A resolution calling for “a bilateral peace agreement in Israel and Palestine” failed to pass the Juneau Assembly by a 2-5 vote on Monday night, with the sponsor of the resolution among those opposing it after failing to get enough support to refer it to a committee for further study.
The resolution was toned down from the calls for a ceasefire in Gaza that are resulting in protests at college campuses across the United States and elsewhere, somewhat to the disappointment of some of the roughly 20 people who showed up at Monday’s meeting to support it.
“We each have an obligation to speak, to choose to contribute to making our world a safer place, a more peaceful place,” said Susan Clark, a Juneau resident for 56 years who said she was in Gaza in 1993 as part of a peace movement. “And the actions of the rallies and live gatherings are for education, awareness, human rights, attention to the issues.”
Susan Clark speaks in favor of a resolution calling for “a bilateral peace agreement in Israel and Palestine” during a Juneau Assembly meeting Monday night. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Residents have made pleas for the Assembly to pass a ceasefire resolution at meetings for the past couple of months, which some members have resisted by stating their focus should be on local matters they have control over rather than international ones they don’t. Assembly member Greg Smith asked Clark on Monday to what extent she believes local officials should officially weigh in on global matters.
“Do you think this Assembly should speak to all the other humanitarian calamities that are also occurring in the world in Yemen, Sudan, Myanmar, Syria?” he asked.
Clark said “I think as individuals we each should be speaking,” based on her experience in Gaza.
“What I discovered is there’s 30,000 people dying, but there’s…a million dying in other places, so we need to start speaking against militarism everywhere in the world,” she said.
The resolution was introduced by Assembly member Paul Kelly, who said he introduced it amidst all the other global turmoil “because this conflict matters so much to my constituents.” Also, he said due to input from people with ties to Israel the word “ceasefire” was omitted from the resolution.
The resolution contains three calls of action:
• “Condemns violations of international law, including both the attack on October 7, 2023, and the Israeli military response on people living in Gaza since then.”
• “Calls on state and federal officials to work toward diplomatic solutions to the conflict to prevent further loss of life.”
• “Asks all Juneau citizens to be respectful when speaking about the conflict and peace in Israel and Palestine.”
Juneau Assembly member Paul Kelly (right) discusses legal options with City Attorney Robert Palmer during a break in a meeting Monday where a resolution Kelly introduced calling for “a bilateral peace agreement in Israel and Palestine” was debated. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
However, after residents at the meeting finished testifying — all in support of the resolution — Kelly said he wasn’t ready to vote for its passage.
“My intention in introducing this resolution for a bilateral peace agreement was to shift the discussion in a way that I felt would incorporate the views in our community,” he said. “In asking for this to go on the agenda I was hoping to hear thoughts whether you want to pass it, amend it or refer to a future meeting so you had more time to think. However, now that the draft resolution is public the same people who I consulted at the beginning of this process to balance the resolution have reached out to me with concerns about how this resolution can divide this community.”
A proposal to table the resolution met resistance from some Assembly members who said action should be taken one way or the other given the time people have spent testifying about the issue.
“When we put something on our agenda to get public hearing and take action that’s what our community expects,” said Christine Woll, an Assembly member who has previously expressed support for a ceasefire resolution. “A lot of people showed up tonight to testify. We’ve heard from a lot of people and I think we owe them a vote or a decision to continue the conversation if that’s what the body wants. So I’m ready to vote in support of this resolution tonight. If there are Assembly members who want to talk about it I’m fine sending it to the committee, but tabling it indefinitely feels really unresponsive to everyone who showed up tonight.”
However, a motion to send the resolution to the Assembly’s Human Rights Committee also failed by a 3-4 vote. Deputy Mayor Michelle Bonnet Hale said the Assembly has been confronted with the issue since February, and members have made statements about their positions on the situation in Gaza and the appropriateness of a local resolution, and the matter shouldn’t be prolonged.
“I very, very much appreciate everybody’s participation tonight,” she said. However, “I don’t support this resolution. And I don’t support moving it to the Human Resources Committee where we will spend more time getting people’s hopes up. I don’t think it’s the right idea for us to be moving this forward.”
Voting in favor of sending the resolution to the committee were Kelly, Woll and Wáahlaal Gíidaak Barbara Blake. Voting against were Smith, Hale, Ella Adkison and Wade Byrson. A motion to pass the resolution was supported by Woll and Smith, and rejected by Kelly, Hale, Adkison, Blake and Bryson.
Two Assembly members had excused absences from Monday’s meeting — Mayor Beth Weldon, due to the death of her husband last week, and Alicia Hughes-Skandijs.
Comments by Assembly members about a responsibility to focus on local rather than international issues were met with disagreement by Phil Moser, among the residents who testified, outside the Chambers after discussion about the resolution ended.
“On our state level, on our federal level we have representation and delegation,” he said. “And we know that on these levels, we are complicit in this genocide. We were asking the local Assembly to have some humanity, and to look us in the face and show us something different. We know that even local industries here including our PFD, our university system and many others, are funded by and profit off of weapons of war that are used in Israel. So we were looking for something different, but we are not surprised at all that the Assembly is part of this machine.”
Kelly, after the meeting, said in retrospect he would have introduced the resolution for consideration at the committee level first so concerns such as those that arose at Monday’s meeting could be addressed before it was considered by the full Assembly.
Harper Gunn, among the residents speaking in favor of the resolution, said she isn’t sure yet what the next step is for her and other locals seeking a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
“We don’t have a clear path,” she said. “But we’ll still show up at Assembly meetings.”
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
