To the editor:

The television news in Israel this afternoon included a report on the Fatah General Congress in Ramallah, during which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told those assembled that the establishment of the state of "Palestine" was only a matter of time.

That makes it all the more curious that former President Jimmy Carter wrote a front page op-ed in The New York Times urging lame duck President Barack Obama to rush to recognize a state whose own president admits doesn't exist.

Sincerely,

Alan Stein