Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Russell Tribunal-Palestine: Conference I -- Recording of the conference

For those of you who were unable to attend the internet/web conference (Saturday, March 6), or who may have just become aware of it, here is the link to the recording (about 1 hr. 45 min.):

Infinite Conferencing recording: RTP Web Conference I

In this conference you will hear (in order of appearance in the conference) Professor Jeff Halper (anthropologist, author, lecturer, political activist, and co-founder and Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) ), Dr. Ghada Karmi (Palestinian doctor of medicine, author, and a fellow and lecturer at the Institute of Arab & Islamic studies at Exeter University, UK), and Professor Nurit Peled-Elhanan (Israeli peace activist, professor at Hebrew University, and co-founder of the Bereaved Families for Peace) speak passionately, authoritatively, and from their personal experiences about the Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RTP), its mission, the verdict reached by the distinguished members of the RTP jury (in the first session of the RTP just concluded, March 3, in Barcelona), how the RTP is a "people's tribunal" that opens a window of opportunity for all of us to mobilize the international community and empower ourselves with the legal foundation with which to demand action from our governments to respect international laws and the norms of our civil society that have been formulated over the last century to advance us from a dark era of global conflicts forward toward a new era of global peace and cooperation and save ourselves from the ravages of war, the law of the jungle, and the environmental devastation that accompanies war through the various treaties which established the laws of war, universal norms for human rights and humanitarian protections and the charter of the United Nations.

This discussion, led by our host Stephen Lendman (Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization), highlights the hope that the RTP brings to the international grassroots movement for justice and a sustainable peace for Palestinians and Israeli Jews and the hope that the RTP represents (as voiced by Professor Peled-Elhanan) for the Israeli Jews, themselves, to be saved by forces outside Israel and rescued from certain self-destruction that will surely result from the internal turmoil in Israeli society caused by the militarism, racism, and culture of death that exists in that society, which is supported and encouraged by the immoral acts of powerful nations in the West (U.S. and E.U., primarily).

In my humble opinion, this conference is a "must experience" for every U.S. citizen and just might serve as a wake-up call for many of us (hopefully) and shock us into a realization that unless we all make a small committment of our time every week or month to become aware of how this situation in the Middle East is effectively erasing all the progress we have made as a global society toward establishing an international system of laws -- a situation that was created by our government's inaction to end the cycle of impunity that Israel currently enjoys because we protect her from any consequences arising from her illegal and immoral acts vis a vis the Palestinian people -- and begin to take some action to join or support in some way the rapidly growing movement internationally to force our governments to take the actions that they are required to take as signatories on various treaties and as contracting parties in the United Nations charter, etc., and to respect the rule of law and enforce those laws that have been established to protect the rights of all the worlds citizens. I will also just quickly add that we should all heed the warnings of the experts in this conference about how the rule of law is being eroded and what dire circumstances could result if this situation is not reversed by all of us taking action at the grassroots level -- we, the citizens of this global society and increasingly smaller and smaller world of ours. But, also, please take note of the positive side of this discussion regarding the hope that the RTP offers to us and the opportunity for us to join in a movement that WILL ultimately lead to the abolition of Apartheid in Israel, an end to the colonization of Palestine and a just and lasting peace in the Holy Land. Then, please stop and take a few moments to imagine what we could accomplish after we achieve this monumental and historic victory for humanity ...

If you enjoyed/were moved by/appreciated/were impressed with this conference, please consider sending a donation of any amount via check to help support our web conference project and help us support the Russell Tribunal on Palestine in accomplishing its mission: reestablish the rule of law in our world and undermine the forces (primarily here in the U.S.) that perpetuate war and militarism and the other evils that go hand-in-hand with them (see the February 27 post, below, for donation information).

Please note: we were unable to get everyone set up with the the proper video equipment, for various reasons, but mostly due to the last minute nature of our organizing this conference and obtaining the commitments of our guests to attend it. This is the reason we only have pictures of the host and guests on this "video" conference.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Web Conference Announcement

CONFERENCE START TIME: The conference will begin at: 7:00 A.M. (San Francisco) / 9:00 A.M. (Chicago) / 10:00 A.M. (New York) / 3:00 P.M. (London) / 5:00 P.M. (Jerusalem/Ramallah) on Saturday, March 6. Note: duration will be either 60 or 90 minutes depending on last minute pending arrangements.
EXPERT GUESTS: Joining our host, Stephen Lendman (Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization) will be: Dr. Nurit Peled-Elhanan (Hebrew University Professor, peace activist, and one of the founders of the Bereaved Families for Peace -- an outspoken critic of decades of Israeli colonialism, occupation and apartheid and was awarded the Sakharov prize for Human Rights and Freedom of Thought); Dr. Ghada Karmi (Palestinian doctor, expert on Middle East politics, Research Fellow at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, and author of In Search of Fatima about her exile from Palestine, and Married to Another Man, arguing for a one-state solution); and Professor Jeff Halper (anthropologist, author, lecturer, political activist, and co-founder and Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) ).