FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 6 2024
Media Contact: Prairie Johnson [email protected]
Fargo Residents Return to City Commission Meeting To Call for Ceasefire Resolution
Fargo, North Dakota – Residents of Fargo and members of the CODEPINK chapter of Fargo-Moorhead took advantage of the public comment time at Fargo’s City Commission meeting on Monday. The residents that spoke at the meeting today echoed the demands that other residents gave to the commission two weeks ago: introduce and pass a ceasefire resolution for Gaza.
Seven residents brought up the desire for a ceasefire resolution in the allotted time for public comment, including Dr. Marwan Abu-Minshar, Dr. Mahmoud Soliman, KJ Atkinson (they/them), Heidi Soliman, Dr. Marwan Minshar, Dr. Ahmer Qarni, and Dr. Ahmed Abuzaanona. Several community members joined to watch the meeting, some with signs reflecting the demand for a ceasefire resolution. Palestinian doctors spoke on the urgent need for a ceasefire and the dire humanitarian and medical crisis in Gaza.
“As a physician who takes care of patients on daily bases, who understands the sanctity and value of life. Watching the ongoing atrocities, indiscriminate bombing, forced displacement , and ongoing deliberate dismantling of the medical network in Gaza is simply unacceptable,” said Dr. Marwan Abu-Minshar, a Fargo resident, to the city commission.
Ceasefire resolutions from cities and towns are spreading throughout the country as a means to push back against federally elected officials failure to use action to stop the ongoing genocide in Gaza that has already taken the life of at least 27,000 Palestinians since October 7. Last week, Chicago became the largest city in the US to call for a ceasefire.
Dr. Mahmoud Soliman, a Fargo resident, urged the Fargo City Commission “to join an ever-growing list of 48 cities which have resolved to a ceasefire. Although unpopular with the federal government, a ceasefire is nationally popular and is supported by 60-70% of American voters. It is a symbolic but crucial measure for us to be on the right side of history, to restore our faith in what the US proclaims to stand for, and to mitigate our sense of abandonment by those who are supposed to represent us.”
CODEPINK Fargo-Moorhead organizers and other residents are urging people to call Mayor Tim Mahoney to support a ceasefire resolution at the Fargo City Commission.
CODEPINK Fargo-Moorhead will continue to engage the community on the importance of ending this genocide and have upcoming events with community partners on February 17 and February 28.
For more information about this community effort, please contact Prairie Johnson [email protected]
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