Frankfurt Book Fair opens with controversial Arab theme

The 56th Frankfurt Book Fair will get underway on Tuesday with more than 6,700 exhibitors from 110 countries gathering to highlight the best of their country's literary offerings. This year, the focus will be on literature from the Arab world. The 22 members of the Arab League, with the exception of Libya, Morocco, Algeria, Kuwait and Iraq, serve as special guests. At the opening festivities, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Amre Mussa, the secretary general of the Arab League whose idea it was to feature Arab literature at the event, will give the opening speeches. Jewish groups have already staged demonstrations against this year's theme of the fair and pointed at human rights abuses and the lack of democracy in Arab countries, compared with Israel.