Russell Tribunal-Palestine: Web Conference I

Before I describe for you and inform you about the Web Conference on the Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RTP), let me first thank you for your interest in the web conference and the RTP. Also, please let me say, if you are a newbie to the issues surrounding Palestine and Israel, be assured that we will endeavor to keep you in mind and provide explanations during the conference when such background might be required (after all, our mission is one of education and educating the masses here in America, which is desperately needed to correct the effects of the biased (pro-Israel) news reporting on anything related to the Palestine-Israel conflict by the mainstream news media in the U.S. in the last six decades [1] ). On the other hand, if you are not new to these topics, I believe that you will be quite satisfied with the depth to which we will be exploring the subject matter and that you will come away from this conference enlightened and informed (and, perhaps, more hopeful and motivated, as well – which, I expect, might also apply to our newbies).

This is the first of, hopefully, a series of conferences on the subject of this ongoing Tribunal (there will be more conferences if we are supported by sufficient interest in them and donations from the participants to cover our expenses – our non-profit is quite nascent and is not currently funded). This first web conference will report on the proceedings and the verdict of the jury in the first session of the RTP (Barcelona, 1 – 3 March, 2010 – one or two more sessions are planned for later this year) and will feature presentations of opinion, analysis and round-table discussions by and between our Host and our Expert Guests (who will be participating in this video/telephone conference) regarding the mission of the Tribunal and how the verdict of the jury applies to the U.S. government’s role and responsibilities relative to its relationship with the government of Israel (GOI). (Note: the questions being submitted to the jury mostly concern the role, responsibilities and wrongdoing of the European Union, however, most of this also applies to the international community and, particularly, the U.S. because the U.S. is, for example, the main supplier of weapons and other military aid to Israel.)

Our host for the conference will be Stephen Lendman (Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization – if his schedule allows – the date for the conference is only tentative at this point) and our expert guests will include Cynthia McKinney (U.S. Presidential Nominee, Green Party, 2008; former U.S. Democratic Congresswoman, Georgia -- if her schedule allows), who will be a member of the Tribunal’s jury. (Note: we are currently seeking several other experts to be guests in this conference, including organizers and other contributors to the RTP.)

[HERE’S HOW TO SIGN UP TO ATTEND THIS CONFERENCE: Send an email to uncommission (at) comcast.net – use “Request to join RTP web conference” in the Subject line of your email and tell us how many people are registering for the conference. We will then send you a notification email when the conference date has been set with all the information you will need to logon to the conference, etc.
IMPORTANT NOTE – As mentioned above, we are not currently funded, so you will need to make a donation in order to participate in this conference. Please see UPDATE #2 (Feb. 27 post), above, for donation information. Thank you.]

So, you may be asking yourself, why have all these people from every walk of life from around the world (England, France, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Holland, Portugal, Ireland, Lebanon, Algeria, Australia, Italy, South Africa, Egypt and, of course, Palestine and Israel are all countries in which national committees are being formed in support of the RTP) decided that they must form a people’s tribunal to investigate whether or not the “European Union and its member states [has] breached their obligation to promote and ensure respect for the Palestinian people’s right of self-determination; breached their obligation to ensure respect for international humanitarian law vis-à-vis the Palestinian people in the case of the blockade of the Gaza Strip and the “Cast Lead” military operation conducted by Israel from 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009; breached their obligation to ensure respect for international humanitarian law and the right of the Palestinian people to sovereignty over their natural resources in the context of Israel’s building of settlements and pillage of natural resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territory [OPT]; breached their obligation to ensure respect for international law in connection with the construction of the wall by Israel in the [OPT];” etc.(these are some of the questions the RTP jury will be considering)?

The answer is: for many reasons, but primarily, because the citizens of all these countries believe that it is their responsibility to ensure that their governments cease these breaches of treaty obligations and end their complicity in the criminal acts being committed by the GOI and believe that they must take it upon themselves to bring about such change in their government’s policies and believe that a people’s tribunal is the only option available to them because their governments have failed to take the appropriate action to stop the GOI from continuing these atrocities and violations of international law and, in fact, promote such immoral acts by remaining silent and continuing business as usual and maintaining amicable diplomatic relations with the GOI (despite the fact that many of these atrocities and violations of law committed by the GOI first occurred sixty years ago and have been repeated over and over ever since [2], and despite the fact that the result of the most serious and blatant of these atrocities occurred more than a year ago and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian children, women and the elderly [3] ).

Why is nothing being done by our governments to stop these crimes? Well, a very brief and generalized answer is that the Zionist nationalist movement in Israel (which has always maintained effective control of the Israeli government) currently has an advantage when it comes to international matters at the level of governments, because the state of Israel has been recognized, generally, internationally, whereas the Palestinian Authority (PA) (the de facto government of the Palestinian people) was only just recently formed (within the last two decades) and has been handicapped in terms of legitimacy and credibility by problems with government corruption, infighting among political factions, and the perception that only Palestinians have relied on terrorism to achieve political objectives (which, in reality, is just the product of pro-Israel propaganda and pro-Israel bias in the U.S. mainstream media – the truth is both sides in this conflict have used terror tactics). In other words, most of us in this country (U.S.) are biased (in favor of Israel) in our opinions regarding what we believe are the facts associated with every issue that, together, constitutes the essence of this conflict and, as a result, we are predisposed to believe that Israel is justified in its actions and the Palestinians are not; we only perceive Palestinian violence as “terrorism” versus concluding that it is legitimate resistance to an illegal military occupation, or justified resistance to the Apartheid regime that has been established by the GOI in the Palestinian territories with the “separation wall” and other restrictions on Palestinians to movement within their territory and access to their property and education and health services, etc. (this Apartheid regime in the Palestinian territories is actually more brutal in many ways than its previous counterpart in apartheid South Africa [4] ). Similarly, we do not perceive what the government of Israel (GOI) does as anything but justified and as self-defense against terrorists. Another advantage that the GOI has over the PA in the political arena and the struggle for public opinion – an extremely significant advantage – is the fact that the Zionists have been very busy for more than a century developing their political influence in the U.S. to the extent that they now essentially control the executive and legislative branches of government [5] (which then stymie the judiciary, giving them complete control of our government on issues that are of import to the GOI – this I learned from personal experience).

