Power Born of Dreams: My Story Is Palestine

The stories in Sabaaneh’s poignant graphic novel are an ultimately triumphant attempt to allow readers to “see and feel the reality of Palestinian lives.” The book starts with Sabaaneh making a deal with a bird who visits his prison cell (in real life Sabaaneh spent several months in prison for an alleged association with the terrorist group Hamas). They agree that he will draw the stories the bird tells him about his flights around Palestine. Day after day the bird comes back to recount what he’s seen and heard: a woman forced to give birth at a checkpoint to Jerusalem, Gazans with one eye always to the sky to watch out for Zanana (the name they gave Israeli drones), and tales from a Palestinian teacher who still hopes for justice and a free Palestine. These accounts may seem bleak, but the closing line from the bird makes clear that this isn’t the case: “The purpose of these stories is to give [Palestinians] strength and keep them from leaving.” Sabaaneh’s often abstract black-and-white linocut illustrations pulse with emotion, making the tales feel even more immediate. Readers unfamiliar with the Israeli occupation of Palestine will appreciate the brief but thorough essays, with cited sources, that close out the book.