Rhonda Ramiro: Why is justice for Palestine a universal ecological and humanitarian cause?

Amyra El Khalili, special correspondent for Pravda-RU, interviews Rhonda Ramiro, Vice-President of External Affairs of the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS)
 
In November 2025, from Barcelona, Spain, the International Peoples’ Front (IPF), the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), and the People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) convened the International People’s Tribunal (ICT) for Palestine with the theme “Right to Resist: The Palestinian People against the Zionist Occupation and the Government of the United States of America.”
 
The ICT acted as a parallel political-legal platform. Although its verdicts have no legal force, the tribunal aimed to establish a historical record of the crimes committed against the Palestinian people, mobilize international solidarity, and exert moral and political pressure on complicit governments and international institutions.
 
In this exclusive interview for Pravda-RU with Rhonda Ramiro, Vice-President of External Affairs of the International League of Peoples' Struggle – she tells us about the activities and expectations for the unfolding of this initiative that calls for justice and dignity for the sovereignty of the Peoples from Occupied Palestine.
 
Here is the interview:
 
PRAVDA RU- When, how, and why was the IPT called for? How did the implementation of it carry out the objective of the initial call?
 
Rhonda Ramiro -The initial call for the Tribunal came from members of ILPS -- the Arab Group for the Protection of Nature -- who after almost 1 year of the genocide being carried out saw the need for more to be done to galvanize the international community to put an end to the genocide and the ecocide that was unfolding in Gaza, but it was also steeped in the long history of resistance to the occupation and the long term call for self-determination for the Palestinian people. So the call came from the Palestinian people themselves and was taken up by the League at the conclusion of our 7th International Assembly where we passed a resolution calling for more solidarity with the Palestinian people and the conduct of an international Tribunal on Palestine.
 
I think it's noteworthy to say that the members of ILPS saw the success of the International People's Tribunal on the Philippines on raising the awareness of the human rights atrocities and even the results of that Tribunal contributing to the further movement against the former fascist president of the Philippines, [Rodrigo] Duterte, bringing not only organizations and individuals into the movement to prosecute him for his crimes but also pushing institutions and governments to act. So taking inspiration from that Tribunal and knowing that more needed to be done in newer arenas, the Tribunal was called for. 
 
On the second part of the question, the Tribunal itself was a months-long process of education, awareness-building, documentation of evidence, meeting with organizations and people on the ground in Gaza and those that had witnessed what's happened since Oct 2023, documenting the evidence, preparing witnesses to testify, and bringing organizations and institutions together to actually conduct the Tribunal. So in carrying out the objective of doing more and bringing more people into the movement throughout the whole process, the entire process was actually designed to bring more people, reach more people, and motivate more people to take action. So I would say that from start to finish, it carried out that objective of the initial call.
 
PRAVDA RU- What happened at the IPT? What testimony was given?
 
Rhonda Ramiro -At the IPT itself, we had testimony provided by 17 witnesses: 5 live (Zoom or In-Person), also video testimony, audio recordings, photos, and written testimonies. It came from people who lived through it or are currently living through it, including a journalist who interviewed several people to include their testimony about the lives that they're living in Gaza right now. It included testimony of the fisherfolk whose boats were intentionally bombed by the Zionists, whose waters off the coast of Gaza were bombed, making it unfit for fish to live in and the effects on their livelihood, their source of food and income destroyed. It included interviews with farmers whose greenhouses, whose lands were intentionally bombed and destroyed. It included testimonies from mothers who've seen their children starve, whose tents and communities were destroyed.
 
We also had testimony from Dr. Omar Nashabe, who gave extensive documentation on the change from pre-October 2023 to the present of all the lands that have been destroyed, all the greenhouses that have been destroyed. He has visual footage and photographs of the density of the vegetation before October 2023 until now, where you used to see dense green where the crops used to be and is now brown and grey because it's all been leveled and destroyed. He also talked about the long-lasting impacts of this, it's not just burning a field, it's actually contaminating deep into the soil for years to come or the destruction of the water aquifers.
 
We also had testimony from Raji Sourani and Mushier El Farra, who both talked about the bombing of communities, buildings, apartments, high-rises, just families and individuals living there, while the Zionists had claimed they were trying to target Hamas militants, but they destroyed entire buildings with hundreds of people with dozens of families. Musheir even captured videos of even bombings happening, of the long lines of people trying to flee, and the indiscriminate bombings in the background.
 
