Hedab Tarifi is from Gaza, but she's lived in Southern California for over 30 years.
She's watched from afar for more than six months as the Israel-Gaza war unfolds. Since October, she said Israeli airstrikes have killed 150 members of her family. The youngest was just three months old.
“There's not a week that passes without me hearing and finding out about family members who were killed,” she said.
At first, Tarifi didn't know how to help her relatives from more than 7,000 miles away. But then she turned to local politics. She joined a group protesting outside her U.S. representative's office in Pasadena, and soon, together, they turned their attention to city hall, demanding that the city council call for a ceasefire.
"Politics is not just, 'Oh, this is happening overseas.' Politics is local and they represent us," Tarifi said. "We're going to continue pushing for a ceasefire resolution within every city so these congresspeople [will] know we mean business.”
Over the past few months, at least a dozen cities in Southern California, including Cudahy, Pasadena, Long Beach, and Santa Ana have passed resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The resolutions are non-binding, still community members and election experts say they can create change and influence national politics.
"[City councilmembers] are most motivated because there's a direct line to the community," said Amelia Hall, a Palestinian American and volunteer with Jewish Voice for Peace LA. "Individually, it doesn't really totally matter. Together, it sends a massive message and we believe that that's really where the power starts to snowball."
City council resolutions
The Hamas attack on Oct. 7 killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities, who also reported about 250 people were taken hostage. Israel’s bombing of Gaza in response has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of whom are women and children, according to the local health authority.
In that time, the U.S. has financially and militarily supported Israel as the United Nations warns Gaza faces imminent famine.
It's that connection to the U.S. that some people in the Los Angeles area are raising when they ask their city councils and other local representatives to take a stand. For city governments, collective speech comes in the form of a resolution, a formal opinion that can be introduced by city council members or staff.
Community members, residents, and families filled La Puente City Chambers on April 9, 2024, to support the ceasefire resolution.
Community members, residents, and families filled La Puente City Chambers on April 9, 2024, to support the ceasefire resolution.
The La Puente City Council listen to public comments regarding the ceasefire resolution on April 9, 2024.
Speakers have poured into local meetings. In Pasadena, the city council had to schedule a special meeting on the topic. In La Puente earlier this month, multiple speakers said seeing the war play out on social media through their phones encouraged them to find ways to make change at home.
"How many times do you have to see a kid get bombed before you go, 'Enough is enough?'" Daisy Sim said at a La Puente City Hall meeting in April.
Others said they were there to dispel the idea that local governments shouldn't get involved in overseas conflicts.
"The ceasefire resolution is not symbolic," community activist Samuel Brown-Vazquez told the La Puente city council. "The ceasefire resolution is something that you guys can send in a letter to the president of the United States, to the White House, and you can say, we, La Puente, are taking action on this."
How cities are responding
La Puente passed the ceasefire resolution. So did El Monte, Alhambra, and Bell Gardens.
"If we have our own community showing up and asking for us to take a stand, you know, we gotta stand next to you," La Puente Mayor Gabriel Quiñones told the room.
"The City of La Puente calls on leaders at the federal level to continue to work cooperatively with the global community to release all hostages, seek bilateral deescalation and a permanent end to the abhorrent current violence, ensure humanitarian aid is delivered to Gaza without delay, and pursue peace in the Middle East," the resolution states.
If we have our own community showing up and asking for us to take a stand, you know, we gotta stand next to you.
— La Puente Mayor Gabriel Quiñones
The Montclair city council voted against a ceasefire resolution earlier this month.
“I’d like to see our time and efforts spent on things here in Montclair and in our general region that we can do something about,” said Montclair council member Bill Ruh.
Other cities, including Chino Hills, Irvine and Claremont, have decided against weighing in, saying the issue falls outside city business.
The Chino Hills city council instead voted to restrict its public comment to city issues.
"Legally, the ceasefire resolution in Gaza is not 'city business,'" reads that city council item.
Chino Hills resident Selena Harrigan disagreed. She's been showing up to every council meeting there pushing the city to take action.
"We think that [it] absolutely makes it a city issue when you have this many people in your community say they care about this topic," she said.
Bahsem Hamida, 46, a Palestinian immigrant, attends the April 9, 2024, city council meeting to support the ceasefire resolution in La Puente, where his family business is located.
Joshua Martinez stands in the lobby of La Puente City Council Chambers on April 9, 2024, who along with other activists and community and religious leaders, spoke to adopt a ceasefire resolution.
What impact are these resolutions having?
Organizers say the resolutions are influencing more cities to weigh in and shifting public opinion. Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he supports a ceasefire. And at least 13 members representing California in the House of Representatives have called for a ceasefire.
Professor Sara Sadhwani, who studies politics and voting behavior at Pomona College, said in an election year, ceasefire resolutions play a role in shifting politics.
"As more and more of these resolutions are passed, the temperature for change continues to increase," Sadhwani said. "In many ways, these ceasefire resolutions legitimize the demands of protesters."
Sadhwani pointed to the mid-2000s, when there was a push for local city councils to adopt sanctuary city resolutions. While the resolutions were initially symbolic, she said, they eventually gained "greater teeth" and allowed voters “to plant their flag in the sand" about human rights issues.
As more and more of these resolutions are passed, the temperature for change continues to increase. In many ways, these ceasefire resolutions legitimize the demands of protesters.
— Professor Sara Sadhwani, Pomona College
Mary Frances Berry, a historian and professor emerita at the University of Pennsylvania, said the U.S. movement to end South African apartheid also pushed cities and universities to pass resolutions.
"If you want the federal government to do something, then it makes sense to…use any kind of activity you can use to show that there is opinion from the public in favor of your cause," she said.
It's not all strategy. Back in La Puente, people also turned up to appeal to their council members' faith.
"In my temple, we were raised with tikkun olam, repairing the world,” said Joshua Martinez, a volunteer with Latino-Muslim Unity. “The very reason why I'm here today is my Jewish values.”
Basem Hamida, a Palestinian American who runs a business in La Puente, said he also attended the city council meeting because of his faith.
"If it changes one person's mind, that's it. That's the ripple,” Hamida said. “What they say in Islam, if you save one person, it's like saving all of humanity. And if you kill one person, it's like killing all of humanity. So, that's my philosophy."
Understanding how we got here
The history of this region is both complicated and fraught. Here is some context about what led up to the most recent attacks and counterattacks.
NPR's Aya Batrawy and Daniel Estrin called the initial attack "one of the most dramatic escalations in violence in recent memory" adding there are "concerns the chaos could spread to the occupied West Bank and different countries in the Middle East."
- This round of bloodshed began with a surprise attack by Palestinian fighters from Gaza into Israel during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. On Oct. 7, militants infiltrated Israel's border using paragliders, motorbikes and boats and fired thousands of rockets toward the country from Gaza.
NPR's Fatima Al-Kassab reported on the history of the Gaza Strip. Some key excerpts:
- The Gaza Strip is a 25-mile-long by 6-mile-wide enclave, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the north and east and Egypt to the south.
- Gaza is one of two Palestinian territories. The other is the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
- The strip has been under a blockade by Israel and Egypt, restricting the movement of people and goods since Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007. Israel controls its airspace and shoreline, as well as what goods can cross Gaza's borders.
NPR's Fatma Tanis examined how we got here and what might come next in this longstanding conflict.
For anyone looking for guidance on how to talk to children about this war:
Here's the latest on a growing movement on college campuses nationwide, as students organize against Israel's war in Gaza.
