LONDON: A UN special rapporteur will contribute to a two-day “tribunal” into Britain’s role in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has announced.
Corbyn said Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, would take part in the hearings, which are being organized by his Peace and Justice Project, The Guardian newspaper reported on Saturday.
The event, titled the “Gaza tribunal,” will be held on Sept. 4 and 5 at Church House in Westminster.
Speaking at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival on Saturday, Corbyn said the initiative was intended to fill the gap left by the government’s decision to block his private member’s bill calling for an official inquiry into the UK’s role in the conflict.
The bill was halted at its second reading in July.
“We’ve invited people to make submissions — lawyers and others, and voices from Gaza and the West Bank, and other places — in order to put forward their view on the policy. And Francesca Albanese has agreed to take part and put forward her view on the legality of it,” he said.
Corbyn said Albanese was “very keen to support it and get involved,” and compared the event to the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war.
He added that the hearings would seek answers on issues including the use of the RAF Akrotiri airbase during the conflict.
A website dedicated to the tribunal says it will “examine Britain’s role in war crimes perpetrated in Gaza” by “hearing from experts and witnesses,” and “establish the full scale of our government’s complicity in the genocide against the Palestinian people.”
Last month, 22 NGOs, including Action Aid, backed Corbyn’s call for an inquiry and said they would consider supporting an independent tribunal if the government rejected his proposal.
UN rapporteur to take part in former Labour leader Corbyn’s ‘Gaza tribunal’
