Israel And Arabs

Ahmad states that to his knowledge no newspaper or magazine has thought it important to find out how the people in the region feel about living under the shadow of Israeli nuclear weapons. Presumably, they don't like it, but it is not the light of human kindness that gives Israel's Arab neighbors second thoughts about attacking and attempting to destroy it. STEVEN SAHL, Burbank

Ahmad's article assumes that Americans, whose reliance on the free press that permits his obviously biased account of the Persian Gulf crisis for their information, are less knowledgeable about what's going on there than the people in the area who never experienced a free press. His article makes Saddam Hussein a hero to the less affluent Palestinian masses, implying that support for the United Nations' action against him comes because " . . . the imperial powers which drew the boundaries of nation states in the region, purposely delinked the wealth and the people of Middle East."

Public housing in Israel proper for Soviet Jews, great idea! Public housing in America for all refugees, greater idea! But adequate public housing in America for the hundreds of thousands of Americans now homeless, first ! JOHN H. RANDOLPH Oxnard

Mohammed Tarbush refers to the newly formed Israeli government as "extremist" ("A Palestinian Season of Gloom," Commentary, July 1). It is interesting to note that in its first three weeks of existence, Israel's "extremist" government has extended an invitation to Syrian President Hafez Assad to visit Israel. In addition, it has offered the Iranians Israeli expertise in assisting the earthquake victims. It has also released 416 Arab prisoners from Israeli jails as a gesture of goodwill.

Mohammed Tarbush refers to the newly formed Israeli government as "extremist" ("A Palestinian Season of Gloom," Commentary, July 1). It is interesting to note that in its first three weeks of existence, Israel's "extremist" government has extended an invitation to Syrian President Hafez Assad to visit Israel. In addition, it has offered the Iranians Israeli expertise in assisting the earthquake victims. It has also released 416 Arab prisoners from Israeli jails as a gesture of goodwill.

The Berlin Wall has fallen. The nations of Eastern Europe are clamoring for freedom. Lithuania has declared independence. Soviet citizens are voting in free elections. Nelson Mandela is free. Apartheid is doomed. And Buckley is urging that Israel annex the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a la South Africa, Hitler and Stalin. Perhaps Buckley would like to join the nearly 2 million Palestinians who will be "guests of the government of Israel," enjoying a "wonderfully refreshing" Israeli policy that denies them the right to vote, assemble, express themselves, or live in peace in their own homeland.