By Reginald Johnson
BRIDGEPORT --- As the brutal Israel-Hamas War drags on --- with
more than 18,000 people dead and 1.8 million people displaced --- more cities
around the country are passing resolutions demanding the Biden administration
support a ceasefire.
Already,
cities such as Oakland, California and Detroit, Michigan have passed
resolutions calling for a ceasefire. Leaders in New Haven are considering one.
Now activists in Bridgeport are pushing the City
Council to approve a resolution calling for an “Immediate de-escalation and
permanent ceasefire in Israel, Gaza and the occupied West Bank.” A number of pro-Palestinian supporters spoke at
public forums prior to the last two city council meetings to urge passage of
the statement.
The council
referred the proposed resolution, offered by Council Member Jazmarie Melendez,
to the Miscellaneous Matters committee for review.
The committee
will take up the proposal at its meeting Tuesday, Dec. 26th, at 6
p.m. in the Wheeler Room, City Hall, 45 Lyon Terrace.
If the panel
votes in favor of the resolution, it will go back to the full council for a
vote.
Melendez told
fellow council members, “We cannot conduct business as usual here, because of
what we are bearing witness to in Palestine….If we as a legislative body choose
to remain silent, then we are complicit.”
Peace
activists in Bridgeport and elsewhere hope that passage of these resolutions
will add to the pressure on both the Biden administration and members of
Congress to take a stand and support a ceasefire.
While officials
in the Biden administration have recently been raising concerns about the level
of civilian casualties in Gaza caused by the Israeli military, the administration is still pledging support for Israel and its continued military campaign against Hamas. Likewise, the vast
majority of the members of Congress, both in the House and Senate, are backing
Israel fully and have not signed on to the idea of a ceasefire.
No one in Connecticut’s
congressional delegation --- including five House members and two Senators --- is supporting a ceasefire.
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