To the editor:

It was a surprise to see, hidden in the January 31 article "Push to Annex Israeli Settlement is Latest Salvo," a tacit recognition that Israeli building in the disputed territories has been far more modest than one would infer from the constant drumbeat of criticism leveled year after year.

The Times reporter, Ian Fischer, accurately describes the recent Israeli announcements of 2,500 much needed housing units in the disputed territories as coming "after eight years of little building."

Could this be the start of a refreshing change in the pages of The New York Times? Will your paper begin acknowledging that almost all Israeli building has been in existing communities that will remain with Israel under any conceivable peace agreement and will have no practical effect if the Palestinian Arabs ever return to the negotiating table? Will your paper begin recognizing that there is no Arab-Israeli peace only because of the Palestinian Arab refusal to compromise on its goal of destroying Israel, and that peace will remain an impossibility until there's a fundamental change in Palestinian Arab society and its leadership?

Sincerely,

Alan Stein