[News] The People vs. The Abyss: The Sarajevo Declaration of the Gaza Tribunal

[Anti-Imperialist News]

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The People vs. The Abyss: The Sarajevo Declaration of the Gaza
Tribunal By Craig
Mokhiber <https://mondoweiss.net/author/craig-mokhiber/> June 5, 2025
------------------------------
[image: 080423_Berlin_ZU_00-4.jpg]
Pro-Palestinian protesters rallying in Berlin, Germany in April 2023.
(Photo: © Michael Kuenne/PRESSCOV via ZUMA Press Wire APA Images)
A people’s tribunal

Almost sixty years ago, the world watched in horror as the US carried out
brutal aggression and serial atrocities against the people of Vietnam.
Those atrocities, and the apparent impunity afforded to the US in their
commission, was, for many, too much to bear.

Because no state, no group of states, or international institution was
coming to rescue the Vietnamese people, it quickly became clear that
freedom would come only from popular resistance inside Vietnam, and a
global solidarity movement outside.

It was in that context that Bertrand Russell, the prominent British
philosopher and public intellectual, launched the first “people’s tribunal
<https://opil.ouplaw.com/display/10.1093/law-mpeipro/e3205.013.3205/law-mpeipro-e3205>”
as an organized expression of moral outrage.

In 1967, he stood before the Russell Tribunal and declared
<https://chomsky.info/1971____/#:~:text=In%20Bertrand%20Russell%20War%20Crimes,about%20circumstances%20in%20the%20colonies'.>:
“*W**e are not judges. We are witnesses. Our task is to make mankind bear
witness to these terrible crimes and to unite humanity on the side of
justice.*”

Today, another people’s tribunal is following in the footsteps of Russell,
this time to confront the Israeli regime’s genocide in Palestine, the
racist ideology that underpins it, and the complicit western powers and
corporations that enable it.
The Gaza Tribunal

Assembled in November of 2024, and meeting for the first time in London in
February of 2025, the Gaza Tribunal <https://gazatribunal.com/> has just
completed its first public meeting in Sarajevo (26-29 May 2025) with the
adoption of the *Declaration of Sarajevo*
<https://gazatribunal.com/the-sarajevo-declaration-of-the-gaza-tribunal/>.

The Tribunal was initiated by another celebrated public intellectual, this
time Professor Richard Falk <https://richardfalk.org/>, preeminent
professor of international law, former UN Special Rapporteur on human
rights in Palestine, and now the President of the Gaza Tribunal.

The Gaza Tribunal assembles thinkers and activists
<https://gazatribunal.com/advisory-policy-council/> from Palestine and
around the globe to address not only the colonial and genocidal horrors
being perpetrated by the Israeli regime in Palestine, but also, the
complicity of powerful states, corporations, media companies, and Israel
proxy groups in the West, as well as the inaction or inadequate response of
the majority of countries and institutions in the world, whether at the
national or international levels.

Structuring itself around three “chambers,” the Tribunal considers
questions of (1) international law
<https://gazatribunal.com/chambers/international-law-chamber/>, (2)
international
relations and world order
<https://gazatribunal.com/chambers/international-relations-and-world-order-chamber/>,
and (3) history, ethics, and philosophy
<https://gazatribunal.com/chambers/history-ethics-and-philosophy-chamber/>,
examining all aspects of the struggle against genocide and for Palestinian
freedom.

Considering survivor testimonies, expert witnesses, and the analysis of its
members, the Tribunal will ultimately convene a “jury of conscience” to
pronounce later this year. It is compiling an archive of evidence. And its
Declaration of Sarajevo, adopted on 29 May 2025, encapsulates its vision
for a global, moral response to the ongoing *Nakba* in Palestine.
Why a tribunal?

The work of the Tribunal is based on a fundamental premise: that the people
of Palestine are human beings with human rights, including the right to
self-determination, to return to their homes anywhere in historic
Palestine, to equality under the law, and to freedom from fear and want. It
recognizes that the alignment of dark forces perpetrating genocide in
Palestine represents an existential threat to the survival of the people of
Palestine, to international peace and security, and to the project of a
just international order. And it begins with the recognition that
governments and the international institutions ostensibly established to
maintain peace and security and to advance human rights and international
law have failed to end the impunity of the Israeli regime and to respond
effectively to the genocide and to a century of colonial persecution in
Palestine.

