To the editor:

The article "Israel: U.N. Peacekeeper Was Killed By Israeli Forces, Investigation Confirms" completely ignored the real story. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 provided for the elimination of all non-governmental military forces from southern Lebanon. UNIFIL was expanded in order to ensure compliance with that resolution.

Had UNIFIL done its job, Hezbollah would not now be in control of southern Lebanon with more than 100,000 long range missiles in its arsenal and would not have launched the cross-border attack on Israel which resulted in the death of the U.N. peacekeeper. Contrary to the thrust of the article, blame for the peacekeeper's death lies with the terror group Hezbollah, with the Lebanese government for not maintaining its sovereignty in the southern portion of its domain, and with the peacekeeper's own group, UNIFIL, for completely failing in its mission.

Sincerely,

Alan Stein