Grave Dancing

Re “A Final Act of Stagecraft,” Commentary, Nov. 12: Martin Peretz’s piece on Yasser Arafat is nothing more than grave dancing. It is unclear to me why you chose to give this space to Peretz, who does not even pretend to take a balanced point of view. His piece is a hatchet job, and his seething hatred for Arafat oozes throughout.

Many in the world -- not including myself -- detest Ariel Sharon with the same intensity that Peretz obviously hated Arafat. I will be curious to see if The Times will run pieces by Arabs or Muslims venting hatred for Sharon days after his passing. Somehow, I doubt it.

A. R. Chowdhury

Brooklyn, N.Y.