Passaic municipalities implore Pascrell to support Israel-Hamas cease-fire. Can it help?

New Jersey’s third-largest city and two of its boroughs have unanimously adopted resolutions calling on their congressman to support a cease-fire to end the war in Israel and Gaza.

In Paterson, Haledon and Prospect Park, all part of Passaic County, the council measures adopted in December implore Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. to support a cease-fire resolution now pending in Congress.

“This call for action isn’t just about politics,” said Paterson Councilman Alaa “Al” Abdelaziz. “It’s about representing the will and values of the families in our city and stopping the unnecessary loss of civilian lives, including women and children.”

“Pascrell should be echoing the voice of our community that elected him,” said Abdelaziz, the first Palestinian American councilman in a city of 158,000 people.

The municipal actions highlight a growing divide over the Israel-Hamas war as the death toll in Gaza soars past 22,000, with many more still unaccounted for under rubble. Most Americans favor a cease-fire, according to recent polls, but the prospect has little support among federal lawmakers.

In North Jersey, protesters have rallied outside politicians’ offices, disrupted fundraisers and flooded them with emails and phone calls demanding a cease-fire and de-escalation of hostilities.

The divide has been felt deeply in Passaic County, where local families have lost loved ones in the bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Arab and Muslim residents and community leaders, many of whom have supported Pascrell’s past election campaigns, say they feel the congressman has betrayed them.

‘Salt of the earth’

Adam Abosheriah, a Paterson pharmacist, recalled attending a fundraising dinner for Pascrell during his last election campaign along with his father, Abdalaziz Abu Sahriaa. He shared a photo of himself, with Pascrell’s arm around his shoulder, at the event.

His 83-year-old father, whom he called “salt of the earth” and a loving person, was killed Nov. 22 when Israel bombed an uncle’s house in Gaza City, he said. His father and mother had fled there after their own Gaza neighborhood came under attack.

Abosheriah said he has lost 104 relatives in Gaza, a region where multiple generations of large families often live in the same household and have crowded together in search of safety. His father, and others, have not been buried.

“No one can try to go there to dig them out of the rubble,” Abosheriah said.

Today, he said, he feels heartbroken that elected officials continue support for a war that has killed thousands of civilians in Gaza, displaced 85% of the population and stoked threats of permanent expulsion.

“I donated personally to Bill Pascrell, to a lot of Congress and councilmen in the community of Passaic and Paterson,” Abosheriah said. “Personally, I’m very disappointed.

“We watch the news every single minute, see homes being demolished, kids pulled from rubble dead. Some lost limbs.," he said. "If you don’t stand up and say this is wrong, you are standing on wrong side of history.”

Christianity: Palestinian Americans cancel Christmas celebrations, pray for survival of Gaza's Christians

‘Anguish of our community’

Council members in Paterson and Prospect Park called on Pascrell to support Resolution 786 in Congress, which urges the Biden administration to immediately call for and facilitate a cease-fire and de-escalation.

In Haledon, the council asked the Biden administration and its federal delegation, which includes Pascrell, to do the same. The borough’s new council president, Mohammad Ramadan, said the resolution echoed calls from the international community for peace and a cease-fire.

“Local municipalities can’t do much,” Ramadan said, “but when it comes to the federal government, they have power to do certain things. We pray that everybody stops this war peacefully and it stays diplomatic.”

Also in late December, the Wayne Township Council unanimously approved a resolution that stands in solidary with Israel and calls on Hamas to cease violence and to release all hostages. Wayne residents have asked the council to consider another resolution in support of a cease-fire at an upcoming meeting.

Since the outbreak of war, several protests have been held at Federal Plaza in Paterson, where Pascrell has an office. New Jersey residents also disrupted a Dec. 18 fundraiser for the congressman, shouting that 10,000 children had been killed in Gaza and calling for a cease-fire, as seen in videos posted online. Pascrell responded to them that Israel has "every right to protect themselves and defend themselves. Case closed."

In an emailed statement, Pascrell said he was reviewing the municipal resolutions and would respond to council members shortly.

“I hear and feel powerfully the anguish of our community, share their anguish, and like millions of Americans desperately want a permanent end to the fighting as soon as possible and a major flow of humanitarian aid provided by America to protect Palestinians and begin the rebuilding of Gaza,” Pascrell said in the statement.

“We must do everything possible to protect innocent lives and that begins with a two-state solution," he said. "With the establishment of a Palestinian state and full embrace of Israel’s existence we can achieve lasting peace.”

Social activism: Thousands protest at NJ campuses and in NYC, displaying activism not seen in years

‘Too late’

On Oct. 7, when Hamas, labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. and others, launched a surprise attack in southern Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages, support for Israel and its military campaign against Hamas soared.

Three months later, public support for the war has waned amid what human rights groups and Biden have described as “indiscriminate bombing.” Most Americans support a cease-fire, according to polls by Reuters/Ipsos and Data for Progress conducted in October and November.

In New Jersey, only two members of Congress, Democratic Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Donald Payne Jr., have publicly called for a cease-fire. Watson Coleman co-sponsored the congressional resolution, and Payne signed a letter calling for a bilateral cease-fire.

In Pascrell’s district, home to sizable populations of both Arabs and Jews, Pascrell has heard from constituencies who disagree over the response to the conflict. Some Jewish groups stand by Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, saying it will protect Israel by rooting out Hamas.

Salaheddin Mustafa, outreach director for the Islamic Center of Passaic County, said Pascrell has not shown balance and has “barely outreached to the community” during the conflict.

The Arab and Muslim community was key in helping Pascrell win a hotly contested race against Rep. Steve Rothman in 2012, Mustafa said. Strong turnout in Paterson helped him win the seat.

“For future elections, he’s not going to get our community’s support, period,” Mustafa said.

In comments reported last week in The Record, Pascrell appeared to soften his stance regarding the war.

“Israel has a right to defend itself,” he said. “Has it gone too far? In my estimation, in some areas it has. Israel is our ally, and the Palestinian people should be our ally. I didn’t support the cease-fire in the beginning, because that was not the agenda of how to take down Hamas, but now Israel needs to begin to understand that there's a difference between Hamas and the Palestinians.”

Mustafa said the comments were not enough to mend the strained relationship.

“He is now saying maybe they have crossed the line," Mustafa said. "It's too little, too late. We know where his heart is.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Will NJ calls for Israel-Hamas war cease-fire have an impact?