Rafah, a town at the southernmost tip of the Gaza Strip, is a squalid place. Raw concrete buildings front rubbish-strewn alleys. The narrow streets are crowded with young children and unemployed men. Situated on the border with Egypt, swaths of Rafah have been reduced to rubble. Rafah is today and has always been a notorious flashpoint in this most bitter of conflicts. Buried deep in the archives is one bloody incident, in 1956, that left 111 Palestinian refugees dead, shot by Israeli soldiers. Seemingly a footnote to a long history of killing, that day in Rafah - coldblooded massacre or dreadful mistake - reveals the competing truths that have come to define an intractable war. In a quest to get to the heart of what happened, Joe Sacco arrives in Gaza and, immersing himself in daily life, uncovers Rafah, past and present. Spanning fifty years, moving fluidly between one war and the next, alive with the voices of fugitives and schoolchildren, widows and sheikhs, Footnotes in Gaza captures the essence of a tragedy. As in Palestine and Safe Area Goražde, Joe Sacco's unique visual journalism has rendered a contested landscape in brilliant, meticulous detail. Footnotes in Gaza, his most ambitious work to date, transforms a critical conflict of our age into intimate and immediate experience.
Joe Sacco
Joe Sacco is a Maltese-American cartoonist and journalist known for his graphic novels and comics that explore war, conflict, and social issues. His most notable works include "Palestine," which depicts his experiences in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and "Safe Area Goražde," which focuses on the Bosnian War. Sacco's unique blend of journalism and cartooning has made him a pioneer in the genre of graphic journalism, bringing attention to important global issues in a visually compelling way. His meticulous research and detailed artwork have earned him critical acclaim and numerous awards, solidifying his place as a major voice in the world of comics and literature.
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