November 08, 2023
Honorable Mayor Richardson and Members of the City Council
City of Long Beach
411 W. Ocean Blvd, 11th Floor
Long Beach, CA 90802

Honorable Mayor Richardson, Members of Long Beach City Council, we write to you as a Palestinian Community  in unity with our Muslim, Christian, Jewish allies, and supporters from various backgrounds. It is with a sense of urgency and a plea for compassion that we seek your endorsement for an immediate Cease Fire in GAZA.

We stand behind the letter written by the Long Beach Equity and Human Rights Commission, which we have included for your review. The letter appeals to Congress, advocating for a CEASE FIRE and the unimpeded delivery of Humanitarian Aid to the people of Gaza.

This plea transcends complex political discourse; it is a fundamental human rights appeal. The principles of humanity should never be obscured or overridden by the tenets of warfare. We trust in your leadership to echo this call for peace and humanitarian assistance.

With respect and hope for your support,

In Solidarity 

Long Beach Community United for Peace. 

Letter Below Prepare by Equity and Human Relations Commission 

November 08, 2023
Honorable Mayor Richardson and Members of the City Council
City of Long Beach
411 W. Ocean Blvd, 11th Floor
Long Beach, CA 90802

RE: Recommendations Regarding the Israel-Palestine War.

Honorable Mayor Richardson, Members of Long Beach City Council,
On behalf of the Equity and Human Relations Commission (EHRC), I write with a heavy heart.

As you may be aware, on October 7, Hamas killed over 1,400 Israelis and continues to hold 240 hostages. In response, the State of Israel declared war on Hamas and embarked on an aerial bombing campaign on Gaza. At least 10,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed since the start of the war. We recognize the violent events from October 7 did
not occur in a vacuum, but rather speaks to decades of violence and conflict in the region. In remaining consistent with our humanitarian-centered values as a commission, the EHRC submits this letter and recommendations regarding our local response to the Israel-Palestine
War with a sincere hope that our City continues to embrace values of justice, equity, respect, and dignity for all its residents.

Glocality: How the Global Impacts the City On the surface, it may seem that municipalities weighing in on matters of foreign policy fall
outside the scope of purview. To the contrary, the concept of glocality speaks to the relationship and interconnection between global and local issues. In other words, global matters do shape the lives of local residents and vice-versa; the EHRC makes these recommendations from this
standpoint.

Indeed, the EHRC recognizes that matters at the global level do have a local impact. As community members have shared, local implications of the Israel-Palestine War are no different and as a matter of humanitarianism, they affect us all, as seen by the recent and unfortunate rise of both anti-semitism and islamophobia in Long Beach and throughout the United States.

ATTACHMENT

Community Voices
At the EHRC meeting on November 1, 2023, we heard public testimony from a range of community members, business owners, nonprofit leaders, professors, and descendants of refugees from the 1948 “Nakba,” which violently displaced 750,000 Palestinians to pave the way for the creation of the State of Israel. Community members shared a strong desire to see our local, state and federal representatives to support a cease-fire in Israel and Palestine, allowing for food, clean water, and medical personnel and equipment into Gaza.

One community leader described the terror of seeing the “countless graphic images, video, and accounts of dead, burnt, bloody, deformed, decaying bodies of [Palestinian] children, women, and men” and acknowledged that “despite the fact that 66% of Americans, according to an
MSNBC poll, support a Cease-fire, it is the first time that the world has gotten a front row seat to a livesteam genocide.” Another community leader and business owner called on us to realize that Gaza, which is approximately the size of Long Beach, with five times the population, has had 25,000 tons of bombs dropped on them by Israel in the last four weeks, the equivalent of
two nuclear bombs.

Yet another community leader from a local non-profit shared the parallels to the Khmer Rouge genocide of the Cambodian community, which resulted in Long Beach becoming the largest home to Camabodian residents outside of Cambodia. While one community leader described the perpetual anxiety of not knowing if her cousins, aunts and uncles will survive another day
in Gaza, and has received messages from her family in Gaza asking, “Do they see us? Do they know what’s going on? Why isn’t humanity stepping in to stop the genocide?”

Recommendations In response to local voices calling for ceasefire, the commission unanimously recommends that
City Council adopt a resolution aligned to the following:

1. Adopt a local resolution supporting a ceasefire and demand to end violence in Israel and Occupied Palestine, immediately urge the Long Beach congressional delegation to sign onto the Ceasefire Now Resolution (HR786), and allow humanitarian aid and medical supplies in Gaza.

2. Identify and support local programs and services that de-escalate Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism; foster community relations, dialogues centering Palestinian and Jewish
voices, and mental health for residents affected by the conflict.

3. Condemn all forms of hate, violence, apartheid, xenophobia, colonialism, genocide and mass ethnic cleansing.

ATTACHMENT
It is important to note that Recommendations 2 and 3 are also aligned with Goal 2, Strategy 2 from the Racial Reconciliation Framework: Strengthen community-based violence prevention and intervention systems.

Stand Against Anti-Semistim and Islamophobia
It should be underscored that the support for the humanity and safety of Palistinians is not to be confused with support for terrorism. This rhetoric would only serve to inflame the ongoing islamophobia happening in our community.

Additionally, the support of Palestinians should never be used to support or justify anti-semitism. Understanding the impact of the global conflict in our local community is pivotal for ensuring the safety and wellbeing of Palestinian-American, Arab Muslim-American, and Jewish American residents of our City.

From the day the EHRC passed this recommendation, roughly 2000 additional lives, mostly women and children, could have been saved had a ceasefire gone into effect. We urge you to be amongst the sea of voices demanding for a ceasefire. We urge you to take a stand against indifference in the face of bigotry and violence, and a stand for humanity.

Respectfully,
Dr. Eduardo Lara, Chair
Equity and Human Relations Commission