By Richard Falk
25 May 2025 – The Gaza Tribunal will hold its first public session, starting today, 26 May, 10:00 AM GMT; it presents extensive reports on various dimensions of the Gaza Ordeal endured for more than 19 months by the population of the Gaza Strip, killing more than 50,000, wounding more than 100,000, and traumatizing the entire population estimated at 2.3 million on October 7, 2023. As this meeting gets underway the surviving Palestinian population is being subjected to tactics of deliberate denial of food and medical supplies, and Israel leaders and public opinion are calling for extermination tactics as supplemented by forced exclusion–ethnic cleansing–not only in Gaza, but also in the West Bank. The Gaza Tribunal was formed as a civil society initiative after it became clear that neither the UN nor its member states possessed the political will or operational capabilities to stop the killing and devastation. Its intention is lend legitimacy to nonviolent civil society solidarity initiatives in support of the Palestinian struggle for basic rights. Links are available to access the streaming of the Sarajevo proceedings. <youtube.com/@gazatribunal>]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbMNpSECxQ0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbMNpSECxQ0]
GAZA TRIBUNAL
Sarajevo Meetings – May 26-29, 2025
International University of Sarajevo
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09:00 – 09:30
Welcome Speeches
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CHAMBER 1: INTERNATIONAL LAW
MONDAY, MAY 26
09:30 – 10:00
Chamber 1 Co-Chairs Introduce Proceedings
Michael Lynk, Susan Akram
10:00 – 12:00
Panel 1: Nakba and Colonial Genocide
- Genocide – Nimer Sultany
- Apartheid and Self-Determination – Victor Kattan
- Pre-recorded witness testimony – Al Haq field researcher
- Pre-recorded witness testimony – Ahmed Abu Artema
- Written witness testimony – Badil / read (3 testimonies)
- Q&A and Discussion
12:00 – 13:00
Lunch
13:00 – 14:45
Panel 2: Patterns of Genocide
- Political Prisoners – Lisa Hajjar
- Right to Food – Farah Imad
- Reproductive Systems – Heidi Matthews
- Pre-recorded prisoner witness testimonies – Addameer
- Pre-recorded testimony – Focal point engineer from Gaza (Arab Group for the Protection of Nature)
14:45 – 15:00
Coffee Break
15:00 – 16:30
Panel 3: Specific Acts
- Protection of Civilians – Maryam Jamshidi
- Attacks on Healthcare Infrastructure – Wesam Ahmad on behalf of Al Haq
- Witness testimony: Volunteer Physician in Gaza – Dr. Thaer Ahmad
- Witness testimony: Volunteer Physician in Gaza – Dr. Mimi Syed
- Q&A and Discussion
16:45 – 17:30
Expert Talk
Raji Sourani
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CHAMBER 2: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS & WORLD ORDER
TUESDAY, MAY 27
09:00 – 09:30
Chamber 2 Co-Chairs Introduce Proceedings
Richard Falk, Craig Mokhiber
09:30 – 10:00
Panel 1: Political Realism and Contemporary Geopolitics
- Political Realism Revisited and the Law of Peoples
- Past Global Response to Genocide: A Record of Failure – Richard Falk, Paulina Chan
10:00 – 11:15
Panel 2: Political Economy of Genocide and Obliteration of Gaza
Moderator: Wesam Ahmad
- Nakba, Liberation, and Decolonization Through a Political Economic Lens: from 1948 to the Gaza Genocide – Lara Eborno
- Enforcement and the Accountability Gap: The Crime of Starvation – Hilal Elver
- Ecocidal Violence in Gaza: Is it Part of Genocide or a Separate International Crime? – David Whyte
- Pursuing Physically Disabling Combat Tactics – Penny Green
11:15 – 11:30
Coffee Break
11:30 – 12:30
Expert Testimonies
Mazin Qumsiyeh, Sami Al Arian, Azzam Tamimi, Noura Erakat
12:30 – 14:00
Lunch
14:00 – 15:00
Panel 3: Deficiencies of the Formal International Normative Order
