A lasting solution to secure peace in the Middle East

Israel and Palestine

Regarding “How Biden can restore

U.S. influence,” (A16, May 23): Thank you for the Sunday editorial. The honest and unbiased assessment on the plight of the Palestinian people is welcome. Indeed, public opinion in the U.S. is finally recognizing that Palestinians deserve the same dignity, freedom and self-determination that should be accorded to all people.

Only when our government adopts a humanitarian and evenhanded role in moderating a peace plan and works toward the end of the occupation, can we hope for a lasting solution.

Nabila C. Kinghorn, Houston

Wall of memories

Regarding “COVID decimated Hispanic communities,” (A17, May 23): We could not agree more with the sentiments Dr. Peter Hotez and Rep. Sylvia Garcia express. As the founders of the website Covid19WallofMemories.org, which is dedicated to memorializing victims of COVID, we know that people of color have suffered disproportionately both in illness and in death.

When we see the nearly 6,000 victims’ stories posted on our website, we see couples who died days apart or even within a few hours of each other. We see parents and children who both died of COVID. We see a Hispanic gentleman who lost a grandmother and two aunts within a month and took the time to memorialize them on our site. COVID-19 is unquestionably a “family disease.”

We applaud the efforts by Hotez and Garcia to plan and carry out a campaign to ensure the pandemic is stopped in its tracks among Hispanics and people of all races and ethnicities. It is our hope that we can participate in such a plan.

We know from the Wall of Memories website that although COVID can be a killer, if we recognize how interconnected we all are and take the steps necessary to stop its spread, we will defeat it on behalf of ourselves and all the people who have suffered because of this terrible disease.

Mohammed and Ruth Nasrullah, Houston