A Middle East State Worth Pursuing

I was dismayed by Carla Cohen's decision to ban UCLA professor Saree Makdisi from speaking at her independent bookstore, Politics and Prose, although I'm pleased she later rescinded her decision and reinvited him ["Politics, Prose and a Promise," Close to Home, June 8].

Ms. Cohen (was she speaking for her customers, too?) felt threatened by Mr. Makdisi's proposal for a "one democratic state" solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As an Israeli American lawyer, I can assure Ms. Cohen there is no reason to feel threatened by this bold proposal. The proponents of establishing one democratic state as a homeland for Jews and Palestinians aspire to transform Israel from an ethnocracy, which grants rights based on religion, into a democracy that is based on the principle of "one nation . . . with liberty and justice for all." Indeed, a growing number of Israelis and Palestinians believe that given the failure of all other attempted solutions during the past 60 years, this proposal is the best solution.

All the Palestinians I have spoken with tell me they prefer the one-democratic-state solution, with a constitution modeled after America's. These Palestinians appreciate what Jews have accomplished in the Holy Land and want to be an integral part of the polity. Why should Israelis feel threatened by their Palestinian neighbors who think highly of Israeli accomplishments in science, medicine, agriculture, technology and business, and therefore are abandoning violence to invest their future in a joint venture?

SHAMAI LEIBOWITZ

Silver Spring