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To the Editor: 

There is a tendency among very young children and very wealthy middle-aged intellectuals to assume that in every war; one side is good, and one side is bad. 

Of course, it is childish to believe that in every quarrel, one side is right, and that one side is wrong; but this is Berkeley, and here in Berkeley, confused childish thinking is often mistaken for genius. 

Berkeley has few young children, but we have lots of wealthy middle-aged intellectuals, so it is therefore understandable and predictable that our City Council would assume that in the current violence between the Israelis and the Palestinians, one side must be right, and one side must be wrong. 

The Berkeley City Council is planning to condemn Israel for it's recent military actions in the West Bank and Gaza. However, they make no mention of the string of Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel that triggered this military action. 

The majority on the City Council reasons that if Sharon is a bad guy, then Arafat must be a good guy. The truth is that both Sharon and Arafat are pursuing terrible policies and doing terrible things. Both of them are traveling on dead-end streets. 

We don't have to take sides. We can criticize both sides, and we can sympathize with the victims on both sides. 

-Mark Tarses 

Berkeley