To the Editor:

Re "Only the Beginning" (editorial, Aug. 15):

Your assertion that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel is using the Gaza disengagement to deflect international pressure to make West Bank territorial concessions is belied by the prime minister's own statements.

Indeed, an Aug. 13 news article cites an interview that Mr. Sharon gave to the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot in which he said that Israel might eventually have to give up additional Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

With Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip, the onus is now on the Palestinian Authority to assert order, clamp down on terrorist operations and govern responsibly.

Should order be maintained, Israeli-Palestinian negotiations will resume in earnest, with further territorial concessions in the West Bank on the table.