EDITORIAL, LETTERS

Israel Is Insincere About UN Approach Of 'Land for Peace' The opinion page article, ''Israeli-Palestinian Coexistence,'' July 5, assumes that the ''peace'' process is being carried out in good faith by Israel and that a Palestinian state would emerge naturally in due course. The Declaration of Principles and United Nations Security Council resolution 242 are explicitly based on trading land for peace. However, contrary to the resolutions, former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir summed up Israeli intentions when he confessed that he was stalling, and ready to employ delaying tactics for 10 years while the process of ''Judaizing'' the occupied territories continued. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's preoccupation is also to create these ''facts on the ground'' in the West Bank and Jerusalem, making it impracticable for the Israeli military to withdraw. According to the Declaration of Principles, Palestinians are envisioned to have the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, which makes up for only 22 percent of mandated Palestine. Worse still, the settlers have received title to 65 percent of the 22 percent of land from the Israeli government. Mr. Rabin is following in the footsteps of Mr. Shamir by stalling to offer the remainder of the original mandate of Palestine. Israel has practically derailed the ''peace'' process by refusing from the beginning to acknowledge that it is an occupying power. The Monitor rightly pointed out in its Jan. 18 editorial ''Unsettling Settlements,'' that ''Building settlements not only 'creates facts' on the ground by de facto wiping out Palestinian claims on land, but also calls into question Israel's desire for peace.'' Mohamed Alwan Annapolis, Md. Serb plight a Western conspiracy This is a response to the recent editorial, ''Croatia's offensive,'' Aug. 9. The Krajina Serbs, who before World War II were the majority ethnic group in 70 percent of today's Croatia and defended Europe from encroaching Islam for three centuries, never really had a fighting chance to defend their traditional homelands. The factors involved are the unprecedented racism toward Serbs, the crippling economic sanctions, censorship of Serb sufferings, clandestine American military support of Serbian enemies, and the lack of any rich and powerful friends like the Vatican, Germany, Austria, and oil-rich Muslim countries. Ensuring that 200,000 Orthodox Christian Serbs will never return peacefully to their homelands is basically a ''Christian'' Western sanctioned revenge and a green light for Croatia to accomplish its fascist dream. Michael Pravica Cambridge, Mass. Acting President, Serbian-American Alliance of New England Inc. Your letters are welcome. For publication they must be signed and include your address and telephone number. Only a selection can be published and none acknowledged. Letters should be addressed to ''Readers Write'' and sent to One Norway St., Boston, MA 02115, by fax to 617-450-2317, or by Internet e-mail (200 words maximum) to OPED@RACHEL.CSPS.COM.