I agree with most of Alan Dershowitz’s message in his op-ed “Obama, slow your roll on Mideast peace process,’’ although he should acknowledge a few things: that there has not been a peace process at least since Mahmoud Abbas walked away from negotiations after being offered the equivalent of all the disputed territory in 2008, and that almost from the beginning Yasser Arafat made it clear that while he might have an interest in the benefits of a phony process, he had no interest in peace.

By coincidence, I read Dershowitz’s piece after returning to my apartment in Israel after a day trip that included a visit to Shilo. A recent announcement of plans for the future construction of a handful of homes there caused President Obama to go berserk. In Shilo, I visited the site where my ancestors built the tabernacle that held the Ark of the Covenant. I can’t help but think of the absurdity of Obama complaining that Israel plans to allow some more Jews to build homes in a place of such importance to the Jewish people.

Meanwhile, this week the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization voted to deny any connection between Judaism and its holiest sites in Jerusalem, reinforcing the inconvenient truth that involving the UN in the Arab-Israeli conflict only makes things worse.

During his nearly eight years in office, Obama has missed few opportunities to exacerbate the conflict. Therefore, I would go Dershowitz one step further and say: President Obama, you’ve already done enough damage. As a lame duck, please leave bad enough alone.

Alan Stein

Netanya, Israel