Bigotry Toward Arabs

Thank you for publishing Geyelin’s article on anti-Arab prejudice.

My Arabic friends who came to Los Angeles as students in the 1950s tell me how warmly the Americans received them. Filled with sincere curiousity and friendship, they invited these Arabs to their homes and service club luncheons to hear about the Middle East and to see national costumes. There was a genuine respect for Arabic culture and civilization. Recently, some of my friends returned for a visit. They said that wonderful naivete and affection had vanished, although they felt as warmly about America as they had so long ago.

Thirty years of pro-Israel propaganda intended to poison relations between the United States and the Arab world has succeeded in making “Arab” synonymous with “terrorist.” How excruciatingly ironic. In fact, it was the Zionists and later the Israelis who introduced terrorism to the Middle East.

ROBERT WILLIAMSON

Westwood