Russell Tribunal finds Israel guilty of Apartheid

The Russell Tribunal on Palestine in session

Writing for AlJazeera Richard Falk comments on the verdict of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, which has found Israel guilty of the crime of Apartheid:

The most controversial, and at the same time far reaching feature, of the RToP finding was to conclude that Israeli responsibility for establishing an apartheid regime applied not only to Palestinians living under occupation, but also to the Palestinians minority living with discriminatory regulations in Israel and to the Palestinian diaspora consisting of 4-5 million refugees and exiles.

The RToP divides its rationale for finding guilty of committing the crime of apartheid into three main parts: (1) race as defining identity in Israel/Palestine relations (tribunal agrees that race in the international definition of the crime should be interpreted broadly to include ethnic and national character); (2) inhuman acts (specified in relation to Israeli treatment of Palestinians, as integral to the crime, particularly “colonisation and appropriation of Palestinian land” and coercive fragmentation of the Palestinian community in “different physical spaces”; (3) a systematic and institutionalised regime as pervading the subjugation of the Palestinian people (preferential treatment of Jews, dual legal arrangements, restrictions on residence and mobility, deportations and house demolitions are elements in what the tribunal calls “Israel’s institutionalised regime of domination”. [See Victor Kattan's excellent detailed analysis of the RToP finding of apartheid in his "The Russell Tribunal on Palestine and the Question of Apartheid", al-shabaka brief, November 23, 2011].

Visit AlJazeera to read the article in full.

Turning the tide of injustice in Palestine – Desmond Tutu and Michael Mansfield in the Guardian

Jurors at the London session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine

Writing in the Guardian, Desmond Tutu and Michael Mansfield highlight the significance of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, which opened its third session in South Africa on Saturday. They raise parallels with the struggle against apartheid in South Africa:

We have visited Israel/Palestine on a number of occasions and every time have been struck by the similarities with the South African apartheid regime. The separate roads and areas for Palestinians, the humiliation at roadblocks and checkpoints, the evictions and house demolitions. Parts of East Jerusalem resemble what was District Six in Cape Town. It is a cause for abiding sadness and anguish. It revolves around the way in which the arrogance of power brings about a desensitisation. Once this has occurred it permits atrocious acts and attitudes to be visited on those over whom power and control are exercised. What such people are doing to themselves just as much as their victims should also be of concern.

Tutu and Mansfield write that the role of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine is to apply the standards of international law to Israel’s conduct in relation to the Palestinians:

These are all matters the tribunal will be assessing in order to ascertain what parallels and comparisons can be drawn. Whatever they may be, the ultimate objective is to consider the Israel-Palestine situation on its own facts and apply the norms of international law to identify three major issues. Have there been violations? If so, what are they and who is responsible? And thirdly, what are the legal ramifications and processes which should ensue? It is hoped that this process may contribute and not detract from the urgent need to progress understanding and peace, truth and reconciliation.

Visit the Guardian to read the article in full.

The evidence from the London session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine is collected in a new book from Pluto Press, Corporate Complicity in Israel’s Occupation, edited by Asa Winstanley and Frank Barat.

Frank Barat writes for Al Jazeera on the Russell Tribunal on Palestine

Bertrand Russell - philosopher and peace activist

In an article for Al Jazeera Frank Barat, co-editor of Corporate Complicity in Israel’s Occupation, writes about the tradition of the Russell Tribunal and the importance of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine:

From the experience of past Russell Tribunals – on US military intervention in Vietnam (1966-1967) and internal repression (with outside interference) in Latin America (1973-1975), and judging from the conclusions of the first two sessions of the RToP, it is clear that findings of the tribunal provide a legally grounded body of arguments, constituting an important tool to be used by those who seek to ensure respect for the rule of international law, and the rights of the Palestinian people.

The RToP is an international people’s tribunal, created in 2009 as a response to the failure of the international community to act appropriately to bring to an end Israel’s recognised violations of international law. In particular, the organisers of the RToP were very concerned by the inadequate international response to the Advisory Opinion of July 9, 2004, of the highest judicial body in the world, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), on the legal consequences of the establishment of a wall in the occupied Palestinian territories – which called for the wall to be dismantled and which reiterated the need to respect past resolutions of the United Nations.