International People’s Tribunal on Palestine begins in Spain
A forum on Israel’s war crimes in Palestine has kicked off in Barcelona, Spain.
Called the International People’s Tribunal on Palestine, the two-day forum aims to probe war crimes committed by Israel and its supporters, including with witness and expert testimony.
Organised by the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, International People’s Front and People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty, the forum says it will “present evidence from key witnesses and experts to expose the extent of the Zionist occupation’s genocidal use of ecocide and forced starvation against the people of Palestine”.
It also says it seeks to demonstrate “the complicit role of the US and other backers of the occupation’s crimes such as the UK, France, Germany and others, and so-called private entities like the US and Zionist-led Gaza Humanitarian Foundation”.
Gaza aid flotilla activist speaks at International People’s Tribunal
Saif Abukashek, a Palestinian activist and coordinator of the Global Sumud Flotilla aid mission, has spoken at the International People’s Tribunal on Palestine. He said the tribunal represents an effort by civil society to take a stand against Israel’s abuses and the “corrupt structure” that enables them.
“The voices of people who are being oppressed and criminalised have not only to be heard, but to be taken into action,” said Abukashek.
Israel guilty of inflicting long-lasting ecological damage on Gaza
Omar Nashabe, a criminal justice scholar and human rights researcher, says Israel has inflicted extensive, long-lasting environmental damage on Gaza in addition to the staggering civilian death toll.
Speaking at the International People’s Tribunal on Palestine in Barcelona, Nashabe described the systematic destruction of Gaza’s agricultural land and widespread contamination from Israeli munitions.
He presented satellite images showing how Gaza’s agriculture, greenhouses, and irrigation systems have been decimated since the war began, making “food production impossible at scale”.
In Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood, he said, “there is not one olive tree or green space” left. Nashabe also cited public statements from high-ranking Israeli officials demanding restrictions on resources to Gaza’s population as “evidence of intent” – a main requirement to prove the crime of ecocide.
“To starve them [Palestinians] you need tools, and one of the main tools is to destroy the environment,” he said.
The destruction of land, water systems, sanitation facilities, and essential infrastructure amounts to violations of international humanitarian law and are war crimes, said Nashabe.
