TRUE BELIEVERS

Daniel Williams, in his article “True Believers” (Oct. 13), writes that American emigre Batya Kfir “is living out Israel’s Manifest Destiny, the notion that the disputed land . . . belongs to Israel.”

Not much more than 100 years ago, Manifest Destiny embodied the idea that the United States was destined to occupy and annex all the land from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, about 2 million square miles. And this was done, even though the United States had no claim--historical, ethnic or religious--to this territory.

The Jewish people of Israel, who speak of their manifest destiny, are talking about settling and annexing land a mere 30 miles from pre-1967 Israel to the Jordan River, covering 2,400 square miles. And Israel has the strongest possible historical, ethnic, religious and defense claims to the territory. Yet President Bush and Secretary of State James Baker insist that Israel must surrender this land.

SOL MODELL

Woodland Hills