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…”
  • Dia Al-Sabarini was a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades, who died on August 11, 2021, after being wounded during a gunfight with Israeli forces. The Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade is designated terror group by the  EU, US, Canada and Israel.

Political Advocacy

• In May 2024, PBA was a signatory on a petition to the United Nations to “Declare Gaza a Famine-Stricken Zone.” According to the petition, “The United Nations and the Palestinian Authority must adopt this declaration and coordinate global and local efforts in partnership with Palestinian civil society…and push toward accountability and prosecution of the occupation for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
• In February 2024, PBA filed a lawsuit with the International Criminal Court (ICC) calling to “sue Israeli leaders at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for their involvement in the genocide against the Palestinian people.”
• In January 2024, following the International Court of Justice (ICJ) order of protective measures against Israel, PBA was a signatory on a statement claiming, “Parties to the Genocide Convention are obliged to act to prevent genocide; therefore, action must be immediate…Israel’s killing, injuring, traumatizing, and displacing large numbers of Palestinians and denying water, food, medicine, and fuel to an occupied population meet the criteria for the crime of genocide. If a majority of the world’s nations call for a ceasefire, yet fail to press for prosecution of Israel – what is to stop Israel from ethnically cleansing all Palestinians?”
• In October 2023, in the aftermath of the brutal Hamas attack on October 7, PBA published a statement affirming, “In confirmation by the Bar Association of our people’s right to resist the occupier and achieve their destiny on the land of their ancestors from its sea to its river, until the last Zionist soldier leaves the land…we stand today with our heads held high before what the Palestinian resistance wrote in the Battle of the Flood of Al-Aqsa, in which the resistance broke the prestige of the occupier’s army and accomplished the impossible and made it possible in defeating the occupation and inflicting defeat on it.”
• 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 May 2025, PBA was a signatory on a statement titled “No Labor for Genocide – No Complicity with Apartheid.” According to the statement, “Israel is only able to continue its livestreamed genocide against Palestinians, including daily massacres, burning our children, men and women alive, or starving and thirsting them to death, due to the ongoing complicity of states, companies and institutions around the world…we urgently renew our call to unions around the world to escalate all effort to end this shameful complicity in Israel’s illegal occupation, colonial apartheid and genocide.” The statement called for:
  • “Pressuring corporations and institutions they work in to end any complicity through ending contracts that directly or indirectly support Israel’s atrocity crimes and illegal occupation,”
  • “Developing more #BlocktheBoat campaigns, stopping the #GenocideFleet of vessels involved in illegal transfers of military supplies, energy or other dual use items to Israel and pressuring complicit companies,”
  • “Escalating economic, academic, cultural, and sports BDS campaigns,”
  • “imposing ‘a full arms embargo on Israel, halting all arms agreements, imports, exports and transfers, including of dual-use items that could be used against the Palestinian population under occupation,’ as well as canceling or suspending ‘economic relationships, trade agreements and academic relations with Israel that may contribute to its unlawful presence and apartheid regime in the occupied Palestinian territory’,”
  • “Declaring your union an Apartheid-Free Zone to end corporate and institutional complicity with Israel’s apartheid regime and the genocide of the Palestinian people.”
• In September 2024, PBA was a signatory on a statement calling to “Impose lawful and targeted sanctions, including ending diplomatic relations with Israel, imposing banking and financial sanctions, suspension of trade or other cooperation agreement with Israel, until it ends its unlawful presence in the OPT, as well as its settlement enterprise, annexation, persecution, racial segregation and apartheid against the Palestinian people”; “a comprehensive ban on companies involved in the production, trade or marketing of settlement goods and services”; “comprehensive ban on companies involved in the production, trade or marketing of settlement goods and services”; and “end oil, gas and other energy agreements with Israel.”
• In May 2024, PBA was a signatory on a statement “urg[ing] global solidarity against Israel’s genocide, apartheid and exploitation of workers.” The statement called for “halting Israel-bound ships carrying weapons and cargo”; “Refusing to handle Israeli or Israel-bound weapons and cargo by port workers”; and “Building trade union BDS campaigns and declare your union to be an Apartheid Free Zone, to end corporate and institutional complicity in Israel’s apartheid regime and genocide of the Palestinian people.”
• In May 2024, PBA was a signatory on a statement “Supporting the student-led solidarity mobilizations in their demands for boycott and divestment and against repression.” The statement called to “Respect and advocate for the comprehensive rights of the Palestinian people (at the very least the three rights listed in the historic BDS Call of 2005)” and “Isolate Israel’s regime of oppression by ending all state, corporate and institutional complicity with it.”
• In January 2024, PBA was a signatory on a call to “Ban Genocidal Apartheid Israel from the Olympics.” According to the call, “To allow Israel, in the midst of a genocide, to participate in the upcoming Olympic games would signal to the international community that the IOC approves of the gravest of war crimes.”
• 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.”