By Michel Shehadeh, former MECA Board President

Today, we lost a dear friend, a fierce comrade, and a rare human being. I have known Barbara Lubin for more than forty years, and it is difficult to imagine this world without her steady presence, her moral clarity, and her boundless compassion.

Barbara was a tenacious voice for Palestine — not only in words, but in deeds. She did not traffic in slogans; she built lifelines. In 1988, she founded and led the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), creating a living bridge between people of conscience and Palestinian children under siege. The scope of what she accomplished is too vast to fully capture here: projects, aid, solidarity, and material support that reached those who needed it most, especially children whose lives were shaped — and often saved — by her unwavering commitment.

When I was arrested alongside seven others in the L.A. Eight case, at a time when fear silenced many and solidarity carried real risk, Barbara stood with us from the very beginning. She did so without hesitation, without calculation, and without compromise. She defended us when few dared to do so, not because it was safe, but because it was right. That was Barbara’s way — principled, brave, and profoundly human.

Barbara passed, but she has not left us. She lives on in my heart and mind, and in the hearts and minds of the thousands of people she touched and transformed. Most of all, she lives on in the lives of Palestinian children — children who continue to benefit every day from the work she built, the institutions she nurtured, and the love she poured into Gaza and Palestine as a whole. Her legacy is not static; it is alive, breathing, and still at work in the world.

Barbara showed us what it means to choose humanity over comfort, justice over silence, and love over fear. She taught us that solidarity is not an idea, but a lifelong practice. We are better for having walked this path with her, and poorer for her absence — yet richer beyond measure for what she gave us.

Rest in power, dear Barbara. Your light endures.