­­Palestine: A Sketchbook, August-September 1997

Written and Illustrated by Robbin Légère Henderson          

It was late summer of 1997. Bill Clinton was US president.  Yassir Arafat presided over the Palestinian Authority. Who was prime minister of Israel? Benjamin Netanyahu. Now, nearly 30 years later he remains in that post directing the genocide in Gaza and the relentless punishment visited upon the people of the West Bank. Artist and writer, Robbin Légère Henderson, reflects on an eye-opening trip in ‘97 to Israel/Palestine with a delegation organized by the Middle East Children’s Alliance during a time when most people in the US knew little and cared less about the crushing abuse being borne by the Palestinian people under occupation.         

Abundantly illustrated on every page the lively line drawings and lyrical watercolors are accompanied by text drawn from her contemporaneous notes. Henderson’s sketchbook presents her observations: the on-going oppression of Israeli occupation from The Golan to Gaza, in Galilee, Hebron, Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem. Her book seeks to give a sense of the suffering and resentment caused by the occupiers’ relentless abuses—the extra-judicial detentions, the collective punishments, the restriction of movement, the confinement, the beatings, refugee camps and settlements expanding into territory legally designated Palestine’s— that led up to the events of October 7, 2023. The conversations with activists and resisters and evocative landscapes may provide insight about the depth of attachment Palestinians have to their ancestral land. This lovely book is a great introduction to some of the background and recent history of the Palestinian struggle. For people who know the country it may resonate. For those who are only now learning about the resilience and resistance of Palestinians it may deepen their knowledge. 

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Paperback: 9 x 6 inches, 84 pages in full color. $25.00