Moderator: Lisa Hajjar
- The International System in the Age of Genocide – Craig Mokhiber
- Looking Ahead to Enforcement – Phyllis Bennis
- Working with and Beyond International Courts – Michelle Burgis-Kasthala
15:00 – 15:45
Panel 4: GTP Conception of an Alternative Jurisprudential Legal Paradigm
Moderator: Penny Green
- Peoples’ Tribunals as Alternative Justice Sites: Assessing the Role of Civil Society – Michelle Burgis-Kasthala
- Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal – Gianni Tognoni
15:45 – 16:00
Coffee Break
16:00 – 17:15
Panel 5: Activism of Civil Society and Social Movements
Moderator: Wesam Ahmad
- Sumud and Self-Determination: The Enduring Legacy Against Erasure – Ramzy Baroud
- Jewish Voices for Peace and the Ceasefire Campaign – Phyllis Bennis
- Learning from South Africa’s Anti-Apartheid Struggle – Haidar Eid
- Criminalization of Student Protests – Asmer Safi
17:15 – 18:00
Discussion
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CHAMBER 3: HISTORY, SOCIOLOGY, ETHICS & PHILOSOPHY
WEDNESDAY, MAY 28
09:00 – 09:30
Chamber 3 Co-Chairs introduce proceedings
Penny Green, Cemil Aydin
09:30 – 10:30
Panel 1: Understanding Genocide
Moderator: Lara Elborno
- Genocide as State Crime: Understanding It as a Process – Penny Green
- Ethical Implications of the Genocide in Gaza – Ayhan Citil
- History of Ethnic Cleansing/Genocide – Illan Pappe
10:30 – 11:30
Panel 2: Exposing Dehumanization
Moderator: Cemil Aydin
- Challenging the Matrix of Control/House Demolitions – Jeff Halper
- An Ontological Abortion of the Enfleshed Genocidal State: The Ongoing Genocidal Nakba in Gaza – Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian
- The Unmaking of the Palestinian Home – Henrietta Zeffert
11:30 – 11:45
Coffee Break
11:45 – 13:00
Panel 3: Resisting Genocide
Moderator: Thomas MacManus
- The GT Archive – Andy Simmons, Michelle Burgis-Kasthala
- Palestinian Resistance – Abed Takriti
- Archaeology and the Erasure of Palestine – Akram Lilja
- Expert testimony: The BDS Campaign – Omar Bargouti
13:00 – 14:00
Lunch
14:00 – 15:00
Panel 4: Civilization and Weaponizing the Holocaust and Anti-Semitism
Moderator: Sami Al Arian
- Holocaust Exceptionalism and Israel’s Genocide – Raz Segal
- Ethnic Cleansing Through Civilisational Narratives – Cemil Aydin
- The Role of the Israeli Academy in Genocide Production – Maya Wind
15:00 – 16:15
Media Roundtable
Moderator: Mehmet Karlı
Ezgi Basaran, Victoria Brittain, Lauren Booth, Lubna Masarwa, Kenize Mourad, Peter Oborne, Assal Rad
16:15 – 16:30
Coffee Break
16:30 – 17:15
Panel 5: Cultures of Erasure
Moderator: Wesam Ahmad
- Politics of Palestine Exception – Ussama Makdisi
- Zionist Culture and Genocide Denial – Saree Makdisi
17:15 – 17:30
Summary of Chamber 3 Report
Penny Green, Cemil Aydın
17:30 – 18:00
Final Discussion of the Sarajevo Declaration
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DAY 4
THURSDAY, MAY 29
09:00 – 10:00
Srebrenica/Gaza Special Panel
Moderator: Ahmet Köroğlu
Panelists: Arnesa Buljušmić-Kustura, Harun Halilović, Mustafa Cerić
10:00 – 10:45
Expert Talk
Taha Abdurrahman
10:45 – 11:00
Break
11:00 – 12:00
Presentation of the Sarajevo Declaration of the Gaza Tribunal + Press Conference
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PUBLIC ASSEMBLY
May 26-29, 2025
JOIN US LIVE ON YOUTUBE
youtube.com/@gazatribunal
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Prof. Richard Falk is a member of the TRANSCEND Network, Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, Chair of Global Law, Faculty of Law, at Queen Mary University London, Research Associate the Orfalea Center of Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Fellow of the Tellus Institute.
26 May 2025
Source: transcend.org