As such, the Tribunal recognizes that the challenge of justice falls to
*people*, to legitimate resistance, to acts of solidarity, to civil
society, to social movements, and to people of conscience everywhere. It
understands the need to mobilize the power of the people, in their
millions, to challenge the crimes of the Israeli regime and its
co-conspirators, to isolate the Israeli regime and to actively dissent to
the complicity of our own governments and institutions.

It seeks to counter the forces of evil with the forces of justice, by
bringing pressure to bear in every sector, and making clear that genocide
will not be normalized, that apartheid will not be normalized, that
colonialism will not be normalized, and that Palestine will be free. This
is the cry of conscience of the Gaza Tribunal. A call to all decent people
to oppose the lawlessness and brutality of powerful actors implicated in
the genocide in Palestine, foremost the Israeli regime, but also the US,
the UK, Germany and their collaborators.
What the Tribunal is not

While the Tribunal includes some of the most skilled international lawyers
<https://gazatribunal.com/chambers/international-law-chamber/> on the
planet, it is not a formal judicial or legal mechanism, but rather an
assembly of civil society, of movements, of thinkers and activists, and of
people of conscience determined to end the horrors that we are all forced
to witness in Palestine.

Neither does the Tribunal believe it must wait to act until final
pronouncements are made by any international court, years down the road.
In the face of a historic exigency like genocide, members of the Tribunal
view passive deference to official institutions as morally indefensible.

Unlike a court, the Tribunal *begins* with the recognition of the reality
of genocide, of apartheid and settler colonialism, which its members see as
undeniable realties. These crimes have long been confirmed by prominent
human rights organizations, UN bodies, and genocide scholars, and are by
now beyond reasonable doubt. Indeed, this assault in Gaza has rightly been
called “the world’s first livestreamed genocide.”

While official institutions endlessly debate whether the night is falling,
the people of Palestine know that the darkness is already here, and that
means that we all have a moral obligation to find ways to restore the
light. The Tribunal therefore sees an urgent moral imperative in
confronting these crimes now, with all the power and resolve that can be
mobilized in society.

The Tribunal also differs from many official institutions in that it does not
engage in the moral prevarication that is so common among governments and
official institutions, including the political offices of the UN. The
Tribunal rejects the rhetorical application of a “*both sides*” approach to
a situation like Palestine, in which the two sides are colonizer and
colonized, occupier and occupied, oppressor and oppressed, genocidaires and
victims.

Neither does the Tribunal recognize an Israel exception to international
law, so often insisted upon by Western powers to buttress Israeli state
impunity and to protect individual Israeli perpetrators from
accountability.  But either the law is real and applies to all equally, or
it is a lie, a perfidious weapon of oppression and subjugation in the hands
of power. The Tribunal comes down squarely on the side of the rule of law.

Finally, the Tribunal refuses the gag orders imposed by the Israeli regime,
its Western allies and proxies, and its   complicit media corporations. The
Tribunal speaks openly about root causes, the words that states and
official institutions often refuse to utter, including Zionism, settler
colonialism, ethno-supremacism, and apartheid, because they are the root of
the problem. And the Tribunal confronts genocide directly, never diverting
its eyes, never employing the familiar rhetorical tricks (“only a court can
declare genocide”) often used by UN officials to avoid the question.

The Tribunal does so not only because it’s right in moral terms, but also
in recognition of the simple truism that no conflict can be resolved
without attention to root causes. And it should by now be clear to all that
the Palestine crisis will certainly not be resolved by reviving the
stinking corpse of the Oslo process, by establishing Palestinian
Bantustans, or by an amorphous promise of a two-state solution somewhere
down the road.

As evidenced by its Declaration of Sarajevo, the Tribunal speaks the truth
outload, and has the audacity to demand actual justice, not empty rhetoric
or meaningless consolation prizes in its stead.
A Declaration of conscience and a call to action

Thus, the Sarajevo Declaration offers itself as an antidote to the moral
obfuscation, the distorted narratives, and the silent complicity that has
dominated official positions for the past nineteen months, indeed, the past
seventy-seven years. The declaration is an appeal of conscience that
directly addresses the struggle against the darkness, the evil of the
Israeli regime, its ideology and actions, and its collaborators. And it
provides a platform for collective action upon which people can organize.

