VALLEJO – The Vallejo City Council will consider drafting a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Palestine conflict after residents and community activists delivered determined pleas for the city to take a stand against the violence at a packed council meeting Tuesday night.
Cities across the country such as Detroit, Atlanta, Providence, Rhode Island, and Akron, Ohio, have passed similar resolutions urging an end to violence and immediate access to humanitarian aid for Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli bombardment for weeks.
The city of Richmond passed a resolution in support of a humanitarian ceasefire at the end of October. Oakland also passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire on Monday night in response to protests and pressure from community groups. Vallejo will likely consider its resolution on Dec. 12.
On Tuesday, about 80 community members and organizers rallied outside Vallejo City Hall prior to the council meeting. The group held a moment of silence for people who died in the conflict. Several people spoke about the impacts of colonialism on indigenous peoples and the effects of U.S. militarism on communities of color.
A young child received applause and cheers for leading the group in a chant of “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free!” Then the participants filed into the council chambers.
More than 100 people attended the meeting, including several families with children, students, and activists from local and regional organizations. Some carried signs and Palestinian flags or wore the Palestinian scarf called a Keffiyeh.
Forty-five speakers signed up to give public comments at the first community forum. Some trembled as they spoke about the thousands of deaths from the Israeli bombardment and ground attacks in the Gaza Strip over the past two months in response to the attack on Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7.
“The images out of Gaza are horrifying and heartbreaking because the kids are being killed by the thousands,” Vallejo resident Anna Teruel said. “And if they're lucky enough to survive the bombings, they face starvation, homelessness, and disease from living in horrendous conditions among the rubble from 50 days of bombing. I ask that you draft, support and pass a resolution for a permanent ceasefire.”
Some speakers shared direct experiences about how decades of conflict in the region has affected them personally. Fayza Ayyad said she was born in Palestine and as a four-year-old child experienced the war of 1967 on the border of Egypt and Israel. She said that children who lose their parents and grandparents can end up trapped in a cycle of violence. She said that Israel is creating another Holocaust by seeking a homeland through invasion and genocide.
Another Vallejo resident who declined to give her name said that she is the daughter of refugees who fled Palestine on foot with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
“For the last two months,” she said, "I've laid my head down on my pillow at night with survivor's guilt that I have shelter, a full stomach. I'm not hungry, I'm not thirsty, and I have electricity. I don't sleep with missiles raining down on me.”
Several speakers said that they had been deeply affected by images and reports of suffering in Gaza and expressed frustration with U.S. financial and military support of Israel. Other speakers drew connections between Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and the struggles of indigenous people in America and around the world.
When Mayor Robert McConnell said that he needed to stick to council procedure and close the forum before everyone who had signed up had a chance to speak, some meeting participants broke into “free Palestine” chants and several people shouted in disapproval.
Councilmember Mina Loera-Diaz pleaded with the determined group. “I understand,” she said. “It kills me every time I see my grandchildren to know that there are children dying, no child should have to endure what is happening right now. So we do hear you but I'm going to ask you to please allow us to continue with our meeting so that we can finish what we signed up to do.”
But the meeting participants continued the chants as councilmembers called a recess and left the dais. Fifteen minutes later they returned and Councilmember Charles Palmares motioned to hear three more speakers before moving on to the meeting's scheduled agenda items.
Many advocates for the ceasefire resolution left but several waited until after 11:30 p.m. when the council returned to the second community forum.
Matthew Fernandes, who grew up in Vallejo and is now a law student at UC Berkeley, said that because of a lack of action from congressional representatives, communities are turning to local representatives to try and put some pressure on the federal government to stop funding war in the Middle East.
“We're just asking that you'd be brave,” he said, “and join Richmond, Oakland, Atlanta and Detroit. Call for peace and put it in writing.”
Assistant City Attorney Randy Risner said that the only action the council could take that evening would be to direct staff to agendize a discussion of the topic at a future meeting.
City Manager Mike Malone said that the earliest meeting available to discuss the resolution is on Dec. 12. If the council choses to move forward, the adoption of a resolution could take place at the Dec. 19 meeting.
Many of the resolution advocates were frustrated with the lengthy process. One participant asked if there was any way to move faster considering the urgency of the situation.
“You're asking the Palestinians in this room to wait until 19th of December, hoping that our families will not be killed in the interim,” said community member Nadine M., who is Palestinian.
But McConnell argued that Vallejo’s resolution was unlikely to move the federal government.
“That would be nice to say, but I don't think it's realistic,” McConnell said. “We adopt the resolution. So what? Do you think it is really going to change the United States federal government?”
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Matthew Fernandes.
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