To Punish or to Resolve?

David Bernstein, Washington director of the American Jewish Committee, made a cogent argument for Israel's war in Lebanon, invoking the Augustinian tradition of "just war" buffeted by the wisdom of just war theorist Michael Walzer ["A Price of Fighting Terrorism," op-ed, Aug 10].

What Mr. Bernstein did not reveal, however, is what contribution to Israeli and American security is made by killing more than a thousand Lebanese (not all of whom were "Islamic extremists"), displacing nearly a million people, destroying Lebanon's infrastructure and perhaps the Lebanese state itself, and radicalizing Arabs and Muslims worldwide, with implications for global terrorism (e.g., the recently foiled airliner bomb plot).

One is also tempted to ask, given Israel's wars and general insecurity since 1948: To what extent is Israeli defense policy designed to punish -- as opposed to solve problems -- as a basis for long-term peace and stability in the region?

DENNIS J.D. SANDOLE

Arlington