[Peace-discuss] The war in Gaza makes waves at the Seattle City Council.

Mon Aug 4 23:36:28 EDT 2014

Big_lnvyee <http://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-profiles/publicola>City Hall

  Israel and Gaza and the Seattle City Council

    The war in Gaza makes waves at the Seattle City Council.

Published Aug 4, 2014, 2:32pm
By Erica C. Barnett <http://www.seattlemet.com/producers/erica-barnett>

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.

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.

UPDATE: The letter, which PubliCola obtained a draft of this afternoon, 
reads in part:

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.

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. ...

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.

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.

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.

"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."

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.

"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.

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."

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."

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.

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