Another of My Unpublished Letters-to-The-Editor

To the NYTimes:

In reporting on the the White House dismay and regret over Israel's plans to approve additional residential construction in the disputed territories, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs noted that President Obama "does not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement expansion" (Sept. 4).

As I live in that area and hope that our human rights for natural growth will be protected, I am wondering, is 'illegitimate' worse that 'illegal'? In addition, is the continuation of the construction of homes, schools, health centers, social welfare institutions the sole problem or our very presence in an area that was set aside, by
international law some nine decades ago, to be reconstituted as the Jewish national including the right, as enshrined in the League of Nation's Mandate for Palestine Principle Six, to "close settlement on the land"?