Naji al-Ali

Naji Salim Hussain Al-Ali (Arabic: ناجي سليم حسين العلي, romanized: Nājī Salīm Ḥusayn al-‘Alī; c. 1938 – 29 August 1987) was a Palestinian political cartoonist, noted for the political criticism of the Arab and Israeli regimes in his works. Al-Ali is best known as the creator of the character Handala, a personification of the Palestinian people that has become prominent symbol of Palestinian nationalism and resistance.

One of the best-known cartoonists in the Arab world, and celebrated as the greatest Palestinian cartoon artist, Al-Ali drew over 40,000 cartoons, often reflecting Palestinian and Arab public opinion and offering sharply critical commentaries on Palestinian and Arab politics and political leaders. On 22 July 1987, while outside the London offices of al-Qabas, a Kuwaiti newspaper for which he drew political caricatures, Al-Ali was shot in the neck and mortally wounded. He died five weeks later in Charing Cross Hospital.