The May 7 Point of View article "Looking anew at Israel's future" by Stuart Levin provided a myopic perspective on the Israeli-Arab interaction required for a peaceful and enduring outcome.

To equate Israel's de facto control over those land masses that Levin termed the "occupied territories" completely ignores Muslim history and the goal that whatever lands the Muslims once occupied should always be Muslim. We all are aware that during Jordan's rule of these areas (including Jerusalem) prior to the 1967 war, there was no outpouring of sentiment either from the Arab population nor abroad for Jordan to vacate. It was occupied Muslim territory. No Jews allowed.

Levin, in his certainty that Israel will have to surrender its settlements, skirts any discussion of this pan-Arab goal to have the territories (and the Zionist entity, as it axiomatically refers to Israel) Jew-free. There is no myth here.

The world and its transmogrification throughout the human experience is one in constant evolution. Israel understands this and is receptive to change. The Muslim world view seems to subscribe to, well, what's mine is mine, and what I used to have is still mine, not yours.

Mark Greenberg

Durham

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