Letters to the Editor
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
‘Supremes Tested On Schools’
When parents feel that district policy for assigning seats in popular schools is unfair, they will eventually demonstrate their disaffection by fleeing the system [Op-ed, “Supremes Tested On Schools,” December 8, 2006]. Diversity will then be impossible to achieve because not enough children of different races will be available.
To avoid this scenario, school officials should consider the use of a lottery to determine enrollment. It is not a perfect strategy because it relies strictly on chance. But at least all parents are given an equal opportunity, with no subgroup favored.
The only caveat is that the school district has to agree to vigorously promote and publicize the lottery. In the past, this has not been the case. As a result, poor parents who often lack the sophistication to understand their options were essentially left out.
WALT GARDNER
Los Angeles, Calif.
‘America Will Increase Arms, Training for Fatah Security’
Eli Lake’s “America Will Increase Arms, Training for Fatah Security” raises issues that should be very alarming to the American, as well as the Israeli public [Foreign, “America Will Increase Arms, Training for Fatah Security,” December 21, 2006]. For America to continue pretending that Abu Mazen, or Mahmoud Abbas, previously Arafat’s right-hand man and a Holocaust denier in the same mold as Iran’s Ahmadinejad, has any interest in peace with Israel and the West is dangerous for all. It has been proven that Mr. Abbas has no power to form any policy in the Palestinian Arab population. They voted Hamas into power, and it is the Hamas policies of refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist that are reflective of the majority of the Arabs living within the Palestinian Arab areas today, including Fatah.
Fatah has been guilty of terrorist activities in the same way that Hamas has. For America to supply $90 million dollars of taxpayer money to these terrorists and to train them in sophisticated fighting techniques is tantamount to aiding and abetting the enemy that is out to destroy Israel, America, and the West. American pressure on Israel to release tax revenues is another error. We know from the billions that Arafat stole from his people that any money given to the PA ends up paying for weapons and terrorism. If, indeed, any of it was put to humanitarian purposes, the Palestinian Arab world would probably not be in flames as it is today.
HELEN FREEDMAN
New York, N.Y.
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