City councils across US call for ceasefire for Israel's war on Gaza

Oakland has considered a resolution to call for a ceasefire in Israel's war on Gaza, potentially joining nearly a dozen other US cities from Michigan to Georgia that have supported the same.

The resolution before the Oakland City Council also calls for the unrestricted entry of humanitarian assistance into Gaza and a restoration of basic services, as well as “respect for international law” and the release of all hostages.

“Too many innocent lives have been lost,” said council member Carroll Fife, who brought the resolution. “And I didn’t have words prepared because my heart is too broken to even express what I’m truly feeling in this moment.”

She said the issue is “deeply, deeply concerning” to Oakland residents and called for a moment of silence for the lives lost on both sides of the conflict.

Several hundred people signed up to speak at the council meeting, with many wearing black-and-white Palestinian scarves. Their words were met with cheers and applause.

Similar resolutions have passed in three cities in Michigan, as well as in Atlanta; Akron, Ohio; Wilmington, Delaware; and Providence, Rhode Island.

A temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which Qatar and Egypt helped broker, is currently in place.

US cities have been adopting resolutions regarding the conflict even though they have no legal role or formal say in the process, said David Glazier, who teaches constitutional law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

“It raises an interesting question on where they are getting this mandate to speak for the people in their city when nobody elected a city council person because of their stance on Middle East peace,” he said.

Accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing

In the nearby city of Richmond, an approved resolution calling for a ceasefire and accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing prompted more than five hours of heated debate in October. The city of Ypsilanti, near Detroit, approved a peace resolution but rescinded it amid backlash.

Oakland’s resolution demands “an immediate ceasefire; release of all hostages, the unrestricted entry of humanitarian assistance into Gaza; the restoration of food, water, electricity, and medical supplies to Gaza; and the respect for international law; and calls for a resolution that protects the security of all innocent civilians.”

“We've seen the targeting and massacring of civilians, of healthcare facilities, of hospitals and ambulances,” said one speaker, who identified herself as a recent medical school graduate. “Silence in the face of oppression and genocide, I don't think, is an acceptable response."

Cities across the United States have increasingly been speaking up on matters that have long been relegated to diplomatic spheres, even working with local elected leaders abroad on what has been coined city-to-city diplomacy to tackle everything from housing refugees and asylum seekers to dealing with climate crisis.

Now, city councils are just the latest arena where intense debates over the Israel's brutal war on Palestinians and the United States' support for Israel are playing out. Protesters calling for a ceasefire recently shut down traffic on a major bridge into San Francisco during an international economic summit, and the California Democratic Party recently cancelled some events at its fall convention due to demonstrations.