Risk for Peace

To the Editors:

I've watched numerous world leaders take risks that might lead their countries to war. Now Egypt's President Sadat seems willing to assume equal risks for peace [Nov. 28]. His act of courage is a deeply moving moment in history.

Karen R. Brown

New Concord, Ohio

The child's game of pretend is over. A major Arab leader has had the courage to publicly accept what is: Israel exists. The rays of peace peek through a stormy sky. Why has it taken so long?

Barry Haft

New York City

Sadat's visit to Jerusalem brings to mind the late David Ben-Gurion's famous saying: "In Israel in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles."

Hans L. Heimann

Riverside, R.I.

The U.S. has given Israel many instruments of war. But Anwar Sadat has given it an instrument like no other--his heart.

Jonathan Mark

Alexandria, Va.

The gratitude and blessings of all peoples of good will on both sides of Suez be upon Anwar Sadat. The actively applied good intentions of Israelis and Egyptians will ease and speed further steps toward a just and lasting peace. Shalom, from Jerusalem.

(Mrs.) Raissa Moore-Soubbough

Jerusalem

Sadat's visit is so out of character that a simplistic explanation of a sudden overwhelming desire for peace with Israel must be dismissed as naive.

This visitation was hatched with Washington in mind; it was planned to feature a scenario of State Department spokesmen again castigating Israel as intransigent in refusing to evacuate "occupied Arab territory." There will also be attempts to set up American Jewry against the ungrateful and obstinate Israeli government.

No good can ever come until Washington supports Israel, instead of the so-called Palestinians, on the heart of the dispute: the territorial issues.

Yehoshua Feingold

Johannesburg, South Africa

As a Palestinian, I have always supported stern measures by the Arabs against Israel, refusing to believe that the Zionist state would ever return anything.

I strongly support Sadat's peace initiative, however, and I oppose the response that has come from the Arab world. No Arab leader has ever expressed support for the Palestinians or a desire for peace as genuinely as has Sadat. Instead, I seriously question Syria's, Iraq's, and Libya's motives behind their so-called support of the Palestinians.

I believe that the American people will have to put pressure on Begin's government if leaders like Sadat can continue in the direction of peace.

Raymond G. Hanania

Burbank, Ill.

To get all the Arabs to agree at Geneva would be a miracle.

President Sadat should make his own peace with Israel and I hope, one by one, the other Arab nations will follow--each negotiating its own settlement.

Michael Mareena

Terre Haute, Ind.

Prostitution Solutions

I take issue with your statement, "There is no simple answer or ready remedies to the problem of 'Youth for Sale on the Streets' " [Nov. 28]. There is in fact an obvious solution: eliminate the market. Not once did you mention those who pay for the services of these teens. Without their lust there would be no Mafia involvement, no pimps, no juvenile prostitutes. The sick clods who are degrading these young people need to be strung up by their thumbs!

(Mrs.) Karin Ulrich

Independence, Mo.

Harsh penalties should be imposed on those who exploit the young for sex. If the kids can make thousands of dollars for their pimps, it's time society took those dollars away from the pimps.

Peter Shot tuck East

Providence, R.I.

There is an answer to teenage prostitution, or prostitution in general: legalization. Cities that allow it can control it and confine it to one area. Where there is a regulated "red light" district, there is no coercion of the women, no need for pimps, no procurement on the streets. The money goes to the workers and the city treasurer instead of to the underworld and payoffs to local politicians.

Doris Brooks Spokane, Wash.

Not Forgotten

In "Puzzling Out Man's Ascent" [Nov. 7], a difficult task was accomplished well and with considerable sensitivity. There are many workers in America, Britain, France, Africa, Asia and other places who were not mentioned in the story, and I would not wish them to believe that they were forgotten. As one of the leading French anthropologists, Yves Coppens, said to me, "It is a pity we could not all be mentioned, but it is enough that the subject we are a part of has warranted the status of a TIME cover."

The cover photograph was striking, but the lens and/or perspective distorted the head of Homo habilis. I should not wish readers to think in terms of huge-headed ancestors. Indeed, the cranial size was smaller than today's average human.

Richard E. Leakey, Director

National Museums of Kenya

Nairobi

That White Tribe

I couldn't help wondering whether the "white tribe" of South Africa [Nov. 21] is not destined to become the Palestinian refugees of the future.

Robert E. Currie

Woodside, N. Y.

It is strange that you should refer to South Africa's remaining "curiously peaceful." Why curiously? Could it perhaps be that there is not yet that huge groundswell of dissatisfaction that leads to real revolution? Certainly there is a revolution here today, but it is not what the rest of the world thinks. It is a revolution in the minds of men, and especially in the minds and hearts of Afrikaners.

I am opposed to much of the present system in my country, but we have been unfairly criticized for so long that even the whites in opposition to the present regime are starting to resist this campaign of uninformed pressure.

J.G. Pienaar

Cape Town

All Wet on the Zonians

Frank Rich's review of Frederick Wiseman's PBS film Canal Zone [Oct. 10] does a great injustice to Canal Zone residents. Specifically, I refer to such statements as "Zonians, for all their manic patriotic ardor, are a rootless and unhappy lot; their crime rate and child-abuse rates are well above the mainland rates."

The fact is that of the 233 persons arrested for serious offenses in the Canal Zone for fiscal year 1977, only 7% were U.S. citizen residents of the zone. The crime rate among such residents, the people who are commonly referred to as "Zonians," is among the lowest anywhere.

As for child abuse, only two of the 23 cases reported to Canal Zone police in the past two years involved families of employees of the canal enterprise.

The reference to Canal Zone residents as "rootless and unhappy" is absurd. The population is uncommonly stable. The morale of our employees and their families is currently low, but this is principally a reflection of uncertainty over the impact of the proposed treaty on working and living conditions.

Harold R. Parfitt, Governor

Canal Zone

Balboa Heights, C.Z.

More Nominations

My nomination for Men of the Year: the antiterrorist commandos.

Dagnija Neimanis

Lausanne, Switzerland

Seattle Slew.

William E. Carsley

Chicago

The recently departed great entertainers: Groucho Marx, Bing Crosby, Guy Lombardo and Elvis Presley.

Roy L. Eskow

Bethesda, Md.

Balthazar Johannes Vorster. He has demonstrated 100% ability to administer a multiracial society.

R. Edgar Mood

Camp Hill, Pa.

Walter Cronkite.

Tom Lind

Hobe Sound, Fla.

Spain's Premier Adolfo Suarez for Man of the Year.

Suarez has saved our great country --for the time being.

Cecilio Paniagua

Madrid

G. Gordon Liddy, that indomitable Watergate spirit.

Dedicated to duty as he saw it, Liddy refused any offer of clemency, sought no pardon, discussed no deal. He steadfastly refused to cower, or confess a guilt he never felt.

Hugh M. Patterson

Houston

It is obvious. Co-Men of the Year must be Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat.

John E. Sullivan

River Forest, III.

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