Proposal for setting up an international citizens’ tribunal on the deeds committed by the Israeli army and secret services in Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territories 

	The deeds committed by the Israeli army and secret services in Lebanon, as in the occupied Palestinian territories, constitute a violent affront to the universal human conscience.  These are criminal acts, as many people feel instinctively.   They are different from the acts that take place in all armed conflict committed by the aggressor as well as by the aggressed.   But feeling is not enough.  The facts must be established.    They must then be assessed in the  light of existing international law.  This should be done with the detachment and rigour of a process that excludes any a priori conclusions, the results of which will convince all people of good will.

	The international community is not an autonomous political and juridical body.     It is but a summation of positions adopted by a certain number of governments.   In many situations it has proved incapable of applying existing law by distancing itself from geopolitical or ideological contingencies.    This impunity has covered up the numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity that have been committed since the end of the second world war.

	The unilateral attitude of the United States of America, like the double-speak of many European governments, make it necessary for those defending the law to take the place of failed political powers.    The American administration is against any questioning of Israel’s role in acts committed in Lebanon as well as in the occupied Palestinian territories.   Germany, Great Britain, Finland and France refuse to support a request formulated at the UN Human Rights Council to investigate the use by the Israeli armed forces of arms that are prohibited by international law.  The systematic disinformation practised by an overwhelming majority of the media deprives Western public opinion of balanced information.   All this justifies an initiative by the citizens themselves.

	This initiative must aim at being of the same high quality as the tribunal initiated by Bertrand Russell during the Vietnam war.  It should be carried out with the same rigour, the same credibility and the same concern to go beyond divisions which have no place when it is a question of the rights of people.   It must bring together highly qualified experts and personalities who are universally recognized for their moral authority.   It must not limit itself up to a restricted circle.  For this reason I believe it should not follow in the footsteps of similar initiatives taken in the past, whatever the quality that such work has achieved in the past.

	Such an action cannot be carried out properly in a hurry. It require an the formulation of a comprehensive project, together with a precise timetable, the mobilization of appropriate human and financial resources and an irreproachable moral framework.  These requirements demand an international mobilization to support such an initiative.

	For this purpose we propose that a preparatory committee be set up which will carry out as rapidly as possible all the tasks necessary for launching this initiative.  We ask your active participation in creating this preparatory committee.   

Coordinateurs:
Raoul Marc JENNAR
chercheur URFIG / Fondation Copernic
consultant de la GUE/NGL au Parlement européen (bureau 4E202)
7, place du Château, F 66500 Mosset
Tél. (PE) : 00 32 2 283 10 43
Tel. : 00 33 468 05 84 25
Port. : 00 33 632 16 65 52
www.urfig.org
raoul.jennar@europarl.europa.eu

Leila Ghanem
Rédacteur en Chef de Bada'el
Présidente de l'Association ADEMA
51, avenue Charles Gide, 94270 Le Kremlin Bicêtre
Tel: 00 33 1 46 58 24 04
Port: 00 33 615 26 31 14
thearabecologist@yahoo.fr
lilia.ghanem@wanadoo.fr

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