Burshtein Responds

Sorry, it took me a little while to get to posting this. Here is Karen Burshtein’s response to my letter to the editor. She was nice enough to respond, which I appreciate. But I think she kind of skirts around the fact that she entirely misrepresented me, and makes no offer to retract her alleged misattribution.

Dear Daniel:

In response to your letter to the editor regarding my article on keffiyehs:

The quote in the article was wrongly attributed to you due to an editing error I made, as was the line in the paragraph in which I introduce an expert on the history of keffiyehs. It should have read, in part: “taking issue with some of the pro-Israel protesters,” as per my original notes. I apologize for this.

The main theme of this article was that the keffiyeh has become a mainstream fashion trend, and that I was calling to account Urban Outfitters retailing them as “anti-war scarves.”

I was also stating that the blogosphere being what it is, people, including the militantly pro Israel and pro Palestinian would have an opinion on it. It is possible that I misinterpreted your tone when you “admittedly cracked a joke about Urban Outfitter’s marketing of keffiyeh’s as “anti-war scarves” by putting up photos of keffiyeh-ladened Palestinians carrying “anti-war AK-47s” and “anti-war RPG launchers.”

I did not assume because you “author [a] Jewish website, that the content of [your] post was an attack on Palestinians.”

It is inconceivable that I would make the assumption or suggestion “that all Jews believe that all Palestinians are terrorists” or that I would torque an article to encourage this idea. As one of the many “Jews and Palestinians that are both working towards a sustainable peace in the Middle East” as you wrote in your letter, and one very much known among my peers for dispassionate and, hopefully, fair-minded opinions of the Israeli/Palestinian situation, this idea would go against everything I stand for.

For my article, I spoke to an expert on keffiyehs, in their current and historic use, who said that there was nothing anti-war about the keffiyeh but neither should it be called a terrorist scarf. My source called them a mainstream garment that had over the years, at times and to some, become associated with the Palestinian cause and Palestinian nationalism.

I mentioned in my article that an Israeli manufacturer had made a keffiyeh in blue and white. I believe that the unacceptability of the idea “that all Jews believe that all Palestinians are terrorists”, is inherent in that statement, given that the scarf has often been, as previously stated, associated with Palestinians.

It is not wrong for a retail outfit to co-opt an ethnic garment- and sell and market it as a trend; it happens all the time in the fashion retail. (It would be nice if these scarves were made in Palestine, but I believe they are made in China or India.)

I do believe that Urban Outfitter’s marketing of the keffiyeh as an anti war scarf was questionable – and I believe you agree with me on that point.

Sincerely,
Karen Burshtein