The Russell Tribunal on Palestine - The Movie

(♪ Arabic song♪)
[Russell Tribunal on Palestine]

(♪ ♪)
[with the support of the Russell Peace Foundation Ltd]

[ I am from a small village in the West Bank called Nabi Saleh which began to demonstrate once a week, four years ago, against the stealing of our land by the settlers more than 25 years ago]

(♪♪)
[Bilal Tamimi]

(♪♪)

(loudspeaker: in Arabic)

(Off voices: in Arabic)
(Gun noises, screams)

(piano music)
["May this tribunal prevent the crime of silence" - Bertrand Russell]

(Pierre Galand) Il m'appartient maintenant de -- officiellement - ouvrir cette session.

(Stéphane Hessel - Honorary president of the RToP)
Today, our task here,

as members of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine

is very simple very clear

very uncontroversial.

We are here to say what violations

of international Law is being committed

of which the Palestinian people has been suffering from -- for the last 16 years.

We are here to say

that any country member of the United Nations,

and that is the case of France, of South Africa and of Israel,

has a commitment to that Charter,

which is to implement

the texts that have been submitted and adopted

by the International Organizations.

(piano music)
[The Russell Tribunal has no legal status but acts as a court of the people, a Tribunal of conscience faced with injustices and violations of international law,

that are not dealt with by existing international jurisdictions, or that are recognized but continue with complete impunity due to the lack of political will of the international community]

(Pierre Galand RToP General Coordinator)
Plus de 80 experts et témoins ont travaillé pendant ces quatre sessions

à Barcelone, à Londres, à Capetown, à New York

et ils ont été accompagnés, eux aussi, alors, d'une équipe extraordinaire

de juristes de droit international.

(♪Arabic song♪)

(Michael Mansfield - UK Barrister, Queen's counsel, RToP Jury member)
The forces at work in Palestine,

much the same as the forces at work elsewhere

are recognizing the chips are down and that there is action being taken

and there is an interesting correlation in connection

-- Tony mentioned it -- a connection between these various movements

and the Palestinians because they all recognize

that what the Palestinians have had to put up with the sixty years, sometimes much longer,

and they have, is their struggle.

(Mohammed Khatib - Palestinian activist)
You know that from my roof

in Bil'in, which is 15 kilometer from the Mediterranean sea, I can see the sea.

I can see it: it's so totally clear to see it.

But I didn't be there and then I'm not managing

to be there and to be in this ...

... sea.

(Rafeef Ziadah - Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS)
Today as we speak

there are Palestinian workers stopped at checkpoints

that can't get through, being held up by 18-year-old soldiers.

There are farmers watching their land but unable to get to them.

There are Palestinian tour drivers showing tourists parts of Palestine that they can not get to

and having to smile while doing it to make a living.

The ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1947 and 48

that lead to the flight of over 3/4 of the Palestinian population

is the starting point of any explanation of the evolution of Palestinan labor conditions.

Palestinian workers today are spread across many geographical regions.

Refugees like myself are denied our right to return to our homes.

Those living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in scattered population centers

are divided from one another by Israeli settlements, military checkpoints and Israeli-only highways

and finally, there are Palestinian workers who are citizens of the state of Israel.

Each of these groups of Palestinian workers face harsh conditions to various degrees

but their conditions stem from the multi-tiered system of colonialism, occupation and apartheid

imposed on them by the Israeli state.

(Off voice) C'est l'histoire d'un grand-père qui parle avec son petit-fils

et son petit-fils qui lui dit: "Mais, je n'arrive pas à déterrer ce pieu-là."

Et le grand-père lui dit: "Tu sais, si tu veux y arriver et que tu tires d'un coup, tu n'y arriveras jamais.

Si par contre, tu le bouges un peu dans tous les sens, comme ça,

devant, derrière, à droite, à gauche,

un jour, tu le sortiras, ce pieu."

[Estak - Luis]

(♪ ♪ )

(♪ ♪)
[The third international session of the RToP took place in Cape Town, on 5, 6 and 7 November 2011.]

♪ [Man sings in Judeo-Spanish (?)]♪
[It asked a question:]

♪ [Man sings in Judeo-Spanish (?)]♪
["Are Israel practices against the Palestinian People]

♪ [Man sings in Judeo-Spanish (?)]♪
[in breach of the prohibition on apartheid under International Law?"]

♪ [Man sings in Judeo-Spanish]♪

♪ [Man sings in Judeo-Spanish]♪

♪ [Man sings in Judeo-Spanish]♪

♪ [Man sings in Judeo-Spanish]♪

(Jeff Halper - Anthropologist and activist) We use the word apartheid in Israel officially.

