in the early 1990s. Contains deeply personal and disturbing panels on Israeli methods of "moderate torture" and the dehumanising conditions in palestinian prisons. Greatest positive I'd its neutral stance, for example, questioning the Koran and its treatment of women while also voicing the plights of people who choose to believe in it. Definitely recommend for an informed perspective on Israel's occupation in palestine, beyond western media's indoctrination

[Casey Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Graphic artist tours occupied Palestine in 1990s...and it's not pretty. I bought this to learn more about the plight of Palestinians. On that note, it doesn't disappoint. Sacco's drawing style is unique; not always a fan. The narrative is somewhat jumbled and hard to follow at times. Took me quite a while to finish it. But worth reading.

[Pranay · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is really a labour of love. Brings out the way people of Palestine are living their oppressed lives and wide view of the many people and their hopes. I particularly thought that it got a bit repetitive in the middle making it difficult for me to continue.

[Guilherme Eisfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

A união do jornalismo com o universo das HQs é primorosa nessa obra. Os relatos potentes da opressão do estado de Israel sobre os palestinos é devidamente retratada nas faces de um povo que normalmente não tem traços, nem jeitos, apenas estereótipos.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ça aurait été meilleur sans le dessin caricatural. Pourquoi des grosses dents partout?

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read.

[Hank Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an insightful read.