Carol Hills

Carol Hills

Carol Hills is a Senior Producer and the Cartoon Editor for The World.

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Palestinian Cartoonist Mohammad Saba’aneh Jailed (but not Charged) by Israel

March 8, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment
Cartoon: Mohammad Saba'aneh, Palestinian Territories, (Courtesy: Cartoon Movement)

Cartoon: Mohammad Saba'aneh, Palestinian Territories, (Courtesy: Cartoon Movement)

Aaron Schachter speaks with Israeli cartoonist Uri Fink about the case of fellow cartoonist Mohammad Saba’aneh, a Palestinian who is one of some 4,800 Palestinians being held in Israeli jails.

Saba’aneh was detained by Israeli authorities on February 16th, 2013 while crossing back into the West Bank from Jordan, where he had been on a four-day trip. Like many Palestinians in Israeli jails, Saba’aneh is being held without charge and cartoonists around the globe as well as journalist and human rights groups are demanding his release.

Saba’aneh is a cartoonist for Al-Hayat al-Jadida, the official newspaper of the Palestinian Authority. He also works at the Arab American University in Jenin on the West Bank.

According to Israel’s military laws in the occupied West Bank, Palestinians can be held for 90 days without charge. In cases that prosecutors believe are especially sensitive, detention can be indefinite.

This narrated slideshow is a selection of cartoons Mohammad Saba’aneh drew for Cartoon Movement, an online publisher of political cartoons and comics journalism from around the globe.


Discussion

5 comments for “Palestinian Cartoonist Mohammad Saba’aneh Jailed (but not Charged) by Israel”

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000560389342 Ethan Heitner

    I’m glad PRI is covering Mohammad Saba’aneh’s detention, but it is the height of ridiculousness to only interview an Israeli cartoonist as the sole source and perspective point. Why not interview a Palestinian artist or prisoner’s rights activist?  The line of questioning about whether Saba’aneh’s works are “offensive” is offensive itslef– if they were “offensive” would that justify his detention? And what sort of reporter allows Uri Fink’s assertion that Israel does not detain artists without reason to go unchallenged? I would urge this reporter to investigate, for example, Fathi Ghaben or Sliman Mansour, Palestinian artists who precisely were jailed for years simply for being artists, by Israel. This is very sloppy journalism.

    • CarolBHills

      Delighted to receive your comment. I’m the person who produced the interview about Mohammad Saba’aneh and the online slideshow of his cartoons. You make some important points about the line of questioning and the “offensive” angle. What’s interesting is that I chose Uri Fink precisely because he’s Israeli, he’s a fellow cartoonist, and he’s someone who is critical of his own government’s practice of detention without trial of Palestinians — including that of Mohammad Saba’aneh, a person Fink admires as a cartoonist but doesn’t always agree with politically.  Before choosing Fink, I read everything I could find (in English) on Saba’aneh’s detention including the perspective of Palestinian prisoner rights activists, human rights, journalist’ rights and cartoonists’ rights groups etc. I also spoke to Saba’aneh’s editor, emailed his lawyers (no response, likely a language issue) and spoke to fellow (Arab and non-Arab) political cartoonists. What became apparent is that there’s precious little information available about why Saba’aneh was detained — precisely because of Israel’s refusal to discuss Saba’aneh’s case — and so the issue of detention without trial of thousands of Palestinians seemed to me the way into the Saba’aneh story instead of the issue of detaining Palestinian artists since it’s completely unclear (and looking doubtful) that Saba’aneh’s cartoons had anything to do with his detention. I thought it would add to the Saba’aneh story to hear a well-known Israeli cartoonist criticize his own government’s policies in the occupied territories instead of having a Palestinian do it. I was actually trying to move away from the paper cutout portrayal of Israelis and Palestinians which is so common in the media.

      Keep the comments coming. We appreciate them.

      Sincerely,

      Carol Hills
      Senior Producer, The World

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000560389342 Ethan Heitner

        Hi Carol– Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I appreciate you engaging. However I think I am still not communicating what is so problematic about the approach you used in this piece. Surely you are aware in general that Israeli voices are much more prevalent than Palestinian voices in American media–there is a real paucity of Palestinian voices being allowed to speak for themselves, especially if you look at Palestinians being allowed to speak without Israeli “balance” (as opposed to Israelis, who are allowed to appear all the time without Palestinian “balance”) so if you are going to exclude Palestinian voices and only include Israeli voices, you should have a very concrete reason for doing so. Far from moving away from the typical portrayal of Israelis and Palestinians, asking Israelis to speak for and about Palestinians is the default norm for most American media. I agree that detention without trial is the larger issue, and I am glad you chose to highlight it. However, I think the piece as it is presented now leaves unchallenged Uri Fink’s unspoken assumption that the Israeli government would not arrest an artist, or that such a thing is some sort of new, unheard-of low for the government. One can infer therefore that maybe there are real charges against Saba’aneh. The cases of Sliman Mansour and Fathi Ghaben, as I mentioned, give the lie to that assumption, which is important because it shows that the arrest of artists is actually a regular practice of Israel.

  • http://www.facebook.com/udi.pladott Udi Pladott

    Fink sounds like a middle-of-the-road liberal, patriotic Israeli. I am curious to know whether he’s genuinely puzzled by the arrest, and genuinely believes that the state of Israel really holds freedom of speech to be as important as he claims. It might have been subtle sarcasm, or not. I really don’t know. If he’s genuinely bewildered by it, I’ll be curious to hear him talk about it in a year or two, because then it sounds like this is his first peek down the rabbit hole.
    The more fundamental problem with his attitude was his assertion – which I’m sure was not a sarcastic twist – that Saba’aneh’s depictions of Palestinian pain are more “just” than any depictions of Israeli evil. It’s the classic case of the oppressor circumscribing the extent of the oppressed’s resistance. I think Fink likes to think that there are “two sides” to this “conflict” etc. It’s ok to talk about their pain, as long as no one is pointing fingers at anyone.

    • CarolBHills

      RESPONSE FROM URI FINK:

      Hey, Udi. There is a big difference between freedom of speech in Israel itself and the occupied territories. I am aware and am appalled by the gross violations of human rights in the west bank and have fought against them my whole life. But in Israel itself we are in no danger of speaking our minds and that is why this conflict is so well covered and documented unlike others in the world where regimes are less tolerant to criticism. As for my analysis of Mohammed’s cartoons I was referring to them in a more professional way, appreciating the fact that he does not resort to violent crass imagery but chooses a more subtle and effective way to express himself and to communicate his message. It is not a political or sarcastic statement at all.