Talk:Naji al-Ali

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I saw this on the Palestine portal page both as a request for translation and request for article, so I plunged in. The translation is very rough (doing it on the hoof with no dictionary) and the article could do with more info, which I am going to try and dig out of a book in the next couple of days.

Anyone have a picture of Naji al-Ali or of his grave in London, or know how to copy the picture of Handala from the Arabic article?Palmiro 19:28, 13 July 2005 (UTC)19:21, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Murder and culpability

An anonymous contributor has added the following:

Under interrogation, the Jerusalem-born man, Ismail Sawan, said that his superiors in Tel Aviv had been briefed well in advance of the plot to kill the cartoonist.

By refusing to pass on the relevant information to their British counterparts, Mossad earned the displeasure of Britain, which retaliated by expelling two Israeli diplomats from London. A furious Margaret Thatcher, then prime minister, closed Mossad’s London base in Palace Green, Kensington.

While I've read this myself in a couple of places, I don't think it should go in the article without a reliable source being cited. Also, just referring to this end of the affair and not to the suspicions that Palestinian figures were behind the murder seems a bit parti pris. Palmiro | Talk 13:54, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

The IP insertion seems to be a direct copy of a passage mirrored on several blogs, and attributed on at least some of them to this Electronic Intifada page. The claim is dubious, and is contradicted by this NY Times piece, which says unambiguously that the investigation found the assassin to be a member of the PLO, which is the common narrative. What is more disturbing, perhaps, is that the IP behaved in a manner suggesting some familiarity with WP procedure. Tewfik^Talk 07:02, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

You are correct that Electronic Intifada has this passage, but it seems not to be the original source. This story has many variations and is confirmed by multiple sources. One example is this [Ha'aretz article]. Also Gideon's Spies by Gordon Thomas has long passage about mossad agent Ismail Sowan. NB! Those sources do not claim that Mossad ordered the hit, but simply it was in the know and did not inform friendly British authorities. The case is also notable, beacause it is one of only two cases where Israeli diplomats have been expelled from friendly countries. --Magabund 22:53, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Just adding some additional reference to the aforementioned discussion. Apparently al-Ali, as notorious as he was for his stance against Israel, was also extremely vocal in his opposition to Arafat and his PLO movement. Thomas L. Friedman's book, From Beirut To Jerusalem, states that Scotland Yard has always held the belief that "the assassin was dispatched by Arafat or PLO officials close to him". It also ads that al-Ali had been "thrown out of Kuwait in 1985 - reportedly at Arafat's insistance". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.68.54.203 (talk) 04:49, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Unnecessary

"What follows is a Zionist whitewashing of both Naji Al-Ali's politics, namely his criticism of Israeli apartheid, and of Israel's role in the brutal occupation and oppression of Palestinians." -- Deleted. This doesn't add anything to the article. The best way to tackle an article you think is biased is to argue it on the discussion and change the the article content if it is biased or factually wrong.

Azymuthca 18:26, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Error in the Article?

"Handala, after the Israeli Srulik, is the most famous of Naji al-Ali's characters." after the Israeli Srulik? Srulik was drawn by Dosh (as written in the Article about Srulik), not by al-Ali. 15:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

I noticed this as well, so Im deleting the Srulik reference as this sentence is incorrect. Mhicaoidh (talk) 23:36, 3 May 2008 (UTC)