Rabbi Engelmayer, who obviously cares for the welfare of poor people, misses the point of the Gaza and other disengagements ("Blowing it," April 19). The true and enduring wealth and inheritance of all the people of Israel, wealthy and poor, is the land. Defending Gaza, or in the future against it, will in most professional military estimates be more expensive now that Israel is relinquishing control of the borders. Even if the opposite were true, and cost-saving could be realized from withdrawal, this 300-square mile area, occupied by Jewish citizens, which is part of biblical Israel, belongs to all the people of Israel. It is their inheritance from God. Many members of my family have proudly served and continue to serve to defend this land. Millions of Jews have died for the lack of Israel, from the Holocaust and pogroms.

There will always be a cost to living in Israel, in life and limb. This appeasement of the racial hatred the Palestinian Leadership harbors against Jews will only encourage further aggression. Those who think that Hamas or Fatah will see the unilateral disengagement as an opportunity for reconciliation need only remember how the Nazis laughed at Neville Chamberlan's speech about peace in our time.

We have much to learn from our Arab neighbors who, although far less cash-liquid than even the poorest Israelis, understand that the intrinsic value and permanence of the land represents the true and lasting wealth a family passes down through the generations. We are all far worse off for its loss.