Fitting Memorial

Sir: Insofar as stability in the Middle East is concerned, it will do little good to solve the plight of the Arab refugees if nothing is done to help the millions of Arab fellahin who live in conditions of poverty, disease and illiteracy even worse, in many cases, than that of the refugees in the camps. Poverty anywhere is deplorable, but in a region blessed with billions of dollars of oil, it is criminal. I can think of no more fitting and lasting memorial to Gamal Abdel Nasser [Oct. 12] than a massive aid plan to improve the lot of the Arab poor who loved him so much.

REBECCA HORN San Francisco

Sir: The abrupt demise of President Nasser dealt a resounding blow to further efforts to resolve the Middle East crisis. Amid all the tributes paid to this great man were traces of foreboding among the political leaders of the world. The absence of a powerful representative for the Arab nations can only aggravate the already explosive atmosphere in the contiguous region of the Suez. All too often the death of the great statesman produces a plethora of regret not accompanied by equally sincere actions and efforts.

MASON CHEN Singapore

Sir: When all has been said about Nasser, history may eventually come round to characterizing him as a "congenital liar" as early as the Suez crisis in 1956. History may even record that, charisma or no, the trail of debacles that marked the "progress" of this kiss-and-stab leader could be hallowed only by a people whose emotional orientation is permeated with no small measure of masochism. As for Nasser's ousting of the British from Egypt in the 1950s, it now remains for some more charismatic pharaoh to tackle the sterner task of, ejecting the Tovarish from his sophisticated colonialism there in the 1970s.

EZRA S. SOFFER Ramat Gan, Israel

Existing Rights

Sir: You say [Sept. 28] that "Ideally the Palestinians . . . would like to turn the clock back to the'' days before the Balfour Declaration pledged the creation of a Jewish homeland."

Mr. Balfour's letter of Nov. 2. 1917 to Lord Rothschild contained the words: "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish People ... it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine." It will be seen that Mr. Balfour pledged nothing. Nor was he or the government of Great Britain in a position to pledge the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Palestine'' was never a British colony, territory or possession, though Britain later administered it in trust for its inhabitants under mandate from the League of Nations.

HERBERT BEST Sharon, Conn.

Sir: Since 1948, the Palestinian people, who lost their homes and land, have been virtually powerless to obtain restitution from the Israeli government. The political forces of Zionism (not Judaism) were indeed successful in establishing a national home for a people without a home in what was termed a land without a people. There were people in Palestine, and these people have tried various methods to gain recognition for their cause. The most recent of these is skyjacking. Unfortunately, this costs someone millions of dollars, and far worse is the cost in human suffering and lives. There must, however, come a time when the world community examines the factors that prompt the Palestinians to take such violent measures.

MARY NEZNEK Amsterdam, N.Y.

Sir: After World War II, millions of Germans had to leave their homes in territories that became parts of Poland and Russia. Overcrowded West Germany accepted them as equals and gave them a new home.

After the decision of the U.N. to create Israel, the Arab countries started an aggressive war against Israel. The Arabs lost the war, and the Palestinians became refugees. Instead of taking the responsibility for their wrong decision and accepting the refugees as equals in their enormous territories, the Arabs have made them suffer in refugee camps for the past 20 years and have tried to make the world responsible for their difficult life.

The Arab countries certainly have had enough time to solve this refugee problem the same way the West Germans did.

JAKOB S. SCHAECHTER, M.D. Webster, N.Y.

Overkilled Overskilled

Sir: "The Agony of the Overskilled Man" [Oct. 5] is all too real. Perhaps I am one of the lucky ones since I am working in another job, in a very different business and I expect and plan not to return to aerospace work. There are probably not going to be any more new, large aerospace contracts, and Ph.D. or not, the specialists will have to find something else.

I agree that "Educated manpower is one of the most important resources of an industrial nation, and it should not be wasted." Unfortunately, it is not only being wasted, it is being destroyed. I worry about my former industry, which I know from 20 years' working experience, preceded by education, preceded by hobby, for a total of 30 years. I worry about the safety and well-being of my country in the event that the need for this industry reappears. Where will the educated manpower be then? Will there be any real capability? I do not know; I do not think anybody knows.

HENRY S. BEERS JR. Huntington, N.Y..

Sir: It is indeed tragic that these highly educated men in the aerospace industry cannot find employment commensurate with their training, but this is a situation faced by every woman whose education did not end with a high school diploma. Educated womanpower has always been our most unused resource. It is not only wasted but totally ignored.

(MRS.) ROMA EISENSTARK Manhattan, Kans.

