The Russell tribunal on palestine

Abstract

The Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RToP) is a citizen’s initiative that is sustained by numerous contributions from individuals, associations, organizations and solidarity movements. Its independence relies on the great variety of volunteers and on the material and financial help it receives from multiple sources. Thanks to a network of National Support Committees (Spain, United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, France, Italy and Portugal), two successful evidence sessions have taken place in Barcelona (March 2010) and London (November 2010), creating a significant impact on the audiences and receiving considerable media attention. At the time of writing, preparations are in hand for two further sessions, firstly in Cape Town (November 2011), where the focus will be on the crime of apartheid, and a final session in 2012 in the USA, which will focus on UN and US possible complicity in Israel’s violations of international law. 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), as to both of which see further below—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.