Drawn to the Promised Land: A cartoon history of Britain, Palestine and the Jews: 1917-1948
Tim Benson, Halban Publishers, £14.99
 

DRAWN TO THE PROMISED LAND is a compilation of over 200 cartoons focusing on events that shaped the region known as Palestine between the years of 1917 (Signing of the Balfour Declaration) and 1948 (Israel’s establishment as a state). 

The political cartoons featured in the book are mostly taken from major British, American, or Australian publications and reflect the zeitgeist of the time as they detail dramatic, pivotal or harrowing events taking place in the three decades prior to 1948. We are also treated to the illustrations of famous Soviet cartoonist Boris Efimov as well as those of the Daily Worker’s very own Jimmy Friell (Gabriel).

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The political drawings depict how Britain wrested the mandate for Palestine away from a declining Ottoman empire in 1917, as well as how its hapless policies in the ensuing years affected the lives of Jews and Arabs alike. 

Cartoons showing a triumphant General Edmund Allenby taking on the mantle of crusader King Richard the Lionheart as he “liberates” Jerusalem from the Turks are followed by less optimistic ones as Britain is visibly seen struggling to maintain peace between Jews and Arabs whilst trying to stem Jewish immigration to Palestine in the immediate years following World War II. In the meantime, cartoons reflect the British public becoming increasingly dissatisfied at the expense incurred by the occupation of Palestine.
 
As 1948 approaches, we see an ever more desperate Britain keen to relinquish its mandate and the associated troubles it had acquired. Some cartoons around this time reflect a shift away from the widespread sympathy Jews had gained following World War II and the Holocaust, and instead show the irritation and disgust felt by the British public in the wake of terrorist attacks by zionist paramilitary groups such as the Irgun and Lehi. These organisations killed and bombed British soldiers in an attempt to eject them from Palestine and permit unfettered Jewish immigration from displaced persons’ camps within Europe to what would eventually become the state of Israel.
 
One US cartoon dating from 1917 shows the character John Bull (a personification of Britishness akin to how Uncle Sam represents the US) telling a Jewish man: “Mr Israel, I’m giving you a secure home, but remember, you will have to move there!” Benson’s explanatory note accompanying the cartoon explains the double-edged nature of Britain’s support for the creation of a Jewish state, as it was felt this could undermine the national status of Jews across different countries.

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The cartoons also reveal that in the years following World War One, the US was trusted and held in much higher regard by Arab nations compared to its European counterparts as it had refused to take control of any former Ottoman lands.
 
Many of the drawings epitomise the quick-thinking wit and sarcasm associated with political cartoonists, and some contain caricatured images of Arabs, Jews, Turks, and Europeans which would these days probably be viewed as politically incorrect. Other illustrations have a more chilling side and reflect darker themes. Several of the cartoonists whose work features in the book had Jewish roots and produced their drawings at a time when family members were falling victim to the Holocaust.
 
Benson also reprints a small number of cartoons from German and Austrian publications dating from the 1930s that are plainly anti-semitic and reflect the ideology that gripped these countries at the time. Whilst it is perhaps controversial to include such cartoons, it is arguably important that readers are aware of the past and understand how the power of media and imagery can negatively shape public opinion against minority groups.
 
Drawn to the Promised Land takes the reader on a fascinating journey through events that shaped the present-day situation across Palestine and Israel and helps us understand the current situation by looking through the lens of the past.