Opinion: Amherst Town Council Should Support Gaza Cease Fire (updated)
Photo: Mohammed Ibrahim for unsplash
Well done, San Francisco!
On January 9, 2024, after thousands of Bay Area residents had shown up to offer public comment at meetings in December and January, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution calling for a “sustained ceasefire” in Gaza. It joined city councils in other California cities and towns like Oakland, Davis, Richmond, Long Beach, and Cudahy and dozens more around the country, including Bridgeport, CT, Providence, RI, Albany, NY, Akron, OH, Wilmington, DE, and Ypsilanti, MI, urging the Biden administration to change its policy on this issue (see also here).
The final text of the resolution, approved 8-3 by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, reads as follows:
- We call for a sustained cease fire, the provision of lifesaving humanitarian aid in Gaza and the release of all hostages.
- We urge the Biden administration and the United States Congress to do the same, to call for a cease fire, humanitarian aid, and the release of all hostages.
- We resolve that we condemn anti-Semitic, anti-Palestinian, Islamophobic, xenophobic rhetoric and attacks.
- We resolve that this board condemns Hamas’ attack on civilians that resulted in so much horror and 1,200 deaths on Oct. 7.
- We resolve that we condemn the Netanyahu government’s attacks, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
- We resolve that the board believes that a just and lasting peace between the Palestinian and Israeli people requires new leadership on both sides, with a willingness and commitment to negotiate in good faith.
- We resolve that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors urges the international community to work with the Palestinian and Israeli peoples to find a just and lasting peace, to conduct a full investigation of the conduct of all parties in this conflict and hold all parties and individuals who have overseen or engaged in war crimes and international human rights violations, including, but not limited to, gender-based violence and killing of children accountable.
How about us, Amherst?
Historically, Amherst has been at the forefront of progressive calls for change at the national level. Amherst was one of the first towns in the country to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day. In other resolutions over the years, Amherst Town Meeting has supported the Paris Climate Accord, condemned human rights abuses in Darfur, Sudan, apartheid in South Africa, and the U.S. Navy’s bombing of Vieques in Puerto Rico, voted against the War in Iraq and voted to support the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney. This heritage is part of our identity as a town and I, for one, am proud of it. But the present moment requires that we all take responsibility for our government’s support of the continued siege on Gaza by demanding a halt to the violence and a political resolution to the conflict.
People working around the country for local resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza hope that their efforts will help to move the current Democratic Party position. Calls for a ceasefire at the local level are critically important in the humanitarian effort to save lives in Gaza and also strategically important in the United States. The Biden administration is out of touch with the American voters on this issue, which could cost the Democrats the presidency in a close race against former president Trump. According to a December 5, 2023, poll conducted by Data for Progress, “Sixty-one percent of likely voters, including a majority of Democrats (76%) and Independents (57%) and a plurality of Republicans (49%), support the U.S. calling for a permanent ceasefire and a de-escalation of violence in Gaza.”
On December 19, 2023, a New York Times/Siena College poll found that nearly three-quarters (72%) of young voters, ages 18-29, disapprove of the way President Biden is handling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and more than half (55%) oppose providing additional military and economic support to Israel.
All American taxpayers share responsibility for the ongoing carnage in Gaza and, increasingly, the settler violence and mass arrests in the occupied West Bank as well. As the Israeli assault on Gaza enters its fourth month, Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu has declared that “the war will continue for ‘many more months,’ resisting international calls for a ceasefire.”
Despite the Biden Administration’s protestations of its own helplessness in changing the Israeli position, the fact remains that the massive amounts of unconditional military aid that the U.S. provides to Israel gives it tremendous power to influence Israel’s actions. According to the Associated Press, the “vast majority of bombs dropped on the besieged enclave are U.S.-made.” On December 8, 2023, the United Nations Security Council tried to call for an immediate ceasefire, but the U.S. exercised its veto power as the only nation to vote against the resolution.
In addition to the more than 23,000 Palestinians who have been killed to date in the Israeli bombardment and ground assault of Gaza, a U.N.-backed report issued on December 21, 2023, warns that more than half a million are facing starvation, as Israel continues to block humanitarian aid from entering the territory. In addition, the health care system has completely collapsed, so that health workers, many of whom have themselves been killed in direct attacks on health care facilities, are unable to provide proper care to the tens of thousands injured and the nearly two million displaced and living in tents. In San Francisco, health care workers took a leading role in the campaign for the ceasefire resolution, wearing their scrubs and white coats to the hearings.
Amherst, let us follow San Francisco’s example! Introducing a ceasefire resolution in our Town Council would not be merely a symbolic act, but would support the UMass students who have put their bodies on the line. Take a stand for peace instead of fueling the insatiable war machine, and join the calls for the Biden Administration to listen to the views of the American people on this burning issue.
Update: Friday, January 26, 2024
This is to inform all interested readers that the responses to this article encouraged me to begin drafting a ceasefire resolution for Amherst, to begin circulating it in order to gauge local support, and to seek a Town Councilor to sponsor it with us. The first councillor we reached out to agreed to serve as council sponsor, and the response to the resolution, first drafted on Martin Luther King Day, was overwhelmingly positive. Accordingly, after making revisions based on input from supporters, we submitted our resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza to the President of the Amherst Town Council on Monday, January 22. It is currently en route to the Governance, Organization, and Legislation Committee (GOL), to be considered at its next meeting on February 8. We will publish the text of the resolution in the Indy just as soon as we have formally circulated it to all the Councilors.
