One of the great challenges for a political cartoonist is taking an incredibly complicated story and distilling it down to a simple succinct image.
This is particularly true when engaging the complex and confounding conflict in the Middle East. Over my 47 year career as a commentator, I must have penned over a hundred cartoons about that unstable part of the world.
My cartoon for this week’s edition of The Economist (above) is the most recent.
I particularly like the simplicity and power of the image which started as a little 3 inch wide doodle (below). Fortunately, I am fluent in scribble-ish so I can clearly see a finished cartoon in this garbled image. Can you?
Here’s another simple but effective cartoon from the May 13, 2021 edition of The Economist on the same subject.
Sadly, the cartoons above and below will be accurate depictions of Israeli/Palestinian conflict for many years to come.
I am always blown away by how professional cartoonists can convey such a succinct message, providing so much detail, and remain current all at the same time...especially now. My scribbled napkins within minutes accumulate annotation napkins with ketchup asterics... My last protest sign was so complex I was giving side seminars explaining them....not to mention rationalizing a slightly bent sense of humor... so bravo to you sir...and great success with your substack.