Wednesday, July 9, 2008

I have been a student of Arabic at Harvard University for several years. In his July 5 op-ed, "Teaching Arabic and Propaganda," Joel Pollak distorted the content of Georgetown University Press's "Al-Kitaab" textbook and Harvard's Arabic language program.

Mr. Pollak claimed that the maps in "Al-Kitaab" do not include Israel. There are three maps in the book: On Page 13, Israel is represented without the West Bank and Gaza. On Page 389, two historical maps (from the Ottoman era to World War I) predate Israel's existence.

Second, the films that Mr. Pollak singled out as "political propaganda" have no direct political message. "West Beirut," for example, about the Lebanese civil war, was honored with an award at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.

Mr. Pollak's advocacy of policing "the content of the federally funded materials used in Arabic programs" is nothing more than a disgraceful call for censorship in the classroom.

MARYAM MONALISA

GHARAVI

Cambridge

The writer is a doctoral candidate in comparative literature and film and visual studies at Harvard University.