To the editor:

Your story about Palestinian presidential candidate Mustafa Barghouti's lecture was split about half between Barghouti's remarks and the views of Joan Loewenstein, past Jewish Federation president, who did not attend the lecture. About 2.5% of US citizens are Jewish, and the organized community is about half of that. Its views on the Israel/Palestine issue are chauvinist and extreme, as Loewenstein showed. For example, some 25 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military before the recent "calm" was broken by a suicide bombing, whose Jewish victims are her sole concern. Why does this tiny, vociferous minority constitute "the other side" of the Israel/Palestine issue to the News? What of the views and interests of the rest of its readership (including more enlightened Jews)?

Barghouti earned 24% of the vote, and is a leader in the Palestinian National Initiative of independent and democratic voices, a figure of international importance. He is a former lecturer at the UM School of Public Health, as physician and director of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees. Your reporter could have interviewed Barghouti, or any number of area academics, for a serious appraisal. That he turned only to a Jewish community publicist shows extreme partiality and contempt for the Palestinians, and does a great disservice to your readers.

Best regards, Harry Clark