Sir: Your wise leading article (July 22) on the regionalisation
of the Egypt-Israel conflict in consequence of the enforced Russian departure prompts me to suggest that this may be the moment for taking an entirely new look at an intractable problem.
Though there is no doubt that Sir Isaiah Berlin's preference for the fox approach to the philosophy of history is academically dominant, I suggest that the ' hedgehog ' may now have something to contribute.
Assuming that history is not simply one closed process or a series of successive closed processes but is the simultaneous interaction of two systems at any one moment, we can bridge the gulf between secular and religious movements.
Assuming the truth of Christianity and its theology of history, the line would run: Creation — First Coming — Second Coming. Jews and Moslems have their own versions.
I suggest that it is necessary to go beyond both the theology of history and the secular philosophy of history and form an amalgam of both. I have a personal preference for a cyclical view of the secular side but that is not relevant to my present argument.
What Iam suggesting is that the Jews are no ordinary people. Certainly not the colonialists of the Leftist dogma which led to the fusillade at Lydda Airport, but belong to both the religious and the secular sides.
If this is so the clash between Arab and Jew is not simply one more example of Mr Robert Arrirey's "territorial imperative."
You point out that Colonel Gaddafi of Libya, an anti-Marxist religous Moslem, is very close to President Sadat of Egypt. Now that the Russian departure has altered the political side of the equation, is this perhaps the opportunity to have another look at the religious?
Jew and Moslem look back to Abraham. Religious Jews and Moslems believe in the power of prayer. Could his tomb at Hebron see the beginning of understanding as Jerusalem is still a point of division? If satisfactory arrangements could be made for safe conduct, united prayer for Divine Wisdom might bring some healing idea, which has so far eluded the politicians.
George A. Short 5 Scarsdale Road, Manchester 14
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