March 31, 2003
Late, great political cartoonist Mahmoud Kahil
Although he passed away February 11th, after a failed operation at a British hospital, Mahmoud Kahil's work is well known around the world and still very relevant to the conflicts in the Middle East. If you're not familiar with him, as I was not until after his death, it is worth checking out. It is a sad feeling to stumble upon something new and enlightening like his cartoons, and then discover right afterwards the creator passed away over a month ago. Arab News, an English language news service from Saudi Arabia, still publishes his political cartoon of the day and has an archive of his work you can view.
Here is part of a February 12th piece from Arab News in tribute to Kahil:
Kahil was at heart a humanist. He cared for the poor, the oppressed and the dispossessed. It did not matter what the ethnic or religious beliefs these people held.He was also a great supporter of the Palestinian people and their just cause for independence.
Some of his best cartoons were exhibited during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
No one has exposed Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon’s bloody history better than he, with his fine lines.
As an Israeli recently wrote, “I admire your cartoonist M. Kahil. He has such an incisive, unassuming style. A style that is so lacking in our miserable region. It is relieving to find that the ‘enemy’ is human.”
Here's one of Kahil's cartoons, reprinted by Arab News on March 27th:
Here's one that was reprinted on March 9th:
