Comics for palestine
The comic Roots was designed in the fall of 2025 with the aim of participating in a comic anthology by Tomorrow Publications (Ekdoseis tou Aurio) in collaboration with Colleagues for Gaza and Cartoonists for Palestine, the revenues of which will go to a fund supporting the Palestinian people.
“This anthology is a reminder that Palestine is not only a place of war but also a place of people who continue to struggle and never stop raising their voices.”
“These are not just stories or images, they are a contribution to memory and resistance, a statement that no one can remain inactive and silent in the face of barbarism. Freedom for Palestine!“
(from the comic’s presentation page)
The final work is 96 pages long and includes works by 19 artists from Greece and 17 from abroad.
The entries are, in order of appearance:
ROOTs
As for my comic, there was a time limit and a restriction of two pages per creator. There are so many issues that one could address. Personally, I chose to challenge the logic that the genocide in Gaza over the last two years was caused and triggered by the Palestinian Resistance’s attack on October 7. Apart from the many lies that have been proven to have been told by Israel and the Western media about the attack itself, what they were trying to hide was its context and history. That it did not come out of nowhere but was an act of resistance against almost 80 years of occupation, oppression, murders, imprisonments, rapes, blockades, hunger, and misery.
Obviously, I couldn’t include all the incidents of oppression by Israel, so I tried to pick some that were representative.
- 9 April 1948: Deir Yassin Massacre
The massacre was committed by the Zionist militia groups. Some victims were found maimed, raped, and then killed. Entire families were murdered. Masses of men were put in trucks to be paraded across Jerusalem before being taken to a quarry to be killed. This triggered a mass exodus of Palestinians from their homes and lands, not only in and around Jerusalem but also further afield.
13-14 May 1948: Abu Shusha Massacre
Abu Shusha was subjected to multiple assaults, culminating in the decisive attack and fell to occupation on 14 May. The remaining inhabitants were forcibly displaced on 21 May.
15 May 1948 – 10 March 1949: Arab-Israeli War
May 1948: Tantura Massacre
The village surrendered to Israeli forces. IOF launched an assault on the village, resulting in the massacre of nearly 200 Palestinians. Three possible mass graves have since been found.
11 July 1948: Lydda Massacre
Lydda and Ramle, two towns originally designated to be part of an Arab state in Palestine as per the UN Partition Plan of 1947, ultimately came under Israeli control. While estimates of the death toll vary, it is believed that over 400 Lydda residents lost their lives. Unfortunately, the tragedy did not conclude with the massacre. Israel made the decision to forcibly remove all residents from the city.
October 1948: Saliha Massacre & Al-Dawayima Massacre
Al-Dawayima was one of the largest villages in the Hebron area, and the subsequent massacre unfolded in three distinct stages: first in homes and alleyways, followed by the village mosque, and ultimately within a cave. A total of 455 individuals lost their lives, consisting of 280 men and the rest women and children.
October 1953: Qibya Massacre
IOF massacred over 69 Palestinian villagers, with approximately two-thirds of the victims being women and children. The attack also resulted in the destruction of 45 houses, a school, and a mosque.
October 1956: Kafr Qasim Massacre
Israel imposed a curfew on the Arab villages that bordered Jordan. When villagers returned after curfew they were fired on at close range. In one hour they killed 49 residents of the village.
November 1956: Khan Yunis Massacre
IOF soldiers conducted a brutal house-to-house search for fedayeen, leading to the estimated loss of 275 to 400 Palestinian lives. A mass grave was uncovered, revealing the remains of 40 Palestinian men who had been bound and executed.
Sept 1982: Sabra & Shatila Massacres
The IOF surrounded Palestinian refugee camps in West Beirut. They authorised the right-wing Cchristian Phalangist militia to enter. The militia massacred nearly 3000 Palestinian refugees and Lebanese civilians in two days of violence.
October 1990: Al-Aqsa Massacre/Black Monday
Israeli security forces were responsible for the deaths of 17 Palestinians, and more than 150 Palestinians suffered injuries.
Feb 1994: The Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre
During Ramadan, an American-Israeli Zionist extremist opened fire on Palestinian Muslims who were in prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. This resulted in the deaths of 29 people, some as young as 12 years old, and left 125 others wounded.
April 2002: Jenin Refugee Camp
During the Second Intifada, IOF launched a military operation in the Jenin Refugee Camp situated in the West Bank. Israel deployed infantry, commando forces, assault helicopters, tanks, and bulldozers, resulting in the tragic loss of at least 54 Palestinian lives.
2008-09: The Gaza Massacre
Israel initiated a large-scale military campaign in the Gaza Strip on 27 December 2008. On 3 January 2009, the Israeli ground invasion was launched, resulting in the estimated deaths of 1,166 to 1,417 Palestinians.
2012: Assassinations of Hamas leaders in Gaza
Israel assassinated a series of Hamas leaders. In response, Gazan factions launched numerous projectiles into Israel. Israeli attacks intensified, murdering 165 Palestinians, including 42 children, and injuring 1,220 Palestinians, including 430 children.
2014: The Gaza War
This marked the third major military confrontation between Israel and Hamas since Hamas assumed control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Israel then launched a ground invasion into Gaza, resulting in the loss of 2,205 Palestinian lives.
2018-19: Great March of Return
The Gaza border protests were a series of peaceful demonstrations. Over the course of these protests, IOF were responsible for the loss of 223 Palestinian lives, while more than 13,000 Palestinians sustained injuries, the majority of which were severe.
2021: Al Aqsa Mosque Attack
In response to protests by Palestinians in East Jerusalem, the Israeli police forcefully entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, injuring over 600. Hamas responded with a multitude of rockets. Israel’s airstrikes killed 260 Palestinians, half of them children and 1948 were injured, including 610 children and 400 women.
7 OCTOBER 2023
The attack of 7 October 2023 belongs in a far broader context of violent occupation and Palestinians’ legal right to resist. Israel’s violence against Palestinians also belongs in this long context. A large number of the Israeli deaths on October 7 occurred at the hands of the IOF, as part of the Hannibal directive.
Sources:
https://www.justiceforpalestine.nz/
https://levepalestina.com/blog/timeline-palestine-israel/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_in_Palestine
The second page links this ongoing and murderous attempt to uproot the Palestinians from their land with the uprooting of olive trees by the Israeli army. Despite all their efforts, however, the Palestinian people endure because their roots and their connection to the land run very deep, much deeper than the state of Israel and its Western allies can understand.
Finally, in terms of the visual aspect, I chose to stick with the black and white line art aesthetic of my older political comic “For a Breath of Freedom,” adding the colors of the Palestinian flag in a few places.
