As an Arab-American, I was incredibly offended by the Gary Markstein cartoon on the June 19 Opinion page. The exaggerated noses, bushy eyebrows, unkempt faces and flies circling the caricatures of Yasser Arafat and another man labeled "Terrorist" brought back memories of my college days when I was attacked as a "Dirty Arab," "Sand Nigger," and "Jew Killer."

I think if the Gazette were presented with such racist cartoons depicting stereotypical caricatures of African Americans lazily eating watermelon, Irish Americans lustfully chugging liquor, or Israeli Jews slaughtering Arab children and confiscating their ancestral homes, your newspaper probably would have declined to publish them.

I hope in the future you will be as respectful of Arabs and Arab Americans as you are of other ethnic groups.

Elliot M. Namay, Jr.

June, 2001