In other words, the word we use, the name of our policy

towards the Palestinians is called "Hafrada" in Hebrew.

H A F R A D A

Hafrada in Hebrew means apartheid, separateness, to separate.

We simply say it in Hebrew rather than Afrikaans

but it's the same -- it's the same concept and in fact,

the official name of the Wall is not the security barrier

because it really wasn't built for security but the official name of the Wall

is the separation barrier so it's up -- and Israel calls the line to the wall

-- I was going to show it on a slide but we don't have it --

but that Israel calls the torturous line of the Wall

that intrudes deeply into Palestinian territory its demographic border

Its security border is the Jordan River

but the demographic border is, is

-- and this is all in documents in government statements this isn't

something secret that I'm revealing today.

It's upfront and its explicit

and I think that it confirms what the lady was saying.

♪ [Man sings in Judeo-Spanish]♪

♪ [Man sings in Judeo-Spanish]♪

♪ [Man sings in Judeo-Spanish]♪

When you go to the Holy Land

for us

not

having being drilled by any bloody

for us for me

it has being such an uncanny

such a

and

agonizing thing to see

a reply of what

used to happen here.

In many respects apartheid regime

was much more honest because the laws of
apartheid

were openly legislated in parliament

and then it was clear for all to see

where is the laws governing Palestinians in the
Palestinian territory

are largely contained you know skid military
degrees or inherited emergency regulation

which are virtually inaccessible

(speaker: Arabic)

I recognize that law is rife from power

I recognize that the way that laws are
made

is not some organic laws but that
there is

the power that creates laws,

but that said I think that we generally know

what is just and what is unjust and
what the United States has attempted to

do

in Palestine is to make what is unjust seem just

what is illegal seem legal

The Palestinian people constitute
one of the largest and longest standing

unresolved situation of displacement
in the world

about half the refugees in the world

are palestinian approximately 66 percent

or 7.4 million of the entire population of

eleven-point two million Palestinians is
forcibly displaced

among those displaced are at least six
point eight million Palestinian refugees

and another $500 in nineteen thousand
internally displaced persons

The New York session of the tribunal focused on the complicity of the United States of America and the failings of the United Nations

regarding the Israeli breaches of international law towards Palestine and Palestinians.

Before the Arab world decided to use force

in order to reject the partition planned by
the United Nations

namely before the 15th May 1948 and before it was clear

what other positions of the sides
because the united nation deliberation

on Palestine continued before this deliberation ended

already half of the Palestinians became refugees.

I know perfectly well that sociocidio

it's not an object a positive
international

I can sense one reason why

this is what western colonialism is about

it was also about killing it was also about destroying nature

but it was also abve all tearing apart

fragmenting marginalizing local

indigenous societies.

In an official disocurse

in a israeli official discourse starting from 2007

the head of the Israeli Intelligence Yuval Diskin

has described the Palestinian inside Israel

of course those who don't accept the rules of the
game

as a strategic threat

Our job as a civil society is to pick
up the slack when the United Nations

fails to do the job it is mandated to do
because the United States government

refuses to allow it to do

what it is mandated to do that's our job
that's the job

of a civil society that was the reason that
the largest at the United States

mobilizations on February 15

2003 in their work 250 some-odd
demonstrations across this country

but by far the largest was on foot of the United Nations

because we were saying to the United
Nations the same thing

that people around the world were saying
the world says no to war

now the world is saying no to
Israeli occupation and apartheid

Your resolutions traced the history of
israeli violations

you regret you deplore you even condemn
the violations

but when have your resolutions been implemented?

It is not enough to deplore, condemn
what we need is for the United Nations

for you Excellencies your governments
and the General Assembly in which you serve

to take seriously your responsibility to
protect Palestinians

living under occupation and facing the
daily violation

of their inalienable rights of
self-determination and equality.

The will of we, the people of these United Nations,

is that all our brothers and sisters
should be free to live in

self-determination

that the oppression be released from their burden

by being given recourse to the law.

And I want to begin by emphatically

asserting

that the important work of the Russell Tribunal

on Palestine is not over

and so now is the time to issue

the strongest possible condemnation of Israel

we demand that the state of Israel immediately

dismantle its system of apartheid

not only in the occupied territories but also in
relation to Palestinian refugees

and inside Israel itself.

We demand in the strongest possible terms

that Israel rescind all discriminatory laws and

practices and that it immediately

hold its persecution of palestinian
wherever

they may reside

The legitimacy of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine does not come from a government or any political party but from the prestige, professional interests

and commitment to fundamental rights of the Members that constitute this Tribunal.