Sir: Aerospace engineers, typically a very conservative group, are going to gain a little lesson in soul. As a laid-off, unemployed aerospacer, I know.

ROBERT C. HADLICH JR. Hastings, Minn.

Here's to Fox Power

Sir: Bravo for the Fox, whoever he may be [Oct. 5]. His one-man antipollution campaign has gone unheralded far too long. Now, however, a group of civic-minded Kane County residents have united to support his efforts by distributing bumper stickers that read: GO FOX--STOP POLLUTION!

JIM SCHNEIDER Batavia, Ill.

Sir: Years ago on the farm, in order to get his attention, we'd clobber our jackass over the head with a two-by-four. Similarly, the Fox may soon get the attention of stubborn corporate executives whose factories contaminate our environment.

Perhaps militant conservationism will provide the needed solution to the pollution problem.

REGINALD BOLLICH LaPorte, Texas

Sir: At long last a hero for those of us over 30. You know us, I am sure--the "antipollution nuts." A very strange breed of people who for some unknown reason prefer clear blue skies and crystal-clean water to smog and muck. May the Fox have a long and successful career.

(MRS.) BARBARA JORGENSON Gig Harbor. Wash.

Sir: Actions, in this case, speak much louder than words.

MRS. JERRY R. POPPE

St. Paul, Minn.

Potential for Discovery

Sir: Thank you very much for your article "Mysticism in the Laboratory," [Oct. 5] with Researcher Clare Mead's articulate account of her experience. With each such article, more people become aware of the enormous potential for growth and discovery that the "built-in contact point" affords.

We share Drs. Masters' and Houston's view that religious institutions are disintegrating, and rather than share that fate, we have centered our worship around the very same meditative inner contact --finding the very same revelations that Miss Mead did. We too have been accused of all manner of unpleasant things by the more conservative of my colleagues, but their congregations dwindle while ours grows.

(THE REV.) HOYT S. GRIFFITH JR. First Church of Christ, Esoteric Seattle

Sir: Risking the wrath of TIME Religion Researcher Clare Mead, may an agnostic ask if she realizes that the profound mystical experience of her "inner odyssey" religious "trip" was neither new nor religious? It was just plain, good, old-fashioned hypnosis.

REGIS RUPPERT Pittsburgh

Sir: I have just read Clare Mead's account of her experience in mystical introspection. I was immediately struck by the amazing parallel with Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem Renascence. The imagery and the intensity of involvement in the miseries of others are almost totally identical. The experience of rebirth at the end of Miss Mead's "odyssey" recalls Miss Millay's famous verses at the end of her long poem.

MARGARET MILLIOAN Los Angeles

Free for All

Sir: Your appraisal of medicine in the Soviet Union [Oct. 5] is misleading in its references to "free medical system." "free annual checkups." and "free and highly accessible."

Whether such a massive system is paid for directly by the users or indirectly by them through taxation or deprivation of consumer goods, the people are paying for it, and accordingly it cannot be considered free.

This fact should be made extremely clear, especially now. as debate over a U.S. national health-insurance system thickens.

JOSEPH J. WESNER Dallas

Sir: The important thing to remember about medicine in the Soviet Union is that it is free. When I was sick there, the doctor made a house call at no charge; another time, when I had mild diarrhea, the medicine cost 6-c-. It worked.

MICHAEL E. TSCHEEKAR Sacramento, Calif.

Sir: Tn 1953. during Stalin's last illness, Soviet doctors reported officially that Big Brother was being submitted to leeches be sides other therapeutic means no less archaic. We could ask then if their intention was to cure or to kill the patient. They were in earnest. Seventeen years later a patient of mine, strong enough to survive anything, told me. having just arrived from Moscow, that last winter my Russian colleagues found nothing better for her pneumonia than syrups, poultices and those Jacks-of-all-trades of Soviet medicine--leeches.

WALTER BENEVIDES, M.D.

Secretary-General

Confederacao Latinoamericana de Otorrinolaringologia Rio de Janeiro

The Pentagon's Cup

Sir: Why don't you let the Pentagon run the America's Cup [Oct. 5] so that Australia can get its hands on the bloody thing, and let the New York Yacht Club run the Viet Nam War?

RAY SINCLAIR WOOD Mildura, Australia

Original Cast

Sir: Re the 20th Century-Fox epic of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Tora! Tora! Tora! [Oct. 5]: T'll make you a little bet that the original cast pulled off the attack for a lot less than $25 million. Oh well, you can't win them all.

WILLIAM F. KRIVOHLAVEK Fresno, Calif.

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