2 JUNE 1973, Page 25

Israel and the Arabs

Sir With friends like Marion Woolfson, the Arabs need no enemies. It is unfortunate for them that this insecure bluestocking so hastily gorges and ill-digests her titbits that, where there are so many more reputable tribes from which the Arabs could claim

lines of descent, she chooses the Ama,kites$ Quite apart from the fact that the conflicts of early history have as much relevance to modern politics in the middle East as the wars of Picts and Jutes to modern Britain, the origin of the Amalekites is so murky as to Make some scholars believe their !lame to be a mythological label and, if It did exist, is identified with an insignificant robber nation.

Henry Adler 3 Roland Gardens, London SW7.