Resolution Supporting Peace For Israelis and Palestinians By Removing Hamas.
Recently some community members brought a Resolution to the Durham City Council about resolving the conflict between Israel and Hamas. However, that statement has been inflaming division among our citizens. As the Mayor of Chapel Hill wisely stated about a similar Resolution brought to her attention, City Councils should remain focused on local issues, not complex international conflicts. We urge Durham's leaders to follow the examples of other cities in the Triangle, which is in the best interest of our residents.
If the Durham City Council chooses to consider a Resolution, we propose this new one titled, “Resolution Supporting Peace For Israelis and Palestinians By Removing Hamas." This shifted focus counters the anti-Israel bias in the statement previously presented to the Council, "Resolution Supporting an End to the Violence Between Israel and Palestine," which inaccurately frames the problem as primarily between Israelis and Palestinians when in fact Hamas is the root cause of conflict in the region.
This “Resolution Supporting Peace for Israelis and Palestinians By Removing Hamas” promotes unity and peace over division among people.
*Read the Resolution below or click on the link above to see a pdf version that shows wording from the anti-Israel Resolution presented by other community members to the Durham City Council.
Please sign this Petition to help foster a peaceful community in Durham, especially to support citizens with ties to the Middle East who are most impacted by the war between Israel and Hamas.
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RESOLUTION SUPPORTING PEACE FOR ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS BY REMOVING HAMAS
WHEREAS, the City of Durham is home to people of diverse nationalities, ethnicities, and religions for whom the current conflict in the Middle East has a real and personal impact; and
WHEREAS, all human life is precious, and all people, both in Durham and abroad, have a right to be respected and feel safe; and
WHEREAS, on October 7, 2023, Hamas mass murdered, mutilated, gang raped, and burned Israeli civilian men, women, and children including Holocaust survivors and babies, and destroyed their homes; and Hamas dragged deceased bodies through the streets of cheering crowds in Gaza, and Hamas celebrated the killings by videotaping their sad*stic physical and sexual acts on GoPros and uploading these crimes against humanity to various social media including scenes of murder that they sent directly to the victims’ family members; and Hamas abducted 200+ civilian men, women, and children from their homes, 100+ of whom Hamas continues to hold hostage in anti-humanitarian conditions throughout Gaza and beneath the earth in underground tunnels; and
WHEREAS, since October 7, 2023, Hamas violates international laws that forbid taking hostages, forbid fighting from within civilian populations, and forbid operating from hospitals and schools; and by using civilians as human shields, and by stealing humanitarian aid, Hamas perpetuates the conflict and sacrifices the lives of thousands of Palestinian civilians who are killed, injured, and displaced, and endure starvation, unsanitary conditions, and lack of healthcare caused by the war as Israel searches for their hostages and fights the genocidal regime of Hamas; and
WHEREAS, the United States Federal Government holds significant diplomatic powers to save Israeli and Palestinian lives;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City of Durham:
1. Urges Hamas to free all civilian Israeli hostages and return bodies of the abducted who were killed and died in captivity; and demands that Hamas cease this war crime and come into compliance with international humanitarian law that prohibits taking and executing hostages.
2. Urges the Biden administration to condemn Hamas for violating the ceasefire in place as of October 6, 2023.
3. Urges the Biden administration to monitor the distribution of humanitarian aid to ensure that Hamas stops stealing from Palestinian civilians; the citizens of Gaza should receive aid intended for them.
4. Urges the Biden administration to call for Hamas to release all Palestinian people and political prisoners unjustly held captive by Hamas in Gaza.
5. Urges the Biden administration and international community to work toward long-term solutions that afford safety and dignity to all people in Israel, Palestine, and the region, and which foster just and representative governments for both Palestinians and Israelis.
6. Urges Durham to desist from spreading the blood libel of “genocide” and defamation against Israel; and stand with the Jewish, Muslim, and all communities in the city.
7. Urges Hamas to delete from its Charter all statements that are contrary to this Resolution Supporting Peace for Israelis and Palestinians by Removing Hamas, including but not limited to its anti-humanitarian, genocidal goal: "The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: 'O Muslim, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him" (Article 7).
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City of Durham supports all Palestinian, Israeli, Muslim, Jewish, and other residents who identify differently and condemns antisemitic, anti-Palestinian, anti-Israeli, and Islamophobic rhetoric and attacks.
