For the past 25 years, Liverpool Arab Arts Festival (LAAF) has existed to support and champion creatives from across the Arab region and its diaspora. Art and culture has the power to express our shared humanity and we believe, as a cultural organisation, we have a role in how we exist together. 

As we watch in horror amid the ongoing and deeply distressing bombardment of Gaza, LAAF steadily recognises the equal worth of every human life and their indisputable right to protection. 

We stand in firm solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza and across the region, passionately denouncing the tragic loss of civilian lives and the relentless suffering of individuals, regardless of their location. 

LAAF reiterates its enduring commitment to the fundamental principle that all people, irrespective of their origins, should be shielded from collective punishment. 

We urgently call for the protection of human rights in Gaza, and a move toward a more sustainable and peaceful resolution, infusing hope and justice into a region that has borne excessive suffering.