Palestine

Joe Sacco traveled in the West Bank and Gaza in the early 1990s, gathering interviews and observations. Palestine places him inside the account as a reporter meeting people whose experiences differ sharply.

The first issue appeared in January 1993; later editions collected the serial work.

The comic shows how drawn journalism can preserve setting, expression and the reporter’s own limitations. Its value lies in sustained attention to people rather than a claim to settle every political argument.

Sacco’s visible presence makes the process of gathering testimony part of the story.

This is comics journalism and political nonfiction. It records life under occupation through encounters, memories and present conditions.

The work asks what an outsider can responsibly report after a brief visit.

Sacco’s crowded pages convey movement, conversation and the pressure of public space. Distinct faces and locations keep interviews grounded.

The drawn form can move between a speaker’s memory and the immediate scene without presenting either as invisible fact.