Thus, in the Declaration of Sarajevo, the Gaza Tribunal declares moral
outrage at the genocide and the myriad other crimes of the Israeli regime,
solidarity with the people of Palestine, and commitment to working with
partners across global civil society to end the genocide, and to ensure
accountability for perpetrators and enablers, redress for victims and
survivors, and a free Palestine.

It demands an immediate end to those crimes, including the occupation, the
siege, the apartheid, and the genocide, and freedom for all Palestinian
prisoners. It calls on all governments and on international organizations
to act. And it denounces all those who have been complicit in the regime’s
crimes, from states to media companies, arms corporations, and others.

Importantly, the Declaration expresses the conviction that the struggle
against all forms of racism, bigotry, and discrimination necessarily
includes the equal rejection of Islamophobia, anti-Arab and
anti-Palestinian racism, and antisemitism, as well as an acknowledgment of
the horrific effects of Zionism, apartheid, and settler-colonialism on the
Palestinian people. The Declaration explicitly rejects “the destructive
ideology of Zionism, as the official state ideology of the Israeli regime,
of the forces that colonized Palestine and established the Israeli state on
its ruins, and of pro-Israel organizations and proxies today.” And it calls
for decolonization across the land, an end to the ethno-supremacist order,
and the replacement of Zionism with a dispensation founded on equal human
rights for Christians, Muslims, Jews, and others.

Expressing concern both at the failings of the international system and at
attacks on those international institutions that have challenged genocide
and apartheid in Palestine, the Declaration demands immediate action to
isolate, contain, and hold accountable the Israeli regime. To these ends,
it calls for universal boycott, divestment, sanctions, a military embargo,
suspension from International organizations, and the criminal prosecution
of perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, gross
violations of human rights, and complicity.

It denounces the wave of persecution and crackdowns on human rights
defenders, peace activists, students, academics, workers, and
professionals, and honors those who, despite this persecution, have had the
courage and moral convictions to stand up and speak out. And it calls out
the tactic of smearing as “antisemites” or “supporters of terrorism” all
those who dare to speak up against the Israeli regime and its crimes.

The Declaration honors “the courageous resistance and resilience of the
Palestinian people, and the movement of millions standing in solidarity
with them,” and it recognizes the right of the Palestinian people to armed
resistance in accordance with international law. It recalls that the
Palestinian right to self-determination is “*jus cogens* and *erga omnes *and
is non-negotiable and axiomatic.” And it respects “Palestinian aspirations
and recognizes full Palestinian agency and leadership over all decisions
affecting their lives.”

While critical of the failure of most international institutions to act
effectively to challenge the Israeli regime and its crimes, the Declaration
also recognizes those international actors that have acted with principle.
It praises the International Court of Justice for its historic genocide
case against the Israeli regime and for its landmark advisory opinions on
Palestine. It recognizes South Africa for bringing the genocide case to the
ICJ. And it calls for expediting the case of the International Criminal
Court against Israeli perpetrators, for states parties to meet their
obligations to arrest them, and for the US to cease its persecution of the
court.

The independent special procedures of the UN Human Rights Council are also
the subject of praise, and the Declaration recognizes them “for their
expert contributions and for their strong and principled voices in holding
the Israeli regime to account and defending the human rights of the
Palestinian people.”  And the Declaration declares particular support for
humanitarian actors and international agencies that have acted to defend
the rights of the Palestinian people, foremost among them, UNRWA.
We will not relent: The final words of the Declaration

The Declaration of Sarajevo ends with a warning that “the world is
approaching a dangerous precipice, the front edge of which is in
Palestine.” It finds that key international organizations and most
countries of the world have failed in defending the human rights of the
Palestinian people and in responding to the Israeli regime’s genocide in
Palestine. And it concludes by declaring:

“The challenge of justice now falls to people of conscience everywhere, to
civil society and to social movements, to all of us.  As such, our work in
the coming months will be dedicated to meeting this challenge. Palestinian
lives are at stake. The international moral and legal order is at stake. We
must not fail. We will not relent.”

*Craig Mokhiber is a member of the Gaza Tribunal*.
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