To the Editor:

"From proximity to peace?," (Editorial, March 9) unfairly labels Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as "intransigent" in regard to the peace process.

Netanyahu has time and again expressed Israel's desire for peace and willingness to sit at the negotiating table with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.  He has backed up his words with firm action – going farther than any previous Israeli government in ordering a ten-month freeze in building in the West Bank, a move accurately described as "unprecedented" by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Netanyahu's government is actively assisting the Palestinian Authority in building the infrastructure necessary for a state, and he has declared his support for a two-state solution.