International Tribunal to Save Israel and Palestinians

By Ilan Ziv and Daoud Kuttab

For over twenty years we have worked together documenting the struggle between our peoples with the goal of saving our humanity, with the belief in the sanctity of life and the power of the rule of law. If we have learned anything in our years of work on the ground in Palestine, Israel and around the world, it is that our two peoples are incapable of solving our conflict by ourselves. We have also come to the strong belief that the US acting in a biased fashion has failed to be the impartial and honest broker it has claimed it will be. Instead we truly believe that there is an international body, yet to be established, that can save Israel, the Palestinians and indeed the region from this process of self destruction which has been spiraling out of control.

In 2001 in the height of the Second Intifada and in midst of the Palestinian suicide bombing campaign, and Israeli incursions, we published a joint article calling for an international war tribunal. In this article we concluded that Israelis and Palestinians are locked in a deadly embrace from which neither side can extricate itself. Neither society, we argued, is capable of producing the forces of change that could alter this deadly course. Both societies ,we wrote, are locked in their own concept of victimhood and self justification, while extremists on both sides are feeding off each other. Each convulsion of violence narrows further the space for dialogue and compromise, marginalizing internal opposition.

This was not an academic observation. It grew out of our own experience. For years we collaborated on a Palestinian/Israeli self documentation project where cameras were given to ordinary Palestinians and Israelis from all walks of life to record the impact of momentous political events on their lives. In "Palestinian Diaries," cameras were given to young Palestinians to record their experience of the first Intifada. We expanded the project after the signing of the Oslo accords to include six Israelis as well. We called it at the time "Peace Diaries." Yet while politicians spoke about peace, the material that came from villages, refugee camps and settlements showed the brewing of a new war.

Although our ways parted for some time, we have both been involved in focusing on issues of war crimes and the use of international instruments to hold people and governments accountable. Ilan has documented war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and Daoud contributed to and produced two editions of the Arabic version of the multi language book "Crimes of War-What the Public Should Know." Our work convinced us that only the creation of a special tribunal like those which were established during the war in the former Yugoslavia and after the massacre in Rwanda , will create an international body with a moral authority to hold a mirror in front of both societies. Only such a tribunal could sift through partisan rhetoric and claims of victimhood. The importance of such a court will be far more than enforcing international law. As in the Balkan, we believe, it will help to contain the conflict and force political changes.

In 2001 we never imagined the war in Gaza eight years later with its frightening human toll of hundreds of children and women dead or wounded. Hamas is accused of firing rockets into Israeli civilian locations but who could have imagined the response: as many as 200,000 internal refugees (estimated by human rights groups), the massive destruction of infrastructure and homes, the disproportional use of force and the attacks on UN facilities (even while the secretary general was meeting with Israeli officials).

This time there is a growing chorus calling for an international investigation into whether both sides committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. Though we whole heartedly support those calls, we know that the impact of such investigations in the past has been limited. Israel is not a signatory to the International Criminal Court in the Hague (neither is Hamas), therefore any attempt to bring the case to the Hague is bound to fail. The only choice, we believe, is the establishment of a special tribunal based on the legal precedents created in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. There are many obstacles to the establishment of such a court by the Security Council. However according to Prof. Richard Falk, the UN rapporteur on the human rights in the Palestinian territories, the court can be established by the General Assembly as well.

We believe that the cause of such a tribunal should be adopted by the hundreds of non governmental organizations recognized by the United Nations. They could put pressure on the members states to adopt such a resolution. At stake are not only the crimes committed yesterday but the future disasters that will be born out of the ruins of Gaza. As we peer into the abyss, we believe that the establishment of a War Crime Tribunal needs to be supported both by Israel's friends as well as by supporters of Palestine. It is the only international mechanism that can save Israel from itself and save the Palestinians and the region from a looming catastrophe.

Daoud Kuttab is a Palestinian journalist who lives in Jerusalem and Amman. Ilan Ziv is an Israeli documentary filmmaker living in New York City and director of Tamouz Media.

Comments

[Plowboy]

Frankly, nothing is going to be done to Israel or cany Israeli for these war crimes. Oh, there vmight be a very mild bit of scolding, but that is all.... except that the US taxpayers will have to increase the handout Israel gets annually.
That is what we have learned from history.

[chaos4700]

The current political and economic systems of the US have proved to be unsustainable. If Obama really does continue the policies of his predecessors, I think we will find that the US will be increasingly irrelevant in the 21st century world.

