Opinion

Over the past three months we have received and printed many letters from correspondents with a variety of points of view on the Israel-Palestine situation. We’ve received letters from people who describe themselves as Jewish, both by heritage and by rel igion, criticizing the actions of the government of Israel. We’ve gotten letters from people describing themselves as having such backgrounds which defended the government of Israel. We’ve had letters from people who make no reference to their religious b ackground which were both pro and con the Israeli government. We’ve printed letters attacking the actions of the Palestinian insurgents, and letters defending them. -more-

Sunday afternoon was lovely, as Berkeley afternoons in the spring often are, and like another 200 or so lovely Berkeley residents we attended a lovely garden party at a lovely home in one of Berkeley’s loveliest (and most expensive) neighborhoods. The purpose of the event was to raise money for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, and since all of us in Berkeley are pretty smart and know that we’re really at the water’s edge this time, we were all on our very best behavior. Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who’s been wintering in Berkeley, gave a stirring speech, complete with convincing pragmatic answers to a few challenging questions about Kerry’s somewhat pallid campaign to date. A pitch was made, with the comment that Marin Republicans has already raised, was it $80k, for Kerry at one party, and couldn’t Berkeley Democrats do as well? Eyeballing the crowd, with some knowledge of the net worth of some attendees from Piedmont, the goal seemed possible. Checks and credit cards were accepted. Everyone went home smiling: a lovely event. -more-