Cambridge City Council Expected to Pass Gaza Ceasefire Resolution Monday

The Cambridge City Council is expected to pass a policy order expressing support for an “immediate, negotiated ceasefire by both Hamas and Netanyahu Administration” during its upcoming Monday meeting.

The resolution, co-sponsored by Vice Mayor Marc C. McGovern and Councilors Ayesha M. Wilson, Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, and Sumbul Siddiqui, was released Thursday ahead of the Council’s weekly meeting.

Councilor Patricia M. “Patty” Nolan ’80 said on Thursday that, while she is likely to propose amendments to the resolution, including an amendment making clear that the Council has no authority over foreign policy, she expects to be able to support it after consideration. Nolan's vote would bring a majority to the resolution in the nine-member Council.

The policy order calls for the “release of all hostages” and says that the war in Gaza has caused “significant trauma, fear, and grief amongst Cambridge community members, including both Palestinian and Jewish residents.”

While the Council ducked a vote on a similar — though more strongly worded — ceasefire resolution in late November, Siddiqui, the lead sponsor of the resolution, said in an interview that the new policy order was necessary to “right that wrong.”

“The way we left it last term was not fair to many community members,” Siddiqui said.

Though the resolution seems to answer protesters who have repeatedly disrupted Council meetings demanding the body endorse calls for a ceasefire, it also asks Cambridge residents to “respect the rights of freedom of speech and peaceful protest.”

Nolan said it has been “disheartening” to see Council meetings interrupted by protests.

“Expressing your opinion is something I’ve 1,000 percent always supported, and yet it’s been somewhat disheartening to see voices assume they can drown out other voices,” Nolan added.

Though student protesters said earlier this week they would return to City Hall on Monday in advance of the ceasefire vote, the meeting will take place remotely, a decision Party for Socialism and Liberation member and Cambridge resident Hersch C. Rothmel called “undemocratic.”

“We believe that Mayor Denise Simmons has been very undemocratic in her orientation to people making their voice heard and using the levers of the democratic process provided to us in the city of Cambridge,” Rothmel said. “Her response to community members using the democratic process has been to shut down the democratic process.”

Neal Alpert, Simmons’ chief of staff, denied that characterization of the meeting in an email Thursday.

“Mayor Simmons is not preventing anyone from participating in Public Comment at the upcoming City Council meeting, nor is she in any way preventing people from having their voices heard,” Alpert wrote.

Rothmel also said that the PSL had worked with the sponsors to draft a resolution on the ceasefire in recent days with “strong enough” language, but described the final product as “watered down.”

Siddiqui wrote in an email that she collaborated with the three other co-sponsors to draft a version that they were “all comfortable with.”

McGovern added in an email that “the filed order is 95% the same” as the original draft, adding that it “has not been watered down.”

Once passed, the resolution will be forwarded to the offices of President Joe Biden, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Representatives Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Katherine M. Clark (D-Mass.).

McGovern said the resolution will show elected officials “further up the political food chain” where the city stands.

“We have a lot of Palestinian and Muslim residents who are really hurting and are in pain over what’s happening,” McGovern said. “And I think our job as a Council is to try and heal people.”

Correction: January 26, 2024, at 2:51 p.m.

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Patricia M. “Patty” Nolan ’80 will vote to support the policy order expressing support for a negotiated ceasefire in Gaza. In fact, Nolan said that she expects to support the policy order after considering it during a City Council meeting and proposing amendments.

—Staff writer Avani B. Rai can be reached at avani.rai@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @avaniiiirai.

—Staff writer Ayumi Nagatomi can be reached at ayumi.nagatomi@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @ayumi_nagatomi.