[alexa07]

Yes, I want to thank you for this viewpoint. It is time to look beyond American solutions to the conflict in the Middle East. How can our leaders possibly be fair to the Palestinians? Why do American leaders even Obama have to make pledges to Israel? Why as American taxpayers does my family have to pay for the weapons that have killed so many in Palestine? Why do the tax dollars of my family have to underwrite colonies in Palestine? Why do my Congressional representatives make certain I have NO say over how they most foolishly give their "unwavering support" to the atrocities committed in Gaza by the Israelis?

[Taxi]

For six consecutive generations, Israel has always 'democratically elected' political leaders with Arab blood on their hands. That's how Israeli society likes it's politicians - they have to pass the 'I hate Arabs more than You Do' test before they are even considered as worthy politicians.

The whole country needs to be arrested and tried for war crimes - if medication and therapy produce no positive results.

[aemathisphd]

I'm sorry, but this just isn't true. Ben-Gurion and Labor in general was quite eager in the first thirty years of the nation's history to include Arabs in the governments of Israel. It's also a fact — indisputably — that Israel is the only country in the world with a per capita Arab population its size that allows those Arabs to actually vote and be represented in a parliament that is democratically elected. I'm not sure why sneer quotes are used around the words "democratically elected," but that's one plus Israel has going for it. For better or worse, it's a democracy.

[Taxi]

Ah right, you mean the Ben-Gurion who said:

“We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population.”

That nice old Israeli man, right, yes, of course.

I challenge you to name ANY Israeli leader and I GUARANTEE you a similar if not more appalling quote.

As regards to your quote: " indisputably " that Israel is the only country in the world with a per capita Arab population its size that allows those Arabs to actually vote and be represented in a parliament that is democratically elected."

I'm sorry I gotta laugh for a second or two..... right, ehm, i'm back. Now, look at the map of Israel and right there on the northern border is the following: The REPUBLIC of Lebanon, a democracy. Now look at west bank and Gaza: Hamas was DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED by the Palestinian people, as a reaction for the long-toothed corrupt Fatah.

[billybunterbatter]

Another interesting Article

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5556047.ece

[billybunterbatter]

And look who is going to be elected in Febuary........It doesnt bode well for any sort of peace and more than likely we will see anither bloodbath as they try and finish the job of destroying H a m a s.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-so-far-obamas-missed-the-point-on-gaza-1488632.html

[aemathisphd]

The election is far from over. I would also remind readers that polls in Israel have been deceptive in the past, and furthermore that the Defense Minister, whose party is the third largest in Israel, is more likely to align with Kadima than the Likud.

Bibi is bad for Israel and worse for the Palestinians, but as I wrote elsewhere, it is in the hands of Israeli Arabs to stop him.

[111]

There is a need for an investigation and punishment of some kind, if warranted. I have not heard what war crimes Gaza committed in this most recent battle and I try to find and read balanced reporting.

http://www.btselem.org/English/index.asp, hrw.org, http://warincontext.org, http://normanfinkelstein.com/index.php are some of the sites I visit in addition to reading the NY Times, etc.

Jimmy Carter wrote about the fact that Palestinians are living in an apartheid state and we know that apartheid breeds hatred and violence. A war tribunal will address the state of Israel's crimes during this attack but the underlying problems will not be resolved. The apartheid state must be abolished if there is going to be hope for peace.

[aemathisphd]

Hamas does, in fact, regularly employ human shields. Go to MEMRI.org to see Arab leaders speaking about this. The translations are wholly reliable and speak for themselves.

[chaos4700]

There are also accounts of the IDF using the Gazans as human shields when they moved into the strip, so I guess this argument is a wash.

[dare i hope]

A war tribunal is an excellent idea.

I think the author is too generous to the U. S. as far as its policy in the Middle East is concerned.

Had foreign policy not been so one-sided and pro-Israel, there may have been a way in which the two sides of this conflict would have learned to coexist.

Diplomats and others share their concerns about the risks to the U. S. from its one-sided policies in the Middle East:

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/315.html

[paolasi]

I cannot believe that once again Israel will get a carte blanche without any consequences to what is nothing more than war crimes. The very numbers, 1000+ dead one third of them children and most of them civilians, and 13 Israeli dead, three of them civilians says it all. Phosphorous bombs, dime bombs, preventing access to medical care, targeting civilian targets, the list goes on and on. We tax payers who are sponsoring all this have a lot to answer for!

[Plowboy]

Well, believe it!
Those who run our financial institutions and our propaganda systems want it so, so our politicians will make it so, again and again.