Sebastopol cease-fire resolution pulled from council agenda — again

A resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war was pulled from the Sebastopol City Council’s agenda Tuesday, marking the third time the item has failed to make it even to the level of a discussion among council members.

Sebastopol Vice Mayor Stephen Zollman had for the second time placed the cease-fire resolution on the council’s Tuesday agenda and he was, for the second time this year, the one to pull it off.

He said he would not reintroduce it again.

“As a veteran, I remain in support of any cease-fire efforts, but I will not be sponsoring one,” he said in an email Wednesday, responding to a question about why he had pulled the resolution item.

In January, he and Mayor Diana Rich withdrew a cease-fire resolution they’d placed on the agenda over concerns that the public passions it gave rise to could spin out of control.

On April 2, Sebastopol council members put off discussion about a revised resolution modeled on the one passed Jan. 9 by the city of Cotati because the meeting had reached its time limit.

This time, said Christy Lubin, a member of the group Sonoma County for Palestine who worked with Zollman on the resolution and was part of the decision to pull it from Tuesday’s agenda, said it had become clear the measure would not pass.

“We had only one vote in favor that we were sure of, and we had to make a strategic decision,” Lubin said. “Is it better to get a ‘no’ vote and then let the City Council just kind of show where their values are at? Or is it better just to pull it?”

In some other jurisdictions, the failure of similar resolutions to win support has been portrayed by people opposing them as indications that they are divisive in nature, Lubin, who is Jewish, said. She and her fellow activists did not want that to impact other organizing efforts, she said.

“We don't want to hurt the opportunity of other communities getting resolutions passed,” she said. “And we’re going to keep working in Santa Rosa and Healdsburg, the Board of Supervisors. But we also want to focus more on education in the community and bringing the community together around the issue of Palestine.”

Cotati is the only Sonoma County jurisdiction to have passed a cease fire resolution. It demanded that governing bodies use their position and influence in calling for an immediate and permanent cease fire; the release of all hostages; the unrestricted entry of humanitarian assistance into Gaza; the restoration of food, water, electricity and medical supplies to Gaza; and respect for international law.

Gaza has been under siege for nearly six months by an Israeli military offensive in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. That attack killed roughly 1,200 Israelis, most of them civilians, and many hostages remain captive in Gaza.

More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 75,000 have been injured in the war, according to the Gaza-based Health Ministry. The Associated Press has reported that over half the homes and buildings in Gaza are likely destroyed, 1.1 million Palestinian civilians are facing “catastrophic” food insecurity and 70% of the population is displaced.

You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 707-387-2960 or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @jeremyhay