Hala Jadallah, a long-time Palestinian Somerville resident, shares the increasing support she’s witnessed for Palestine in her city. — Photos by Matt Abban

On Thursday, February 26, at 6 p.m. during the holy month of Ramadan, dozens of Somerville community members launched the People’s Ordinance for Palestine at a rally and letter delivery action at Somerville City Hall. Community members gathered to urge Somerville elected officials to introduce and pass an ordinance that would boycott companies that contract with the state of Israel. Members of the crowd entered singing a Palestinian lullaby and holding signs that read, “We voted. Now you enact,” to remind the councilors that the majority of Somerville voters in the November 2025 election voted to instruct elected city leaders to boycott companies complicit in Israel’s apartheid, genocide, and occupation of Palestine.

Before entering City Hall, Somerville for Palestine leaders addressed the crowd. Kaamil Lokhandwala began the rally by sharing that, after breaking his fast in observance of the holy month of Ramadan, he was thinking of Palestinian Muslims in Gaza who are fasting, and who continue to survive amidst some of the harshest conditions imposed by Israel’s years-long blockade, apartheid rule, and, since October 2023, escalated bombing and starvation campaigns against Palestinians in Gaza. Lokhandwala compared Palestinian steadfastness with that of Somerville residents in their campaign for a boycott ordinance; “[Gazans] do not stop, so we do not stop.”

Hala Jadallah, a Palestinian-American and long-time resident of Somerville, shared her perspective on the growing solidarity she has witnessed in this moment. She reflected that, “I’ve seen more Palestinian flags over these past few years than in my life at Somerville.”

“Our city fought for an end to South African apartheid,” she reminded the crowd, referring to the City of Somerville’s efforts to divest from apartheid South Africa in the 1980s. “Those same activists are here today asking for us to end our complicity in apartheid once more.”

Anna Slager, a special education instructional aide at Somerville Public Schools and member of Somerville Educators Union (SEU), highlighted that “the least culpable population, the children of Palestine, have borne the brunt of our empire’s war machine and Israel’s genocidal regime.” Slager also reminded the crowd that the majority of rank-and-file members of the SEU, which represents more than 750 Somerville Public Schools educators, voted to endorse ballot question 3. “The SEU’s endorsement is a powerful reminder to our city councilors that YES on 3 is the will of the people and the will of Somerville educators.” Speaking of the delivery of the draft ordinance and the call to city councilors to enact question 3, Slager continued, “Now is the time, when else? Why is Palestine the exception? Now it will no longer be.”

Adam Pease presented the People’s Ordinance for Palestine to Ward 2 Councilor JT Scott. Scott has been a consistent supporter of Somerville for Palestine’s efforts to enact local change for Palestine.

Somerville City Councillors JT Scott, Ben Ewen-Campen, and Jon Link momentarily joined the rally to receive the mandate from their constituents. Somerville for Palestine members presented each city councilor present at City Hall, as well as Mayor Jake Wilson, with a copy of a draft boycott ordinance (“the People’s Ordinance for Palestine”), the results of the November election, and a legal memo drafted by a volunteer legal team detailing the validity of the proposed ordinance.

Constituents walked into City Hall singing a bilingual version of the Palestinian lullaby, “Yamma Mweil il Hawa,” led by Mia Haddad, a Palestinian-American leader of Somerville for Palestine. Haddad shared, “This song was sung to children from generation to generation, until it became a symbol of political protest in Palestine during the first intifada in 1987. This song is about freedom, living with dignity, and not under oppression and holding steadfast to your homeland.”

The People’s Ordinance for Palestine was drafted by community members, with guidance from a group of volunteer lawyers, each acting in their individual capacity. Attorney Sammy Nabulsi, who specializes in municipal law and contracting, explained that cities and towns in Massachusetts frequently create laws or bylaws to set the terms of a qualified bidder for municipal contracts for goods and services. A city or town, Nabulsi explained, creates laws based on its bidders passing background checks, paying employees a living wage, not engaging in wage theft, or other qualifications a municipality finds important.

John Bonifaz, volunteer constitutional lawyer, shared, “The City of Somerville is well within its rights to decide that it does not want to contract with companies doing business with an apartheid and genocidal foreign government. That was the case when local and state governments all across the country boycotted and divested from companies doing business with an apartheid South Africa, and that is the case today with the Israeli government.”

Asad Khimani, another volunteer lawyer, commented that some municipalities in Massachusetts and around the country have also chosen not to engage in city business with governments such as Northern Ireland or Sudan. “Boycotting or divesting from Israel is no different from boycotting or divesting from companies that are contracting with nations that are committing human rights violations.”

City Councilors Ben Ewen-Campen and Jon Link joined the rally to receive their copies of the People’s Ordinance for Palestine.

Somerville City Council resolved in December 2025 to work towards the implementation of the voters’ demand within a year, and Somerville for Palestine has been meeting with councilors over the course of January and February to move the process forward. The Ordinance, as drafted, would prohibit the city from contracting with companies that do business with the government of Israel or in the illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, determined through a self-attestation form in bid documents.

This mirrors language contained in the historical state and local measures to boycott South African apartheid in the late 1980s.

Neda Mustafa, Palestinian-American activist and a leader in Somerville for Palestine, spoke about the importance of Somerville leading the way on this novel type of local boycott ordinance. “We don’t live in a bubble. Anything we do [in Somerville] has a global effect, including any boycotting measures of any companies that aid in apartheid, oppression, occupation.” Mustafa reflected on the enormous efforts by hundreds of Somerville community members to get this far. “We gathered over 10,000 signatures, over double what was necessary to get the [nonbinding public policy] question on the ballot, and when the question was on the ballot, it passed overwhelmingly, really indicating how Somerville wants to divest and boycott from companies that have an active role in human rights violations. The people spoke, and now it’s just up to the councilors to listen to their constituents. It’s exactly why they were voted into their positions in the first place.”

Commenting on how this ordinance would impact Palestinians in their homeland, Mustafa shared that companies that would be impacted by the People’s Ordinance are “multi-national companies that have provided services, products, and resources that go to providing surveillance technology that goes into every checkpoint, Palestinian neighborhood, and drones that are flown over Palestinian children. Everything that these companies do and provide for Israel is going to impact Palestinians on the ground, who have to live with the devastating consequences of this technology.”

Mustafa highlighted that Somerville elected leaders have taken action against ICE enforcement in Somerville, and that Palestine should not be an exception to enacting policies in the interest of human rights. “We are far too late in this country in condemning the crimes against humanity that Israel continues to commit against Palestinians. But now, since the people of Somerville have made their opinions quite clear, the councilors are required to act upon the will of their constituents. Somerville has a history of being on the right side of history and human rights, so why would we stop that now? It is crucial for Somerville city councilors to introduce, vote, and hopefully pass this ordinance because, without good people taking a stand, the evil continues, and it multiplies. We’re seeing it in everyday life, not just abroad but also here at home. It is the democratic duty of our elected officials to heed our calls.”

Somerville for Palestine is an interracial, interfaith, and intergenerational community group formed in response to Israel’s escalated genocide against Palestinians. Somerville for Palestine seeks to enact local change in the service of Palestinian liberation.

— Somerville for Palestine