Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Regarding “Walking in Shadow of West Bank Conjures Up Complex Emotions” (Phyllis Meras, Commentary, Sept. 14): The giveaway on Ms. Meras’s perspective in the piece comes in her reference to what she calls “the unsuccessful Six-Day War of 1967.” The Six-Day War may have been “unsuccessful” for the Arabs who hoped to destroy Israel and its Jewish residents. For Israel and its friends around the world, however, it was a stunning success. Israel took the Sinai desert, which it later gave back to Egypt, making possible the Camp David peace accord between Israel and Egypt. And Israel recovered the Old City of Jerusalem, ending the division of Israel’s capital and making it possible once again for Jews to pray at the Western Wall, where they had been denied access.

Ira Stoll, Brooklyn, N.Y.