Organizing an Exhibition on the Image of Arabs in the Western Media
On May 11th 2010, the International Youth Exchange Program (Zajel) of the Public Relations Department at the University organized an exhibition titled “The Image of Arabs in Western Media”. The exhibition displayed caricature drawings by the world’s most famous caricaturists which reflected the image of Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon as seen in the drawings of western artists.
Through this event Zajel aimed to familiarize the Palestinian people with the point of view of western artists regarding the situations in Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon. This exhibition also revealed that some international caricaturists became aware of the reality of these situations so much so that they began to depict them objectively away from prejudice and misunderstanding.
In addition to this, Zajel attempted to familiarize the Palestinians with the western media and how it deals with Arab issues so as to enable the Arab countries to benefit from the western media experience and start to establish a solid and effective Arab media that would have the potential to convey the truth and the reality of the situation in the different parts of the Arab world, particularly in Palestine.
This exhibition emphasizes the importance of supporting media institutions in Palestine so as to spread the true image of Arabs to the west and to try to change this stereotype in the minds of western people.