The Palestinian American Bar Association (“PABA”) honors the memory of over 40,000 Palestinians killed in the ongoing genocide in Gaza and occupation of the West Bank, including our own family members. We also remember many thousands more injured or buried under the rubble, unjustly imprisoned, and threatened daily by illness, starvation, and continued bombardment with no end in sight.
The right to life, freedom, and human dignity is the inheritance of all mankind and is a basic principle of justice and the rule of law that we stand for as Palestinians, Americans, and attorneys. Palestinian suffering exposes a trail of violations of these principles, extending from the genocide in Gaza, to the ongoing illegal occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and to decades of displacement, dispossession, and dehumanization of Palestinian life.
These cruel acts have sadly extended beyond those borders to our shores in the United States, where a 6-year-old boy, Wadee AlFayoumi, was brutally murdered and three college students were viciously gunned down for merely identifying as Palestinian. Meanwhile, employers (including legal) in the United States and around the world have punished those who speak out for Palestinian rights, subjecting them to retaliation and censorship. We honor the lives of those lost as well as those living to carry on their voices for a Palestine free from oppression, racism, and apartheid.
The first step towards peace requires recognition of our shared humanity and the commitment to valuing all human life equally. PABA will continue to use its collective voice to stand against all forms of Palestinian dehumanization that undermine this path, and to work for the goal that all people are treated equally under the law.
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