Le tribunal pour la Palestine a été fondé sur le modèle du tribunal Russell pour la guerre du Viet-Nâm dirigé par Jean-Paul Sartre. À l’époque (1966), son fondateur, lord Russell, le formulait de la sorte : une instance « chargée d’expertiser et de juger la situation politique, diplomatique et humanitaire » issue de la guerre menée par les États-Unis contre les Vietnamiens. Il s’ouvrira officiellement le 1 er mars 2010 en Espagne, à Barcelone, la ville où l’idée symbolique d’une union des pays méditerranéens avait vu le jour en 1995.
Des réunions de préparation sont chargées de recenser tous les arguments qui permettront au droit de prendre sa juste place dans les relations entre Israéliens et Palestiniens et à la justice d’être rendue. Le tribunal Russell sur la Palestine n’est donc nullement un acte de militants illuminés, mais un travail d’avocats et de juristes. Son but est bien de faire respecter le droit international, non d’avoir un parti pris pavlovien contre l’État hébreu. Rappelons qu’une centaine de résolutions des Nations unies n’ont jamais été respectées par Israël depuis plus de soixante ans.

Gilbert Achcar Professor, UK

Boutros Boutros-Ghali Former Secretary General of the United Nations, Egypt

Madam Nguyên Thi Bình Former Vice -President, Vietnam

Ahmed Ben Bella First President, Algeria

Djamel Bourras, Sportsman, France

Milan Ku-can Former President, Slovenia

Andreas Van Agt Former Prime Minister, Netherlands

Tariq Ali Writer, UK

Henri Alleg Journalist, France

Martin Almada Lawyer, Writer, Right Livelihood Award 2002, Paraguay

Kader Asmal Professor, Former Minister, MP, South Africa

Raymond Aubrac (and Lucie Aubrac †) Former Members of the French Resistance, France

Etienne Balibar Professor Emeritus, France

Anna Balletbò President of Fundació Internacional Olof Palme, Spain

Russell Banks Writer, USA

Mohammed Bedjaoui Former President of the International Court of Justice (The Hague), Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Algeria

Tony Benn, Peace activist, UK

Amar Bentoumi President Emeritus of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, Algeria

John Berger Writer, UK

Karl Blecha Former Minister of Interior of Austria, Austria

Howard Brenton Writer, UK

Carmel Budiardjo Right Livelihood Award 1995, UK

Judith Butler Professor, USA

Eric Cantona, Acteur/Producteur, France

Franco Cavalli Former President of International Union Against Cancer, Switzerland

Monique Chemillier-Gendreau Professor Emeritus, France

Noam Chomsky Professor MIT, USA

Vicenzo Consolo Writer, Italy

Jonathan Cook Writer, Journalist, UK

Georges Corm Writer, Former Minister of Finance, Lebanon

Mairead Corrigan Maguire Nobel Peace Prize 1976, Northern Ireland

Raymond Deane, Composer and author, Ireland

John Dugard Former Special Rapporteur of UN on Palestine, South Africa

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, writer, USA

Salim El Hoss, former Prime Minister, Lebanon

Miguel Angel Estrella Pianist, Former Ambassador to UNESCO, Argentina

Irene Fernandez Right Livelihood Award 2005, Malaysia

Norman Finkelstein Writer, USA

Cees Flinterman Director of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, Netherlands

Eduardo Galeano Writer, Uruguay

Johan Galtung Founder and co-director of Transcend, Right Livelihood Award 1987, Norway

Costa Gavras, Realisateur, France

Susan George, Writer, France

Geraud de Geouffre de la Pradelle Professor Emeritus, France

Neve Gordon Political Scientist, Israel

Juan Goytisolo Writer, Spain

Trevor Griffiths Writer, UK

Juan Guzman Tapia Judge, Chile

Gisele Halimi Lawyer, Former Ambassador to UNESCO, France

Denis Halliday, Ex UN, Ireland

Jeff Halper Coordinator of ICAHD, Israel

Mohammed Harbi Historian, Algeria

Eric Hazan Writer, France

Stephane Hessel French Ambassador, France

François Houtart Professor Emeritus, Belgium

Nouri Abdel Razzaql Hussein, Secretary General of Afro-Asian Peoples Solidarity Organisation, Egypt