Josna Rege is a resident of Amherst.
I support for the Town of Amherst to pass a resolution calling for a “sustained cease-fire” in Gaza.
Our United Stated tax dollars and military support contribute to perpetuating this inhumane treatment of the population in Gaza.
Devastating: That was South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice this week, against the Netanyahu government’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The defense was irrelevant, and tepid at that.
I have started to wonder. Is there an unsaid purpose not only for denuding Gaza of Palestinians, but for utterly destroying all their libraries, hospitals, homes, and infrastructure, so nothing remains that those surviving might claim?
Do Netanyahu and his allies want to run the dreamed-of Ben Gurion Canal [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzrl81y_Td8], from the Red Sea’s east fork to the Mediterranean, right through the heart of Gaza, instead of ending it further to the north in Israel? This larger, deeper, new two-“lane” canal would effectively sideline the Suez. If it ends in Gaza, it is shorter and less costly to build. If no Palestinians then live in Gaza — the thinking might go — the canal would be less vulnerable to attack.
For now, however, condemning the genocide is not only right. It’s imperative.
Thank you for your support of this idea, Anna. It would be a small way we could raise awareness of and register our support for the besieged civilians in Gaza and our opposition to the outsized U.S. role in it, financed by our tax dollars.
Thank you for your eloquent repose, Sarah. Yes, the South African case at the ICJ was indeed devastating. Anyone who missed it can watch their whole presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q_zTb9dfGU
And yes, I think you’re spot-on about the Ben Gurion canal. This current crisis in the Suez could be used to argue for its necessity, and the evacuation of Gaza could clear the way for it. Additionally, it could dovetail conveniently with the massive India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), proposed by the U.S. during the September 2023 G20 meeting and agreed upon there in a Memorandum of Understanding. It would bypass Suez and attempt to undercut China.
Meanwhile, the lives of two million people are at stake. We, the people of Amherst, should let them know that in our view they matter more than the interests of those in the corridors of power.
Thank you, Josna.
What is the best way to bring this about? Citizen proposal?
Or perhaps the council itself could propose and enact a proposal that would
reflect Amherst’s tradition of supporting opposition to oppressive
regimes.
Josna – Do you intend to present this resolution to the Town Council?
Thank you, Molly and Jeff,
Yes I do want our Town Council to take up this resolution–or one similar to this. It would be best if one or more of the councillors could introduce it directly, but if they will not, we will have to introduce a citizen petition. Those who are interested or who have experience with such an initiative, I’d be grateful if you could contact me.
Josna
While I agree with the abhorrence of the suffering in Gaza it would be inappropriate for Town Councilors to spend staff time on matters not in the control of the Town. Council meetings go on long enough without using them as a bully pulpit for state, federal and international issues.
There are important issues in the world. Join a club or association, run for state or federal office or donate money to relief efforts. Use Council time to progress Town business like the urgently needed building projects for the DPW and Fire Dept. that have been kicked down the (potholed) road for years.
Joe, I whole-heartedly agree that we have urgently-needed building projects and road repairs to do, but these need not be our only concern. The Town Council issues proclamations and resolutions quite often, and Amherst has a long history of doing so. We have not been content to simply live in our local bubble, but have regularly spoken out on issues of national and international importance which affect us all and which we support by our tax dollars, whether we like it or not. Additionally, members of our community and their families, including Palestinian and Jewish Americans, are directly affected by what is happening in Gaza, in Israel, and indeed, in all the surrounding countries. Peace is in all of our interests.
The Councilors recognize that their primary obligation lies within the confines of the community they serve. Local governance demands a focused lens, a commitment to addressing the day-to-day challenges that define the heartbeat of the town. Roads to repair, schools to fund, and parks to nurture are priority.
Yet, they should also understand that the narrative extends beyond municipal boundaries. The suffering in Gaza or human rights violations in Pakistan, democratic party leader of PTI Imran Khan jailed in isolation, no transparency in elections, cannot be ignored. We should remind ourselves as Town Councilors, and Committee members of that compassion knows no borders.
Their ability to acknowledge and express concern without letting it overshadow the local issues is called leadership. Advocating for change on a broader stage, helps us engage with the community, fostering awareness and encouraging residents to be global citizens while remaining steadfast in their commitment to local municipal challenges.
Town Councilors’ empathy, and responsible governance portrays them not as mere administrators, but, also, as blending the of local life with the world seeking compassion and understanding and setting up a stage for great Leadership model for the community.
Thank you for your comment, Rizwana. I agree that with you it is entirely appropriate for the elected representatives in a diverse and international community like Amherst to combine a global vision with a focus on local issues. In the case of the current carnage in Gaza, already spilling over into the wider region and affecting many of our townspeople personally, the local and the global converge, making it important to address the situation rather than to dismiss it as irrelevant.