This letter is in response to the July 6 letter to the editor, "Israel, democracy beacon, needs America's support." If Arab countries are not democratic, one might ask why? United States support for those dictators and monarchs is critical in propping up those regimes, from Egypt to Saudi Arabia. Many of those regimes would have fallen long ago without U.S. interference.

Israel withdrew some of its settlements -- not much. It is still occupying a large portion of the West Bank. And don't insinuate that the settlements aren't illegal. The illegality of those remaining settlements is not debatable if you are using international law (look up the World Court ruling on it). I'm surprised that a political science major can't operate a United Nations archive or a map.

Most of the settlements that are illegal according to international law are legal according to Israeli law, but that's like saying the Nazi occupation of Poland is legal because German law says it is.

As to the Six Day War, most of the countries in the U.N. at the time blamed Israel for it happening. Israeli and U.S. military intelligence said Egypt's positioning was defensive. Also, the Syrian shelling on Israeli troops was in response to Israel settling the demilitarized zone in the Golan Heights with Jewish settlers.

Essentially, Israel started it. Israel stole, among other pieces of Arab land, the Sinai from Egypt in the 1967 war. The point of Sadat's "sneak attack of the Yom Kippur War" was to get it back.

David McLaughlin

senior-physics and electrical engineering