A pin sported by Spanish actor Javier Bardem on the red carpet at the 2026 Academy Awards drew attention to one of the most recognisable symbols of Palestinian identity.
The pin depicted Handala, the barefoot cartoon boy created by Palestinian political cartoonist Naji Al Ali. The character first appeared in 1969 and took on his best-known form – hands clasped behind his back and face turned away from the viewer – in 1973. Over time, Handala became an enduring emblem of Palestinian identity and defiance.
Al Ali, born in Galilee in 1938, was forced to flee with his family in 1948 during the Nakba and grew up in Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon. That experience shaped much of his work, which often addressed the Palestinian struggle while also criticising Arab governments and political leaders.
Over the course of his career, Al Ali produced more than 40,000 cartoons published in newspapers across the Middle East. Handala appeared in many of them, often serving as a silent witness to the events unfolding around him.
The character is depicted as a 10-year-old refugee – the age Al Ali was when he left Palestine. The cartoonist said Handala would never grow older until he was able to return home. The turned back and clasped hands came to signify a rejection of imposed or “outside solutions”, while the character’s bare feet and ragged appearance reflected the hardship of refugee life.
“Handala has promised the people that he will remain true to himself,” Al Ali said. “He is barefooted like the refugee camp children, and he is an icon that protects me from making mistakes.”
Over the decades, Handala has moved far beyond Al Ali’s cartoons. The figure appears widely in murals and graffiti in the West Bank, Gaza and Palestinian refugee camps; has been used by supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement; and has also been reproduced as a tattoo and jewellery motif, reflecting its position in Palestinian political and cultural expression.
Al Ali was shot outside the London offices of Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas on July 22, 1987, and died five weeks later at the age of 49 in Charing Cross Hospital. Despite investigations by British police, no one has ever been convicted of his murder.
Nearly four decades later, Handala remains one of the most recognisable symbols associated with the Palestinian cause, continuing to appear in political art, protest imagery – and red carpets – around the world.
