To the editor:

In his op-ed, "Israel's self-inflicted wounds," Ronald Lauder shows surprising ignorance both about the many possible ways in which the Arab-Israeli conflict could be resolved (if the Palestinian Arabs were willing to forgo their genocidal dreams) and the relationship between American and Israeli Jewry.

He need not worry about the so-called "one-state solution;" it's not an option. Over 95 percent of the Palestinian Arabs in the disputed territories have long governed themselves and that's not going to change. Mahmoud Abbas has rejected the very concept of two states for two peoples, but that just means those of us who want peace (which includes almost every Israeli but unfortunately not enough Palestinian Arabs) need to be creative and have a lot of patience.

In Israel, we do have problems we need to resolve regarding the control by the ultra-Orthodox over Jewish religious affairs. That actually hasn't changed substantially since Ben Gurion's time, but I am confident we - speaking here as an Israeli - will eventually resolve them.

What have changed are the perceptions of American Jewry, but that has far more to do with the dramatic deterioration of the fabric of the American Jewish community than with Israel. I have experienced this deterioration, which reflects a dismal although perhaps unavoidable failure of the Jewish leadership, and, speaking here as an American, am far from confident it will ever be reversed.

Sincerely,

Alan Stein