So, a people’s tribunal (developed and utilized very effectively by the British philosopher, Bertrand Russell, and others, in the 1960’s to affect public opinion about the Vietnam war) is, indeed, the only tool available to citizens in the U.S. -- and, perhaps, anywhere in the world -- to begin to educate our fellow citizens and create the immense momentum required for a grassroots movement to force such change in the policies of our government. In doing so, we will reestablish the rule of law that has been rendered ineffective by our “leaders” and our “representative” government (that is only representative of the ruling elite in this country and the most powerful lobbies) and restore the only protections we have against violations of our universal rights to life, liberty, and happiness (and one that simply was not enumerated in the Constitution, but is nonetheless our right anyway – the right to be free from government that operates above the law – refer to the Ninth Amendment). (Note: “The rule of law, also called supremacy of law, means that the law is above everyone and it applies to everyone. Whether governor or governed, rulers or ruled, no one is above the law, no one is exempted from the law.” From Wikipedia.)

I believe that my government has made me responsible for the killings of Palestinian children, women and the elderly (because, as Amnesty International confirmed, U.S. weapons were used by the GOI in the attacks on Gaza [6] ) and because of this, I cannot look any Palestinian in the eye without feeling this sense of guilt for these crimes against humanity (which also, by the way, applies to Iraqis and Afghanis, as well). This has robbed me of my liberty and deeply affects my daily life in very negative ways (for example, I used to enjoy my patriotism, which is no longer possible for me.) (Note: see the article, “On July 4, Put Away the Flags,” by Howard Zinn, July 4, 2007.)

In order to regain my dignity and self-respect and restore the liberty that has been taken from me by my government, I have vowed to do everything in my power to ensure my government ceases its actions which escalate violence and fuel this conflict and implements sincere efforts to assist the parties in the conflict achieve justice and a sustainable peace. The launch of this non-profit (Coalition for U.N. Commission) concurrent with the initiation of this web conference project (Project Lawfare: Russell Tribunal – Palestine) are the genesis of my vow of action.

Please join us in this web conference and please join us in this movement to restore our democracy and the dignity of the American people [7].


Footnotes

1. “Analysis of Media Coverage of Israel/Palestine,” if Americans knew, http://www.ifamericansknew.com/media/index.html (which also refers to the website for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting and their “numerous studies on coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”).
2. Ilan Pappe, “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine,” Oneworld Publications Limited, 2006. (Note: this reference covers only the initial ethnic-cleansing atrocities from 1947 – 49 (referred to by Palestinians as “al Nakba”, or “the catastrophe”). My comment about these atrocities being “repeated over and over ever since” is referring to the additional ethnic cleansing which occurred in 1967 and also the innumerable acts of dispossession of homes and property which have occurred continuously since 1947 and are still occurring today in East Jerusalem and everywhere in the West Bank. For numerous references on Palestinian dispossession, see: “Israel: arbitrary confiscation of land or dispossession of Palestinian property,” UCC [University College Cork, Ireland] Palestine Solidarity Campaign, http://www.corkpsc.org/db.php?tid=562
3. “Operation ‘Cast Lead’: 22 Days of Death and Destruction,” page 6, Amnesty International Publications, 2009.
4. Address by Ronnie Kasrils, CAPE TOWN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: RE-ENVISIONING ISRAEL/PALESTINE, 12 JUNE 2009, http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Other+Apartheid+State-a0201764454
5. Mearsheimer, John, Walt, Stephen, “The Israel Lobby,” pp. 3 – 12, (see London Review of Books, http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/john-mearsheimer/the-israel-lobby
6. “Fuelling conflict: Foreign arms supplies to Israel/Gaza,” Amnesty International, 2009, http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/israel_and_occupied_territories/fuellingconflict.pdf
7. “For dignity depends on peace, and peace depends on justice, and justice depends on truth. So, our charge today is to help the world attain dignity.” (And, her closing comment in this speech:) “You can rest assured that I will do all I can to promote dignity, a vision of peace that relies on truth and justice for all of us.” These are quotes from Cynthia McKinney’s speech to The Forum on Gaza Genocide: Solution for Palestine, London, 31 March 2009. She also said in this speech, “I spent International Human Rights Day 2008 in Havana, Cuba with family members of victims of U.S. aggression against that fiercely independent island country. And while I was there, over and over and over again I heard the word ‘dignity.’ And how there is dignity in resistance.” There IS dignity in resistance, and that is exactly what I intend to do here in my country – resistance to the control of the ruling elite and the Israel Lobby on OUR government and their collaborative assaults on my liberty.