Just a year ago, on the first day of the war, the sound of bombs and explosions in Gaza filtered into our telephone conversations. “My house was literally shaking and my wife was shouting at me, asking me what I was doing on the phone,” recalls Raji Sourani with a bitter smile. “Sometimes they exploded a kilometer away, but we have the impression of having them above our heads,” adds the Palestinian lawyer.
After being displaced several times inside Gaza, having survived two direct bombings and the destruction of his house, Sourani, founder and director of the NGO Palestinian Center for Human Rights, succeeded to leave the Gaza Strip in November and is currently a member of South Africa’s legal team in the genocide trial against Israel before the International Court of Justice and one of the main promoters of the trial before the International Criminal Court , on which he has been working since 2008. The Israeli government, however, publicly declared him and officially listed him as a “suit and tie terrorist”.
From the first day of the Israeli offensive, Sourani had already warned during these phone calls that what he was seeing had not been experienced during his 70 years in the Gaza Strip. “I never thought we would get to this point,” he says today, even if he admits to having formed a follow-up group from the first week with other colleagues that he called, so premonitory, “Genocide Group”.
“They were attacking and killing everyone and asking people to leave. You flee, you are bombarded; you are at home, they bombard you; You are at school, they bombard you; at the bakery, they bombard you; when they are born, they bombard you,” he says. “Yet I never imagined that in the first month we would lose more than 10,000 Palestinians and that I myself would be bombed. »
If Gaza is the graveyard of international law, should we surrender or continue fighting, banging our heads against the wall? We will continue to fight because we cannot contribute to the law of the jungle. In the law of the jungle they will win
“We have more than 41,000 dead, including 17,000 children and 14,000 women. Could we have imagined this figure a year ago? And people are still not shocked. Maybe it’s because our blood is cheap. “At the end of the day, we are Palestinians, who cares?” he says, combining a hot latte and a glass of sparkling water with ice. “I wonder how the world would react if these people were Israeli,” he continues.
“Gaza, the cemetery of international law”
Sourani insists on the impact that the genocide will have on future generations and talks about his son. “He’s a lawyer. Graduated from Liverpool, with his Masters in SOAS [School of Oriental and African Studies of London] and with scholarships in Geneva. He then decided to return to Gaza because he wanted to work for human rights and recently told me that Gaza is the graveyard of international law. “He’s very confused, it’s a very difficult situation and I think the next year or two will be decisive if he continues on this path or if he gives up.”
“My son wonders if this business of international law is not a circus for intellectuals. Palestinians held their breath on January 11 as the International Court of Justice discussed the genocide case,” says Sourani. “Under fire, death, destruction, displacement and hunger, they dreamed that something would change. Believe me, no one believes in the rule of law, dignity and freedom more than the oppressed.
As for him, he has “no right to give up”, he assures. “If Gaza is the graveyard of international law, should we surrender or continue fighting, banging our heads against the wall? We will continue to fight because we cannot contribute to the law of the jungle. According to the law of the jungle, they will win. As human rights activists, we are romantic revolutionaries. International law and human rights are cream of the crop of humanity and we want to use it.
Sourani was very critical of the attitude of the International Criminal Court, which has spent years without moving the case forward and has not yet publicly issued the arrest warrants requested by the attorney general of the Court, Karim Khan, whom the Palestinian lawyer met on several occasions. occasions. “I told him in person that if he had moved earlier, in 2015, 2020, ’21 or ’22, this might not have happened. The message has always been that Israel is untouchable and above responsibility. This encouraged them to continue.
“The prosecutor requested the arrest warrants in response to the genocide case before the International Court of Justice, but he requested them without due process. Why did he announce it before the Court approved it? I should have gone to court earlier,” says Sourani.
“Khan is not strong enough and I know he is directly threatened by Israel and the United States, but the attorney general must know that he is the international legal conscience and that his mission is to represent the victims. If he can’t, he should say so,” he said while wondering why Khan only requested arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister: “What about the head of Defense staff? And the head of the air force? What about the commander of Southern Command? What about ministers like [Bezalel] Smotrich?
In this sense, the Palestinian lawyer concludes that “the International Court of Justice is much more courageous and respected in its decisions”. [que la Corte Penal Internacional]”. “Look at his recent opinion on the illegality of the occupation. “The judges unequivocally declared that the occupation was illegal and called on the international community to do what is necessary to end the occupation. »
After a year of genocide and while everyone says they want a ceasefire, the weapons that kill us are in the hands of Israel, but they belong to the West
“Personally, I feel like I live in ancient Rome, where there were two classes: masters and slaves. Only masters are protected by law. Slaves can be killed like chickens and no one cares. Are we the slaves of old Rome, he asks? “We have dignity, pride and the right to freedom and to rid ourselves of this warlike criminal occupation. But this is not the case and, to make matters worse, the West supports the occupation, which is even more shocking to us. »
“Until now, after a year of genocide and while everyone says they want a ceasefire, the weapons that kill us are in the hands of Israel, but they belong to the West,” recalls- he.
Sourani never wanted to leave Gaza and says that following what is happening in the Gaza Strip from the outside is mentally exhausting. However, he is determined to get his message across with multiple conferences scheduled across Europe on a very tight schedule.
“We are on the right side of history and we know we are defending a just cause. For them, we don’t exist and they want to get rid of us, but we have always been there and we will continue to be. No force in the world can eliminate us. For me, I dream of the moment when I can return to Gaza,” concludes Sourani, nodding.