Sonallah Ibrahim Elorfally writer, Egypt

Albert Jacquard Professor, France

Hina Jilani Lawyer and human rights activist, Pakistan

Alain Joxe Director of Studies at the EHESS, France

Hatim Kanaaneh Author, Palestine

Ghada Karmi Professor and author, Palestine

Ronnie Kasrils Former Minister, writer and activist, South Africa

Assaf Kfoury Professor, USA

Naomi Klein Writer, USA

Erwin Lanc Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria, Austria

Felicia Langer Lawyer, Writer, Right Livelihood Award 1990, Germany

Paul Laverty Screenwriter, UK

Mike Leigh, Filmmaker, UK

Ken Loach Filmmaker, UK

Alice Mahon, Former Member of Parliament, UK

José Antonio Martín Pallín Magistrado Emérito Sala II, Tribunal Supremo, Spain

Nur Masalha Director of the centre for Religion and History, Palestine

François Maspero Writer, France

Gustave Massiah Chairman of CRID, France

Avi Mograbi Filmmaker, Israel

Luisa Morgantini, Activist, Italy

Peter Mullan Filmmaker and actor, UK

Karma Nabulsi Academic and author, Palestine

Radhia Nasraoui Human Rights Lawyer, Tunisia

Susie Orbach Professor, UK

Willibald Pahr Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria, Austria

Ilan Pappe Professor, Israel

Simone Paris de Bollardière Movement for Non-violence Alternative, France

Tamar Pelleg-Sryck Human Rights Lawyer, Israel

Adolfo Péres Esquivel Nobel Peace Prize 1980, Argentina

Arthur Pestana "Pepetela" Writer, Angola

Jeremy Pikser Writer, USA

John Pilger Journalist, author, film maker, Australia

Harold Pinter † Writer, Nobel Prize in Litterature 2005, UK

Majid Rahnema writer, former member of Unesco’s executive board, Iran

François Rigaux Professor Emeritus, Belgium

Jacqueline Rose Professor, UK

Eric Rouleau, Writer, Former Ambassador, France

François Roux Lawyer, France

Jean Salmon Professor Emeritus, ULB, Belgium

Elias Sanbar Writer, Palestine

José Saramago Nobel Prize Literature 1998, Portugal

Aharon Shabtai, Poet, Israel

Jitendra Sharma Lawyer, President of International Association of Democratic Lawyers, India

Cindy Sheehan Peace activist and author, USA

Raji Surani Vice-President Of the FIDHs, Palestine

Vandana Shiva Right Livelihood Award 1993, India

Sulak Sivaraksa Professor, Right Livelihood Award 1995, Thailand

Philippe Texier Magistrate and Member of the UN Human Rights Committee, France

Rt Hon E.W Thomas Supreme Court, New Zealand

Gerard Toulouse Physicist, France

Andy de la Tour Actor/Screenwriter, UK

Sir Brian Urquhart Former Undersecretary-General of the United Nations, UK

Puthan Veetil Rajagopal President of Ekta parishad, India

Heikelina Verrijn Stuart, Juriste et philosophe du droit, Pays-Bas

Itala Vivan Professor, Italy

Naomi Wallace Playwright/Screenwriter, USA

Michel Warschawski Activist, Israel

Francisco Whitaker Right Livelihood Award 2006, Brazil

Betty Williams Nobel Peace Prize 1976, Northern Ireland

Jody Williams Nobel Peace Prize 1997, USA

Jean Ziegler sociologist, Switzerland

Howard Zinn † Author, USA