We had testimony from Maria Zendrera, who was a member of the Global Sumud Flotilla and captured video of a drone attack on her ship and a neighboring ship in the Flotilla, and told of the violent apprehension of herself and others on the Flotilla who were trying to break the siege and bring aid to Gaza. We had evidence from Dr. Diana Nazzal who talked about the severe malnutrition of the people, especially children, and the long term mental health impacts on the people.

Photo: flickr.com by Joi Ito, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

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There were so many stories, so I would say that when it comes to the testimony given, we had the facts presented by experts, we had the stories of the people living through the genocide and surviving, and we also had the images that can't be disputed of the long lasting impacts of the genocide and ecocide that is taking place in Gaza. I think the other thing that really became apparent through the testimony is that while this has been an intensified campaign of genocide and ecocide, it's actually building on decades of a genocide and ecocide against a people, that this has been policy of the Zionist occupation. There was already a starvation diet in place on the Palestinian people, but since October 2023, there is less aid coming in, barely a drop of what was barely enough for people to survive on is getting in now, and it is compounded by the relentless bombing of the agricultural production systems, the farming systems, the fisheries, and the aquaculture systems that were there to make it impossible for people to live there. 
 
So I think those facts and those stories were shown in really stark relief at the IPT in a way that was undeniable and was very moving to the people who witnessed it.
 
PRAVDA RU- What is the expectation of the IPT's verdict? How will it be implemented? 
 
Rhonda Ramiro -Our expectation for the verdict is that this resounding guilty verdict on the charges of ecocide, genocide, and forced starvation will be taken to be used for education, campaigning, and advocacy by anyone and everyone who cares about the issues and would like to act in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
 
We undertook this effort to mount the Tribunal knowing that the legal mechanisms that currently exist have not been enough and have not done enough to move states to act. When that happens, it's really the people as always that need to act and provide a venue like a People's Tribunal to have their case heard and acted upon. The implementation comes from the people.
 
The people and organizations will use the verdict to advocate with governments and states to use the evidence to sanction the state of Israel and to actually take material action to put a stop to the genocide, to allow aid in, and through further pressure, push the states to actually intervene.
 
PRAVDA RU- What is the role of people's movements in implementing the IPT verdict? What is the role of states in implementing the IPT verdict, especially in light of UNSC Resolution 2803?
 
Rhonda Ramiro -It's really the people's movements that campaign and advocate to implement the IPT verdict. We know that it won't be the states or governments themselves who haven't acted, it's really going to take the pressure from the people in order to move them to act in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
 
We see UNSC Resolution 2803 as a farce -- it's not a resolution for peace in Gaza, it's a death sentence for the Palestinian people and the state of Palestine. Real solidarity and real peace would have been upholding the right of the Palestinian people for self-determination and not greenlighting the Trump Gaza plan, which is essentially the genocide of the Palestinian people and the destruction of the Palestinian state.
 
This Tribunal's verdict draws on the history of Palestine and really squarely makes the argument for the right of the Palestinian people to their historic land and what has historically been Palestine. It upholds their right to self-determination and flies in the face of the UN Resolution, which would eject the Palestinian people from their land and result in their extermination.
 
PRAVDA RU- How will the convening organizations (ILPS, IPF, PCFS) move forward after the verdict? What forms does the fight for a free Palestine take now?
 
Rhonda Ramiro -In the short term, we are producing the proceedings from the Tribunal. We will be developing short video clips that can be used for education about the verdict and the testimonies that were presented. We'll make the proceedings available for organizations, individuals, and institutions to use for their campaigning and advocacy.
 
We ourselves will use the information and the results of the Tribunal to continue to help build the movement in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The words of the lead prosecutor, Jan Fermon, in his closing argument really sum up our role: the Palestinian people will free themselves, but it is the duty and responsibility of those of us who are in solidarity with them to take action to support them. That is the role of ILPS, IPF, and PCFS in building that movement.
 
For us, it means campaigns, education, and arousing the masses to join the movement to fight for a free Palestine.
 
Learn more about the tribunal: https://internationalsolidarity.org/tribunal/
 
Amyra El Khalili is a Palestinian-Brazilian Bedouin, professor of economics, and editor of the networks Women for Peace in Palestine Movement and RECOs Alliance – Alliance of Community Cooperation Networks from the Global South.