I oppose the village of Oak Park passing a resolution for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. Such a resolution would be divisive and wrongheaded and would set a terrible precedent. Oak Park citizens elected representatives to run the village, not the world. Our trustees have no expertise in foreign policy matters, Middle East politics, the Israel-Hamas conflict, just and unjust wars, military strategy, international law, or any other pertinent aspect of the proposed resolution; nor should we expect them to.
As a rule, the village does not adopt political resolutions or resolutions on how to conduct a just war. It is a wise rule. In a recent editorial, Wednesday Journal noted that a village board had once adopted a symbolic resolution declaring Oak Park a nuclear-free zone, as if such an action could be relevant to the current question. It isn’t. An elected municipal body should not weigh in with resolutions on issues that have nothing to do with its governance responsibilities.
Oak Parkers who object to the current U.S. policy on the Israel-Hamas war have many options for protesting it. Some have justified the proposed ceasefire resolution as a response to “a humanitarian crisis supported by Oak Park tax dollars,” as if the village of Oak Park sends local taxes to Washington to support the war. But if Oak Parkers are concerned that their individual federal income tax helps fund the war, they could withhold payment, as Thoreau refused to pay a poll tax in 1846 to protest the Mexican-American war. His principled act of civil disobedience got him arrested and jailed for a night, and we remember it today. But our local protesters, so far, have chosen a different path, attempting to pressure and persuade our trustees to play an active role in American foreign policy, based on very fragmentary and decontextualized information. Any responsible municipal board would reject the request.
The validity of my case against a ceasefire resolution does not depend on where I or anyone else stands on the Israel-Hamas conflict. It depends on how one understands the roles and responsibilities of a municipal governing body.
But I also want to clarify where I stand, as it may have relevance for thinking about potential consequences of such a resolution. I believe that a democratic state roughly within the Green Line borders of the current state of Israel, with a large majority Jewish population, is a good thing in the world — for Jews and everybody else — and, miraculously, it exists. I don’t want us to lose it. I believe that a Palestinian state should be established in the remaining territories of Palestine, with land trades for contiguity. Basically, this is the two-state solution that I think is the only remotely viable hope for peaceful coexistence among the peoples of the region.
The obstacles to such a solution are legion, well-known, and hugely challenging to even the best leaders and peacemakers. The solution is certainly impossible with Hamas in power in any part of the occupied territories. The events of Oct. 7 and the subsequent actions of Hamas leave no doubt in my mind that, in the interest of Israel’s survival, Palestinian self-determination, and eventual peace in the region, the capacity of Hamas for wielding power must be eliminated, just as Nazism was effectively eliminated, at great cost, through the efforts of the Allied powers during World War II.
I think my position is consistent with that of the Biden administration, and I’m confident that a good proportion of Oak Park residents agree with its broad outlines. I stand in fundamental disagreement with the local protesters advocating a village ceasefire resolution.
Adopting such a resolution would badly fracture the citizenry of Oak Park. It would be far better, I’d say, for the village board to sponsor or support teach-ins and forums around the issues involved in the Israel-Hamas war. Education and civil discourse would be the most responsible and constructive approach to our civic needs of this moment. We would all stand to learn a great deal, and we could set an example for other municipalities.
Steve Gevinson is a former OPRF faculty member and a former member of the District 200 high school board.
