To the Editor:

In "Why no investigation?" (October 7), the Journal Sentinel endorses an international investigation into the continuing violence between Palestinians and Israelis, echoing calls made by Yasser Arafat. In concentrating on this issue, the paper does a disservice to its readers by distracting them from the larger context of the conflict.

Prime Minister Barak may or may not ultimately agree to some type of investigation, either international or internal. But upon examining the history of Israel’s relations with the international community and the United Nations, as well as reflecting on how Israel has been portrayed in recent weeks, Israel’s hesitation about allowing international investigators onto its soil is certainly understandable. Israel has consistently been pilloried by often hostile, anti-Zionist and sometimes anti-Semitic neighbors and fellow nation states. In light of the recent U.N. Resolution condemning Israel’s response to the violence of the past two weeks, Israel can hardly expect to get a fair hearing by that body.

Your editorial fails to explain that the current violence has flared in the breach created by Arafat’s reluctance to take the final step towards peace. History will show this Israeli government as one of the most dovish in the country’s short life, as Barak went further than any previous Israeli leader in the concessions he was willing to make for peace. The editorial also neglects to mention the violence perpetrated by the Palestinians with impunity and that calls for a cessation to the active conflict have been noticeably absent from Arafat’s communications to his people.

Instead of focusing on Israel’s discomfort with an international investigation, the Journal Sentinel would do better to offer its readers a more balanced picture of the orchestrated violence unfolding in the Middle East.