Frustrated with the negative response to ceasefire resolutions by the majority of Sonoma County cities, pro-Palestine activists July 23 declared a “People’s Resolution.”
Cotati is the only city in the county to approve a resolution calling for an end to Israel’s ten-and-a-half-month assault on Gaza, which has left an estimated 40,000 Gazans dead and many more injured or buried under rubble. Activists failed in their attempts to pass similar resolutions in Sonoma, Santa Rosa, Petaluma and Sebastopol,
So activists, under the banner of Sonoma County for Palestine, took it upon themselves to put forward their own resolution. To mark the occasion, they held rallies in Sebastopol and in Santa Rosa, where they read the resolution in the courtyard of Santa Rosa City Hall.
The declaration states at its beginning, “We, the people of Sonoma County, living on the stolen land of the Coast Miwok, Southern Pomo, Kashaya and Wappo people — the people who stewarded this land for millennia before being subjected to displacement and genocide by European settler-colonizers — believe that all life is precious and that all suffering and loss of life is tragic.”
Some 50 resolution supporters gathered at the Sebastopol Living Peace Wall in the early afternoon of July 23, where they held signs promoting ceasefire and listened to speakers, including Sebastopol Vice Mayor Stephen Zollman and former Sebastopol Mayor Una Glass. The former mayor said she would have voted for the resolution if she had still been on the council.
Zollman remarked, “We stand here in solidarity with everyone who continues to be marginalized. He then added a quote from Australian Indigenous activist Lilla Watson, also included in the People’s Resolution.
“If you come here to help, you are wasting your time. but if you have come here because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”
Vice Mayor Stephen Zollman had put a ceasefire resolution on Sebastopol’s agenda in April for a second time and withdrew it when it was clear it did not have enough support among council members.
Tarik Kanaana, a Palestinian American who helped craft the resolution, said, “I never imagined we would be standing here 10 months later.”
Israel began its assault on Gaza on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants breached the fence that separates Israel from Gaza and attacked both soldiers and civilians, leaving some 1,200 Israelis dead and taking 250 hostages. Since mid-October, Sonoma County for Palestine has been holding Gaza support rallies in Santa Rosa’s Court House Square.
“We can only do this (end the siege of Gaza) if we stand together,” Kanaana added, looking out at the crowd of Jews, Palestinians, Latinos, and others gathered at the Peace Wall.
Following the Sebastopol rally, attendees motored to Santa Rosa in a car caravan to bring the People’s Resolution to that city council during its regular Tuesday afternoon meeting. Arriving in the downtown area about a half hour later, the rally crowd waved Palestinian flags and honked their horns before regrouping in the city hall courtyard.
Choosing to present the resolution in the courtyard, rather than disrupting the council’s meeting and risking arrest, they began the rally with a peace ritual featuring the Aztec Dancers. The dancers then joined the circle of activists, listened to a reading of the resolution, and invited everyone present to speak. While the 30 or so remaining participants were speaking, the city council turned on its outside speakers, piping the meeting into the courtyard. But the speaking circle continued until everyone was finished.
Commenting on the small numbers gathered for the presentation, one of the Aztec Dancers said, “It doesn’t matter that there are only a few of us. Each one of us represents 100 people who would like to be here but can’t.”
Asked to explain why their councils did not pass ceasefire resolutions, none of the Santa Rosa council members responded, and only Zollman from the Sebastopol city council was willing to comment.
But, according to news reports, cities rejecting ceasefire resolutions have said they were divisive or not the business of local governments. Still, dozens of cities and municipalities nationwide have approved these measures, including Oakland, San Francisco, Fort Bragg, Albany, Richmond, Sacramento, and Davis in northern California. Locally, the Sonoma County Commission on Human Rights approved a ceasefire resolution.
Can you remind readers what the text of your resolution says regarding freeing the hostages that Hamas illegally seized and murdering/torturing/raping 1200+ defenseless civilians on October 7, 2023? That after all is what started this war and still is what has been keeping it alive since Hamas made the choice to sacrifice its own civilian population rather than save it from death and destruction by freeing said hostages and laying down their arms. Oh, sorry, wrong resolution, you never had one concerning the hostages and the murdered Isaraeli civilians. Rather, you focus on demanding a cease-fire, thus rewarding Hamas for its crimes. Congratulations. While hypocritically claiming to support peace, you in fact support terrorism. And you wonder why no other Sonoma counties cities followed your pathetically sad and ill-advised example? Are you really that immune to elementary good sense and decency?
I agree that all killing of innocents is wrong, which is why the story includes the killing of the 1,200 in Israel. With that in mind, it also includes the killing of 40,000 people in Gaza, more than half of them women and children. Terrorism is never okay, no mater who perpetrates it. At any rate, this is a story about wanting to stop killing on both sides of the fence. As Abraham Lincoln said, you can’t please all of the people all of the time. But you can be accurate.
The article is also neglectful(bias?) to mention that negotiations are with Hamas, not the Palestinian people, & it is Hamas that breaks every ceasefire agreement & won’t even acknowledge Israel’s right to exist, let alone “negotiate” with them. Oh & then there’s that Hezbollah surprise missle attack on a school in Golan Heights… but yeah, sure let’s demand that Israel take responsibility for all the casualties & HR violations. Oh & let’s completely misuse the word “genocide” to categorize the unfortunate & tragic casualties of Israel’s self-defense while not acknowledging that actual genocide(of Israeli & ALL Jews) is part of Hamas agenda. The ignorance behind that catchy “Free Palestine” sound bite slogan is dumbfounding as is the bias in this “article”.