Letters: Oakland on brink | Climate policies | Leadership failure | Anti-Semitic trope | Conflict prolonged | Path to peace

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Progressive policies
have Oakland on brink

Wherefore art thou fallen, O city of Oakland? From 1951 until 1993 I lived in the flatlands of the Fruitvale District in Oakland. As youngsters, we could go trick-or-treating safely with no adult supervision. Now all the houses there have metal bars on their windows and fences around their yards.

Until Oakland comes to grips with its crime, drug and homelessness issues it will continue to lose businesses, restaurants, sports teams, etc. And it’s a tragedy because Oakland is a physically beautiful city with a historically significant past, and creative, industrious people. Why Oaklanders continue to elect progressive, left-wing, failed politicians who do nothing but foster misery remains one of life’s great mysteries.

Paul Stone
Dublin

School closures were
failure of leadership

I have previously written to The Times about what a failure of government and leadership the COVID lockdowns were. Now even the New York Times Editorial Board has figured it out: “The evidence is now in, and it is startling. The school closures that took 50 million children out of classrooms at the start of the pandemic may prove to be the most damaging disruption in the history of American education. It also set student progress in math and reading back by two decades and widened the achievement gap that separates poor and wealthy children.”

Great going representing the people, state legislators.

Mike Heller
Walnut Creek

Palestinians have
prolonged conflict

Notwithstanding the (alleged) combat atrocities of both sides, the biggest distinction between the opponents in the Mideast conflict is that one side wants the other side dead.

“From the (Jordan) river to the (Mediterranean) sea, Palestine will be free.” Hamas does not want a Palestinian state and a Jewish state. They want their own state (boundaries described above) and no Jewish state. If Hamas disarmed, there would be peace. If Israel disarmed, they would be exterminated.

Palestinians were offered their own state in 1937 (Peel Commission), 1947 (United Nations), 1967 (the Three “Nos”), 2000 (Barak/Arafat), and 2008 (Olmert/Abbas). They have rejected the offer five times, primarily because they cannot accept the existence of a Jewish state.

Israel has never started a war. It has been forced to defend itself many times from attacks by those that surround it. Keep history in mind and maintain a proper perspective.

Stacy Spink
Castro Valley

U.S. must promote
a pathway to peace

President Biden needs to promote a narrative of peace for both Palestinians and Israelis. The strategy of the current Israeli government — Netanyahu’s living by the sword — is not a solution.

As a Jewish American, I am holding both Israeli and Palestinian grief and loss. I am devastated by the killing sprees of both Hamas and the Israeli settlers on the West Bank. We need peace and we need a cease-fire. The solution must be equality for Israelis and Palestinians and the opportunity for peace for both peoples. Unfortunately, right now neither side has the leadership to achieve that.

The president and the American people must not choose sides but instead talk of peace so that we — who are not the extremists but the people who stand together as Jews, Muslims, Christians, Israelis, Arabs and Palestinians — can find peace not only in Israel and Gaza but in the United States as well.

Caroline Lehman
Albany