Mar 08 2007
My letter in the NY times
To the Editor:
As a columnist, Thomas L. Friedman is free to state an opinion. I agree with him that reform is necessary in the Arab world; there are many reform heroes. But reprinting a poem by an Arab poet that generalizes an entire nation is the way that stereotypes are made and perpetuated. If you replace the word “Arab” with “Jew,” or replace the words “an Arab country” with “a black neighborhood,” this poem would not be fit to print.
Daoud Kuttab
March 4, 2007
The writer is director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University in Ramallah, West Bank.