Palestinian Bar Association (PBA)

Profile

Country/TerritoryPalestinian Authority
Website http://www.palestinebar.ps/en/home

Funding

  • The Palestinian Bar Association (PBA) does not include any financial data, donor information, or sources of funding on its website, reflecting a complete lack of transparency and accountability.
  • In 2019-2021, PBA received €999,814 from the European Union for a project titled “Lawyers’ community development in the west bank and the Gaza strip.”

Activities

  • The Palestinian Bar Association is a statutory body that regulates the practice of law in the Palestinian Authority. The PBA does not recognize the existence of the State of Israel, and in a July 8, 2013 interview, PBA Chairman Hussein Shabaneh stated: “In the Bar Association we say: ‘From the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea.’ We don’t recognize Israel’s existence at all.” (emphasis added)
  • Article 27 of PBA’s “Laws and Regulations” establishes a special committee within the PBA called “the anti-normalization committee,” rejecting all cooperation with the State of Israel and Israeli citizens.

Ties to Terror 

  • On August 12, 2021, PBA posted on Facebook an official obituary of Dia Al-Sabarini, writing that, “With great pride, the PBA mourns the martyr Dia Al-Sabarini and all our righteous martyrs…Glory and eternal life to our righteous martyrs, hasty health to our heroic wounded, hasty release for our brave prisoners…”

Political Advocacy

  • In September 2022, PBA was a signatory on a call to the UN General Assembly to “Take Immediate and Effective Action to End Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians.”   According to the call, “Dismantling Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians must be central to the UN’s commitment to end racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance worldwide.”
  • In May 2021, PBA hosted an “International Stand in Solidarity with the Holy City” to “express solidarity with the Palestinian people against Israel’s racist and apartheid policies.”
  • In May 2021, PBA signed a “call to action” against the “ethnic cleansing against Palestinians in Gaza, Sheikh Jarrah, Lydd and Haifa.” The statement called for “divesting pension funds from firms complicit in the Israeli occupation, encouraging workers to refuse to handle Israeli goods and/or supporting members refusing to build Israeli weapons.”
  • In February 2020, PBA submitted an amicus brief to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in support of ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s decision to investigate Israel for alleged war crimes.
  • In October 2015, PBA awarded an honorary law degree to Muhammad Halabi, who killed two Israelis and injured two others, including a 2-year old child, in a stabbing attack in the Old City of Jerusalem on October 3, 2015. The PBA referred to Halabi as a “Heroic Martyr.”
  • PBA Chairman Hussein Shabaneh posted on a message (undated) on PBA’s website, calling for legal warfare against Israel, “The primary goal is to end the occupation and its illegal and immoral practices, continuous expansion of settlements, the apartheid Wall, land confiscation, and house demolition. These practices contradict with basic human rights… And we will contribute as lawyers to provide legal support required to expose the practices of the occupation and documenting its crimes before international and legal bodies.” (emphasis added)
  • On October 12, 2015, PBA organized a demonstration at an IDF checkpoint near Ramallah, resulting in a violent confrontation with the Israeli army.

BDS

  • In September 2022, PBA participated in a campaign “Don’t Serve Israeli Apartheid,” calling on the International Tennis Federation to “immediately revoke apartheid Israel’s license to host ATP tours.” According to the campaign, “Israel, just like other oppressive regimes, sees sporting events as a golden opportunity to sportswash its apartheid regime…Holding internationally celebrated tournaments in apartheid Israel helps provide it with the cover it needs to continue its prolonged brutal oppression of all Palestinians, including athletes, with impunity.”
  • In October 2021, PBA was a signatory on a statement affirming that “Working in the U.S. Congress towards ending all military funding to apartheid Israel is a moral and legal obligation of the first rank…Voting for enabling apartheid Israel’s ongoing occupation and siege of Gaza and its repeated massacres there amounts to naked and unjustifiable complicity” (emphasis added).
  • In May 2021, PBA was a signatory on a statement calling to “Ban arms trade and military-security cooperation with Israel,” “Suspend free-trade agreements with Israel,” and “Ensure that individuals and corporate actors responsible for war crimes/crimes against humanity in the context of Israel’s regime of illegal occupation and apartheid are brought to justice.”
  • In September 2020, PBA called for the UN General Assembly to “Launch international investigations into Israel’s apartheid regime over the Palestinian people as a whole, as well as associated State and individual criminal responsibility,” to “Ban arms trade and military-security cooperation with Israel,” and “Prohibit all trade with illegal Israeli settlements and ensure that companies refrain from and terminate business activities with Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise.”
  • In July 2020, PBA was a signatory on a statement calling for “Immediate targeted sanctions to stop Israel’s annexation and apartheid.” The statement further called for “A ban on arms trade and military-security cooperation with Israel,” “Suspension of trade and cooperation agreements with Israel,” and “Investigation and prosecution of individuals and corporate actors responsible for war crimes/crimes against humanity in the context of Israel’s regime of illegal occupation and apartheid.”
  • In May 2020, PBA was a signatory on a statement calling for “Immediate targeted sanctions to stop Israel’s annexation and apartheid.” The statement further called for “A ban on arms trade and military-security cooperation with Israel,” “Suspension of trade and cooperation agreements with Israel,” and “Investigation and prosecution of individuals and corporate actors responsible for war crimes/crimes against humanity in the context of Israel’s regime of illegal occupation and apartheid.”

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