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