Russell Tribunal: "Israel Practices Apartheid"

The Russell Tribunal on Palestine has found that Israel`s practices against the Palestinian people are in breach of the prohibition of apartheid under the international law.

After two days of intense inquiry and expert witness testimony, following the review of reams of documentation, the eminent jury of nine international experts delivered its conclusions at Cape Town on 7 November 2011. The Tribunal concluded unanimously that “Israel subjects the Palestinian people to an institutionalized regime of domination amounting to apartheid as defined under international law.”

The jury reached this conclusion having paid particular attention to the legal definition of apartheid and ensuring that each of the defining criteria was met. This included the following facts: “(i) that two distinct racial groups can be identified; (ii) that inhuman acts` are committed against the subordinate group; and (iii) that such acts are committed systematically in the context of an institutionalized regime of domination by one group over the other.” In their judgment, they considered the widespread evidence of, inter alia, “targeted killings”; the “use of lethal force” against peaceful demonstrators; and the torture and ill-treatment of Palestinians.

The Tribunal declared that although the Palestinians living “under colonial military rule in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are subject to a particularly aggravated form of apartheid,” the apartheid system extends to Israeli treatment of Palestinian citizens within Israel, and that the State of Israel’s “rule over the Palestinian people, wherever they reside, collectively amounts to a single integrated regime of apartheid.”

The Tribunal urged Israel to dismantle its apartheid system and called for the international community to put pressure on the occupying force through sanctions and severing ties with Israel. It called for the UN General Assembly to reconvene the Committee against Apartheid and list banks, corporations, and other organizations that support Israel.

The Russell Tribunal called HIC-HLRN Coordinator Joseph Schechla to present testimony on the subject of institutionalized discrimination, arising from Israel’s establishment of the superior civil status of “Jewish nationality” by which Israeli “national” institutions and laws ensure preferential treatment over other mere “citizens” in the State of Israel. Mr. Schechla explained how this form of discrimination affects housing and land rights of the indigenous Palestinian people, including its majority living as refugees, Palestinian citizens of the state, and residents of the occupied Palestinian territories. The system thus established under law deferring to these “national institutions” (World Zionist Organization/Jewish Agency, Jewish National Fund and affiliates) systematically dispossesses indigenous Palestinians---and occupied Syrians—to the benefit of a distinct group it considers to be superior “Jewish nationals.” HIC-HLRN’s representative also provided the Tribunal with background to the international jurisprudence on Israel’s treaty obligations to prohibit and combat the crime of apartheid.

The Russell Tribunal on Palestine is an international people’s tribunal created in response to the international community’s inertia in the face of grave breaches and gross violations of international law. Previous sessions of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine have focused on the role of the European Union and corporations in those breaches and violations in Israel and Palestine.

The first-ever Russell Tribunal was constituted at the initiative of the British philosopher Bertrand Russell and French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, in November 1966, responding to the crimes committed in the Vietnam War. The Tribunal Committee then consisted of 25 distinguished personalities, many of which were Nobel laureates and recipients of awards in the humanitarian and social fields. The current Russell Tribunal maintains that illustrious tradition.

The jury of this third session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine is comprised of Stéphane Hessel, Gisèle Halimi, Ronnie Kasrils, Mairead Maguire, Michael Mansfield, Antonio Martin Pallin, Cynthia McKinney, Aminata Traoré, Yasmin Sooka and Alice Walker. Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmund Tutu opened the Tribunal.

In addition to Joseph Schechla, other expert witnesses testifying before the Russell Tribunal included François Dubuisson and Marianne Blume (Belgium), Luciana Coconi (Catalonia), Rafaelle Maison (France), David Keane (Ireland), Lea Tsemel, Ran Greenstein, Haneen Zoabi, Jazi Abu Kaf and Jeff Halper (Israel), Grazia Careccia, Mahmoud Hassan, Shawqi Issa, Ingrid Jaradat, Jamal Juma`a, Muhammad Khatib, Emily Schaeffer, Raji Sourani and Rafeef Ziadah (Palestine). Rev. Allan Boesak, Professor John Dugard, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, Advocate Max du Plessis and Zwelinzima Vavi (South Africa) provided analysis from the perspective of apartheid system as carried out in southern Africa.

See the Russell Tribunal’s Summary of Findings.