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Berkeley, with its Free Speech Movement roots, has a reputation as an activist city. It is also one of a small number of Bay Area municipalities that so far have avoided a vote on a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war — despite consistent, strident efforts from pro-Palestinian activists to put one on the table over the past year.

That may soon change.

Berkeley’s Peace and Justice Commission, which has advised the city council “on issues of peace and social justice” since the mid-1980s, met on Sept. 30 and approved a resolution calling for an “immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza, an end to U.S. military aid to Israel and support for Palestinian self-determination,” among other items. The resolution passed 8-7.

The commission is one of several advisory groups to the Berkeley City Council. A “yes” vote on a resolution at the commission level means the council must take it up.

“In this grief, there are no sides,” said commission member George Lippman, who introduced the resolution at the meeting. “There is just death and destruction.”

About 200 people filled a room at the North Berkeley Senior Center on Hearst Avenue. Strong words and intense feelings permeated the room, in a scene that has become familiar at local government meetings across the Bay Area — and across the country — in the months following the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre, though such efforts have tapered off in recent months. 

The chair of the commission repeatedly asked the audience for quiet.

Public comment ran on for hours, similar to past meetings in Oakland, San Francisco and Berkeley itself. Some spoke calmly, others were filled with emotion. Supporters of the resolution talked about their opposition to the U.S. sending weapons to Israel and their horror at children’s suffering in Gaza. Opponents called the resolution divisive and said it ignored the views of Berkeley Jews who support Israel, as well as the horrific actions of Hamas. Jews spoke on both sides of the issue.

Can we please, please, please respect everyone who’s coming up and not boo.

Commission secretary Okeya Vance-Dozier

Barbara, a Berkeley senior citizen who requested her last name be withheld for safety reasons, called the resolution “one-sided and inflammatory,” while Emma Knisbacher, a Berkeley High senior, supported it.

“I say no more bombs, no more deaths,” Knisbacher said. “Listen to your Jewish students.”

As the night wore on, voices grew louder. Speakers in favor of the resolution dominated the meeting, although a substantial number spoke against it, too. A verbal altercation between the two sides escalated into shouting during public comment. Police were present in the senior center but did not intervene.

“Can we please, please, please respect everyone who’s coming up and not boo,” commission secretary Okeya Vance-Dozier said at one point.

Activists have been trying to get cease-fire resolutions in front of the Berkeley City Council for the past year, but the measures have never made it to a vote. This time, however, a new makeup of the council and the peace commission may change the outcome.

The resolution asks President Joe Biden to “end U.S. arms shipments to Israel and recognize ‘the State of Palestine.’” It also calls for a “right of return” for Palestinians to what is now Israel, a call that usually includes anyone displaced in 1948 and their descendants, numbering an estimated 6 million. The population of Israel is about 9.5 million, and supporters of Israel have said such a proposal is untenable.

The resolution also calls for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel and the freeing of the hostages held in Gaza. An amendment added language condemning Hamas for the murder and kidnapping of Israeli civilians. 

Regarding Berkeley’s role on matters of international concern, the resolution states, “The council recalls its statement in founding the Peace and Justice Commission in 1986 that ‘it is the responsibility of one and all to labor hard for peace and justice in forums of appropriate scale.’”

“I’m disappointed that the final vote of the Peace and Justice Commission does not represent a more balanced approach,” councilmember Susan Wengraf told J. in an email on Oct. 1. “Clearly the community is closely divided on the language and intent of the resolution and this vote will, unfortunately, not help to create the path to healing and peace that is so badly needed now in Berkeley.”

The resolution was co-authored by commissioners Lippman and Luke Taylor.

“I’m Jewish. George is Jewish,” Taylor said during the meeting. He was countering a claim raised during the meeting that the mainstream Jewish community had not been consulted. “There’s nothing in this resolution that’s meant to undermine anyone’s grief.”

The commission originally planned to vote on a cease-fire resolution on Sept. 3, but the city said the meeting had to be postponed due to a clerical error. Pro-Palestinian protesters held a rally that same evening to oppose the meeting’s cancellation; it was rescheduled for Sept. 30.

The protesters on Sept. 3 were incensed at Berkeley councilmember Igor Tregub, who they felt had recently handpicked a new commission member insufficiently supportive of their cause.

Tregub, who joined the council in June, told J. earlier this month that he supports a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war but wasn’t comfortable with the original resolution’s language, which he said was inaccurate and inflammatory.

“The path to peace and the path to understanding runs through an ability to build bridges, heal divides and not further inflame the existing tensions,” he told J. at the time.

It’s unclear if the approved resolution will come before the city council before or after the November election, in which five seats are up for grabs, including that of the mayor.