According to information available on the Web from the Arms Control Association, Israel has between 75 and 200 nuclear warheads. Other sources reflect similar figures. Yet Israeli officials challenge Iran’s nuclear energy efforts, a country with no known nuclear bombs.

Why can Israel be allowed to continue its land-grabbing into Palestinian territory? The weak Palestinians’ defensive rockets cannot compete with U.S.-supplied heavy armaments the Israelis use. One Web source listed the ratio of deaths in 2004 as 7.7 Palestinians to one Israeli.

How did the United States get locked into supporting such an unfair balance of power? The U.S. did a similar destruction to Native Americans and their rights in breaking every agreement made for land settlement.

A Jewish historian from MIT, Norm Chomsky, argued for years and in several books about the unfairness in the Middle East.

Religious fundamentalism carries the same irrational logic, whether Jewish or Arab.

Neither President Jimmy Carter nor George Mitchell could break the greedy deadlock with their ethical efforts and sound reason.

It is time that people of the United States take a step back and demand a new, balanced perspective with regard to the Middle East.

Stephen Drane, Auburn