<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<div id="content-title-bar">
<div class="article-kicker"> <a
href="http://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-profiles/publicola"
class="blog-logo-banner" id="publicola-blog-logo"> <span
id="big-blog-banner"> <img alt="Big_lnvyee"
src="cid:part1.04080608.04060401@comcast.net"> </span>
</a>City Hall </div>
<div class="title">
<h1>Israel and Gaza and the Seattle City Council</h1>
</div>
</div>
<div class="resizable">
<h2 id="article-sub-title">The war in Gaza makes waves at the
Seattle City Council. </h2>
<div class="meta">
<div class="content-published-date"> Published Aug 4, 2014,
2:32pm </div>
</div>
<div class="meta"> <span id="byline"> By <a
href="http://www.seattlemet.com/producers/erica-barnett">Erica
C. Barnett</a> </span> </div>
<div id="share-this-tab" class="share-buttons"
data-content-url="http://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-profiles/publicola/articles/israel-and-gaza-and-the-seattle-city-council-august-2014"
data-content-type="Article" data-content-id="28215"
data-content-title="Israel and Gaza and the Seattle City
Council"> <br>
</div>
</div>
<p>The ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas hit Seattle
this morning, when socialist council member Kshama Sawant and her
colleague Tom Rasmussen exchanged sharp words over the violence in
the region, which has resulted in thousands of deaths and
injuries, mostly of Palestinians in Gaza.</p>
<p>Sawant said during this afternoon's council meeting that she is
drafting a letter, which she hopes other council members will
sign, addressed to President Obama, condemning Israel's actions in
Gaza.</p>
<p>UPDATE: The letter, which PubliCola obtained a draft of this
afternoon, reads in part: </p>
<p class="indented-quote">The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is
reaching a critical breaking point. The 139 square mile territory
contains 1.8 million people who literally have nowhere to go and
no place to hide from Israeli attacks. The UN reports that medical
facilities are “on the verge of collapse.” An attack on Gaza power
plant has left more than half the population without electricity,
and more than 270,000 people are reportedly crammed into 90 UN
shelters. Without an immediate end to all hostilities, the
Palestinian death toll will continue to rise rapidly.</p>
<p class="indented-quote">We also condemn the indiscriminate rocket
attacks by Hamas against the civilian population living in Israel.
We stand in solidarity with the ordinary people of Israel and
their desire for security, and in particular with the Israeli
anti-war movement. We stand in solidarity with the ordinary people
of both Israel in their desire for security. ...<span
style="font-size: 15px;"> </span></p>
<p class="indented-quote">We call on President Obama, the U.S. House
of Representatives, and the U.S. Senate to issue a formal
statement denouncing Israel’s siege and blockade of Gaza. We also
call for an immediate end to all U.S. government military aid for
the Israel.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px;">The Islamist Hamas, labeled a
terrorist organization by the U.S., but which governs Gaza after
winning 2006 elections there against the secular Palestinian
group, Fatah, has clashed with Israel in spiral of violence for
years. Hamas and Israel last went to war officially in late 2008
into 2009, but after a ceasefire, have largely engaged in
intermittent, tit-for-tat rocket fire.</span></p>
<p>Sawant, in a statement at the council's weekly briefings meeting
(where the item on the agenda was about the week's committee
hearings, not the state of affairs in the Middle East), asked
people to attend two anti-Israel protests in downtown Seattle this
week and called on her fellow council members to issue a statement
denouncing Israel for its actions. </p>
<p>"The last month of killings in Gaza ... are not only stomach
turning, they are one in a long and documented series of war
crimes stretching over decades," Sawant said. "This been happening
with the tacit or overt complicity of U.S. imperialism. It is the
responsibility of elected officials everywhere to speak openly to
stop the humanitarian catas and to condemn it in the strongest
possible terms." </p>
<p>After Sawant had finished reading her lengthy statement (which
also included a reference to Israel's "racist policies,"
particularly toward Bedouin citizens in the southern part of the
state), Rasmussen raised his hand. </p>
<p>"May I say something?" he said. "I want to say that you do not
reflect my views. These are your personal views and I respect
that. I personally abhor the war and violence that’s occurring in
Gaza and in that area in general, but I believe that it’s wrong to
condemn one party alone. And so you may use your podium as you
wish, but I do not share your views in terms of condemning one
party," Israel, over the other side.</p>
<p>Sawant responded, "I don’t condone violence of any kind, but I
think it’s necessary to acknowledge the complete lack of
proportion between the violence that Hamas is capable of and the
violence being by the Israeli state on Palestine. That’s my view."
At this afternoon's full city council meeting, Sawant added,
security and peace will never be secured by by occupation and
blockade."</p>
<p>This afternoon, council member Sally Bagshaw chimed in for the
Rasmussen position, telling Sawant that although "I appreciate
your heart and I share with you the moral outrage of the situation
in Palestine, I feel that I was elected to serve the city of
Seattle," rather than to speak up on every international outrage.
Giving the example of the more than 200 girls kidnapped by the
Boko Haram terrorist group in Nigeria, Bagshaw said, "I'm not
going to sign a letter that doesn't have something to do with what
we can accomplish in the city."</p>
<p>Council member Nick Licata took Sawant's view, pointing out that
the city council has taken positions on other international
issues, including a resolution opposing the war in Iraq. <br>
</p>
</body>
</html>