Community Governments Speak Out
Updated 2023-12-01
2023-11-22 Video Report: City Council in Cambridge, Mass., Fails to Pass Resolution Calling for Gaza Ceasefire In Massachusetts, the Cambridge City Council has rejected a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. On Monday, the resolution failed after just two councilmembers voted “yes” and the remainder voted “present.” The vote came after members of the public lined up for over three hours to speak — most of them in favor of a ceasefire. And it followed a candlelight vigil outside Cambridge City Hall, where protesters read the names of Palestinian victims of Israel’s assault. Democracy Now!’s Hany Massoud filed this report from Cambridge, Massachusetts. https://www.democracynow.org/2023/11/22/video_report_city_council_in_cambridge
2023-11-24 Barcelona City Council Suspends Ties With Israel Over Gaza Slaughter The city council of Barcelona, Spain’s second-largest city, voted Friday to suspend relations with Israel’s far-right government over what the party behind the move called the “genocide” in Gaza. Introduced by the leftist Barcelona en Comú party—which asserted that “no government can turn a blind eye to a genocide”—the resolution demands the municipal government discontinue “institutional relations with the current government of Israel until there is a definitive cease-fire, and respect for the basic rights of the Palestinian people and compliance with United Nations resolutions are guaranteed.”
The resolution also calls for requiring public contracts to ensure that “no operator belongs to or carries out” activities “that go against international humanitarian law” and “rejects and condemns attacks against the population civilian, both Israeli and Palestinian, as well as any action constituting collective punishment, such as the forced displacement of population, the systematic destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure, or the blocking of the supply of energy, water, food, medical supplies and medicines to the population of the Gaza Strip.”
In addition to the Barcelona councilmembers who voted Friday for the resolution, other Spanish officials have also called for cutting ties with Israel’s government over its Gaza onslaught. Last month, outgoing Social Rights Minister Ione Belarra, who also leads the leftist Podemos party, urged her country’s coalition government to petition the International Criminal Court to open a war crimes investigation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza and for cutting off food, fuel, and electricity from the besieged strip’s 2.3 million residents. https://www.commondreams.org/news/barcelona-israel
2023-11-22 Detroit City Council passes ceasefire resolution In a strongly worded resolution, the City Council here called for an “immediate, durable, and sustained ceasefire” to “protect and save human lives.” The action on Tuesday followed weeks of organizing, attending council meetings, phone-calling, and letter-writing by peace activists to pressure elected city council representatives. The resolution states that the Council “condemns all acts of violence aimed at Israeli and Palestinian civilians and mourns the loss of all civilian lives and hostages” and that the Council recognizes that “a lasting resolution can only be achieved by peaceful means and diplomacy.” It goes on to call for the release of hostages and unconditional passage of critical humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Detroit’s ceasefire resolution comes on the heels of similar resolutions passed in Dearborn and Hamtramck. Those Michigan cities, along with Ypsilanti, are home to the largest Arab American population in the state. Detroit is the largest in a growing list of U.S. cities that have called for a ceasefire via city council resolution. Other cities which have passed ceasefire resolutions include Atlanta; Providence, Rhode Island; Akron, Ohio; Richmond, California; and Wilmington, Delaware.
Councilwoman Santiago-Romero explained that she is “focused on a solution,” and that is “the immediate cease-fire and release of all hostages, and allowing for the unrestricted flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.” The resolution, she said, is “calling that all parties work toward peace.” https://weknowwhatsup.blogspot.com/2023/11/detroit-city-council-passes-ceasefire.html
Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict
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