| DC residents have been pushing the Council of DC for months to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. |
Council members have been reluctant to sign on or introduce the measure, so a coalition of D.C .area Palestinian families and local business owners, local labor leaders, and Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners (ANCs) made their demands clear at a press conference Wednesday where they presented a petition signed by thousands of residents and a letter signed by dozens of elected ANC officials.
Haitham Arafat was born in Gaza but currently resides in Ward 3. He described how his 84-year old aunt and her daughter, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren were shelled by an Israeli tank:
“My aunt Ferial was like a mother to me. Her daughter Suha, seeing her mom bleeding in the street attempted to help her but was shot three times by an Israeli sniper. Moments later, Suha’s son too would be struck by a sniper attempting to save his own mom. My aunt Ferial and her granddaughter Dalia and her granddaughter-in-law Lina all died, the latter two bleeding for over seven hours with emergency services blocked by Israeli forces.”
Another Ward 3 resident, Fifi Saba, shared losing family in Israel’s attack on the Church of Saint Porphyrius, as well as the perilous situation of her sister and nieces who are still sheltering in the Holy Family Church:
“I am here to be the voice for Haytham, my family member and childhood friend. Haytham died of dehydration and lack of medical care. Haytham was a father of two beautiful children. I am here to be the voice for Ramis Al Suri, my friend from church who lost all his children in the church bombing. I am here to be the voice of my little nieces sheltering in the church for the last four months with no schools, no food, no clean water, no toys to play with. One wants to be a doctor and the other wants to be a math teacher.
A member of National Nurses United (NNU), Mindy Blandon, read the statement of her over 225,000 strong union in which it called for a ceasefire. She read “The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee calls for an immediate ceasefire, delivery of humanitarian aid, release of all hostages, and an end to this violence.”
The SAG-AFTRA union was also represented, with D.C. native Gabriel Kornbluh, the Jewish-Chilean American organizer of the rank and file group SAG-AFTRA Members for Ceasefire. He explained that, “I hope our city’s council can break their silence and live up to the standards our city expects and demands. Ceasefire now.” He invoked the words of imprisoned Palestinian photo journalist Motaz Azaiza who he said has spent 109 days risking his life:
“Don’t call yourself a free person if you can’t make changes – if you can’t stop a genocide that is still ongoing.”
Ward 5 resident Amr Madkour closed the press conference with a call on the Council to act:
“On our own we are each one voice. But if we, our elected officials and local governments stand together with our voices, I believe we can make a difference. So I call on D.C. council to call for an end to this bombardment. To call for a ceasefire, and to the end of the occupation.
Present also was longtime Jewish peace activist Carol Rosenblatt of the Coalition of Labor Union Women and small business owners from the D.C. staple Madams Organ and Cakeroom. This coalition of community members was also joined by local organizers from the Claudia Jones School for Political Education, Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, Shut Down D.C., and others who have been working in coalition to push the council to pass this resolution.
As cities around the country pass resolutions calling for a ceasefire, this D.C. coalition hopes to make their city the next. They seek to put further pressure on the Biden administration to side with the overwhelming majority of Americans and call for an immediate ceasefire and end to the genocide in Gaza.
Major cities including San Francisco, Oakland, Minneapolis, Seattle, and Atlanta have passed resolutions calling for a ceasefire. D.C. Council Chairperson Phil Mendelson, says he is reluctant to engage in matters of foreign policy, though the Council was criticized heavily by community members for lighting the Wilson Building in Israeli flag colors for nearly 40 days following the events of October 7 and for meeting with the Israeli government.
The Council did agree to hosting a briefing between their staff and Palestinian residents and advocates in D.C. in November of 2023 but have yet to introduce a resolution. The lone councilmember to call for a ceasefire through statements and sign-on letters has been Ward 4 Democratic Socialist Councilwoman Janeese Lewis-George.
The Council has commented on foreign affairs before, most recently passing a sense of the council resolution calling on the U.S. government to remove Cuba from the terrorism list and to end its more than 60 year old blockade policy. It has also sharply criticized Russia’s incursion in Ukraine, hoisting Ukrainian flags throughout major D.C. streets and having the Ukrainian Ambassador as their guest of honor at their holiday party in December.
In 2002, the D.C. Council took the courage to pass a resolution urging diplomatic efforts instead of sending U.S. troops to Iraq. Similarly, during the period of Marion Barry’s tenure as Mayor, the Council passed a resolution against South African Apartheid.
Claudia Jones School organizer, Dante O’Hara says that “it is imperative that the D.C. Council take a stance today and introduce and swiftly pass this resolution.”
