Israel's Crisis

To the Editors:

After reading your cover story on Israel [Oct. 4], I believe more than ever that the Begin government has got to go. It is time for Israel to find a leader who will serve the interests of that nation before there is no nation left to serve.

Eric R. Lunde Holland, Mich.

The worst fears of the P.L.O. have come true. Palestinian refugees cannot depend on the ill-equipped and ill-trained Lebanese army for protection. In the aftermath of the P.L.O.'s departure from Beirut, the world has a moral obligation to protect the Palestinians who still remain there.

Saifur Rahman Blacksburg, Va.

How many more Palestinians must be killed before President Reagan exerts pressure to stop arms deliveries to Israel? Only the creation of a Palestinian state and the official recognition of Israel by the Arabs will ensure an end to this terror.

Herbert Frei Zurich

Maybe the massacres at Sabra and Shatila will show the world why Israel has to be strong and alert. If Arabs could do such things to Arabs, imagine what they would do to Israelis. When the P.L.O. killed women and children in Israel, we saw dancing in Arab streets, not antigovernment demonstrations.

Sara Cohen Toronto

I am among the many sickened by the massacre in Beirut. I also believe Ariel Sharon was guilty of criminal negligence in allowing revenge-filled Christian forces into the Palestinian camps. But how about a sense of proportion in dealing with the tragedy? Let us not use the word Holocaust lightly. There has been nothing comparable in Lebanon or elsewhere to Hitler's deliberate campaign to murder all European Jews, which resulted in the death of 6 million.

Maxwell Finger New York City

Israel at least has the decency to feel a moral responsibility in the deaths of so many. The Lebanese who committed these acts apparently feel nothing.

Marcia Desbien Burnsville, Minn.

The whole Middle East is an abyss of injustice.

Walter J. Sokira Jr. Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio

Grain Glut

It does not matter if crops are good or bad; the farm problem never goes away [Oct. 4]. As a retiree on a limited income, I can rarely afford butter, steak, asparagus or roast. While I am using margarine, my taxes are being used in part to pay for butter, which the Federal Government will be giving away. It makes me sick.

Elizabeth Jessup Elmhurst,III.

The U.S. Government should buy up most of the surplus grain and convert it into alcohol for gasohol. This would sop up the grain glut.

Esther Koch Azalea, Ore.

Short-Cut Bible

I am amazed the Reader's Digest company would have the audacity to digest the Bible [Oct. 4]. Next the editors will offer a shortened version of the Constitution.

(The Rev.) John E. Eliason Burlington, N.C.

Did God die and leave Reader's Digest in charge? With this new version of the Bible, people will know only 60% of God and will make false assumptions about the other 40%.

John Haddad Wayne, N.J.

If Editor Metzger's hope is to encourage people to read the whole Bible, he would have had a better chance if he had just removed all the "Thou shalt nots."

Marian Wells Boulder, Colo.

With the arrival of the Reader's Digest Bible, I have started to read Scripture and find it hard to put down.

Ormond deForest Seibert Remsenburg, N. Y.

Ole Miss

Your story "Ole Miss: Echoes of a Civil War's Last Battle" [Oct. 4] reflected the feelings of many Southerners. We are proud of our heritage. While prejudice may still pervade our society, hard-core hatred is rare. Today, young blacks and whites play together oblivious of skin differences. With the next generation, perhaps even more of our problems will be solved.

Carol Kilpatrick Stone Mountain, Ga.

As a black administrator in a major Midwestern university, I want to emphasize the words of Allison Brown in her editorial for the Ole Miss magazine. The present white and black college students are making sincere efforts to share experiences and not accentuate their differences. Let's not dwell on the past. The future is going to be better for all of us.

Roland E. Buck Columbia, Mo.

Jabs for Jesse

All this furor about prayers in school [Oct. 4] is ridiculous! A young person can pray and pray and still become a villain. If the frenzy were about teaching ethics, there would be some sense to it.

Ella Gibson Palo Alto, Calif.

If Savonarola could not impose morality in the church-dominated Old World, why do the modern Savonarolas--Reagan, Helms, Hatch and Falwell--think they can do it in a society where church and state are separate?

Stanley Porritt Rydal, Pa.

Phrases like "legislate traditional morality back into American life" and "strip the courts of the power to interpret the Constitution" make my palms sweat. Just who do these guys think they are?

Rick Vail Woodbridge, N.J.

Pope and P.L.O.

The Pope's meeting with Yasser Arafat [Sept. 27] may represent the Christian charity of turning the other cheek, but it desecrates the memory of those Christians who were murdered by the P.L.O.

Elmer Swack Zanesville, Ohio

The value of the papacy is its moral symbolism, not its diplomatic skill. If Arafat needed solace, a priest would do; if mediation, a bishop would suffice. But he sought approval from the highest figure in the church, the Pope. Roman Catholics should be horrified.

Ronald J. Ruszkowski Waterbury, Conn.

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