PROMINENT Gaza human rights lawyer Raji Sourani has called South African judge Richard Goldstone a liar, following recent comments he made in the New York Times regarding apartheid in Israel.
Speaking at a Palestine Solidarity Campaign event in the city yesterday, ahead of the weekend Russell Tribunal, the founder of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza lashed out at Goldstone for saying apartheid did not exist in Israel.
Last month, Goldstone criticised the Russell Tribunal in an opinion piece in the New York Times, entitled “Israel and the apartheid slander”. He wrote that there was no apartheid in Israel, and called the suggestion a “particularly pernicious and enduring canard”.
“It is an unfair and inaccurate slander against Israel, calculated to retard rather than advance peace negotiations,” he said.
But Sourani hit back yesterday, saying that Goldstone “is lying”.
“When he says there is no injustice in Israel, he is lying.”
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign also hit out at Goldstone in a statement read out by the organisation’s Martin Jansen. “The very recent but weak attack by Richard Goldstone on the tribunal not only exposes him as an ardent Zionist, but his shameful U-turn on the Goldstone report demonstrates his bias as a ‘juror’.”
The Russell Tribunal on Palestine, being held this weekend at the District Six Museum, was established to “investigate violations of international law perpetrated against the Palestinian people”, its website says.
This year marks the third time the tribunal will be held, with this session calling witnesses to testify as to whether Israel’s policies can be classified as apartheid under international law.
Among those expected to attend are Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, former Intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and US author Alice Walker. Also in Cape Town for the event are Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire, retired judge of the supreme court of Spain José Antonio Martin Pallin and 93-year-old Holocaust survivor Stephane Hessel.
Speaking at yesterday’s event, Palestinian refugee Leila Khaled drew parallels between South Africa’s apartheid regime and her own experiences in Palestine.
“I am optimistic, because in South Africa there was an apartheid regime and you ended your struggle with the support of the international community,” she said.
“I remember at school, rallying, demonstrating and calling for freedom in South Africa. I was brought up saying ‘when South Africa is free, Palestine will be free’.”
Khaled also called for the international community to boycott Israel.
Other issues discussed by the panel included the recent decision by countries such as the US to block funding to Unesco for accepting Palestine as a member country. Israel has also said it will block funding to the organisation.
US money accounts for nearly a quarter of Unesco’s funding.
Sourani, meanwhile, said this showed in a “clear-cut way that the US is providing full and clear diplomatic immunity to Israel”.
The Jewish Board of Deputies has meanwhile rejected the tribunal, calling it a “one-sided kangaroo court”, whose witnesses and jurors had strong pro-Palestine opinions. - Weekend Argus