The Town Council of Leverett, Massachusetts passed a CEASEFIRE resolution on April 27, 2024

We, the undersigned, come before the Annual Town Meeting in the hope that now is the time when we, as a town, can support a resolution for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza in order to end the killing of innocents, and to provide for the basic needs of the people of Gaza. While recognizing the right of Israel to defend itself and to exist in safety, we wish to support the creation of an alternative to further decimation of the Gazan people.

We are proposing that Leverett follow the examples of Somerville, Cambridge, and Medford in eastern Massachusetts, of Amherst and Northampton in western Massachusetts, and of more than 70 cities across the country in relation to this resolution. Outlined below are some of the reasons why an immediate and permanent ceasefire is needed, and a cessation of Israel's military intention to continue its warfare in Gaza. In making this proposal we are expressing our desire to not be silent or complicit in witnessing the great harm being done to a people through actions that are justified by the 'right to self- defense,' but for which this right could be expressed in other less catastrophic ways. We believe that an alternative can be found to continued violence.

Why An Immediate and Permanent Cease Fire is Needed:

1. One quarter of the population in Gaza is now starving and the rest are suffering from deep hunger, and yet food and medical supplies are still being withheld at the borders, and those supplies that do get through cannot reach all the people in need because of repetitive bombing of thoroughfares.

2. More than eighty percent of the world's population living in famine areas is now located in Gaza.

3. Of the more than thirty thousand people now noted as deceased as a result of Israel's actions, nearly half of them are children.

4. More than sixty percent of the homes of Gazans have been totally destroyed, and 1.9 million people have been displaced, with most having no place to return to.

5. Clean drinking water is now almost inaccessible, or accessible only with great difficulty. Disease is rampant and is being promoted in this way.

6. Hospitals have been destroyed and medical supplies have disappeared so that pregnant women who have complex deliveries do not have emergency medical treatment available, and those with wounds to portions of their body due to the bombing, must undergo surgery without anesthesia.

In the presence of such great harm that is being enacted toward a people as a whole, we feel compelled to take a stand and say that these actions are against life itself, and against the furtherance of life for the Palestinian people. We must take this stand as a result of the promptings of our hearts and conscience, and ask that the Town of Leverett consider taking this stand as well. Moral accountability requires this of us, lest, through our silence, we give tacit support to that which must not go unaddressed.

BE IT RESOLVED that the Town of Leverett, Massachusetts, proposes to the Biden Administration that this Administration take a strong moral and humanitarian stand in favor of an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. While recognizing the right of Israel to defend itself and to exist in safety, we wish to see an end to the killing of innocents, and the creation of an alternative to further decimation of the Gazan people.

And you are hereby directed to serve this Warrant by posting up attested copies thereof on the Post Office, in the Town Hall and Congregational Church at Leverett, the Baptist Church at North Leverett and the Village Co-op at Moores Corner, seven days at least before the day of said meeting.