“My Mom brought me a keffiyeh for school for cultural day…this guy took it out of my backpack and put it on his head and covered his whole face except for his eyes and started calling himself a terrorist…the teachers didn’t do anything.”—Bisan
“Adam had to do a project about ‘a recent conflict’ in an area, and he said, ‘Palestine.’ The teacher said, ‘No…I need to be able to find it on a current political map.’ That was her reasoning. And he was like, ‘No. That is who I am and that’s what I want to talk about.’”—Yafa
Readers might assume that Bisan and Yafa 1 shared these experiences of anti-Palestinian racism in schools recently, in the current context of the ongoing genocide in Gaza and settler-colonial violence across Palestine. However, they shared these experiences in November 2022 (Yafa) and March 2023 (Bisan) in our research alongside Palestinian Muslim students and their families.
Anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and anti-Muslim racism: Interconnections and distinctions
As Palestinian Muslim women, educators, and settlers living within amiskwaciy-wâskahikan on colonized lands, we’ve experienced and studied the interconnections of (gendered) anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian discourses and practices. Scholars are continuing to conceptualize anti-Palestinian racism as distinct from (yet intertwined with) anti-Muslim racism (see: Abu-Laban & Bakan, 2021, 2022; Majid, 2022; Zine, 2023).
Mapping these distinctions is vital because Palestinians of all faiths are often erased by mythologies that misrepresent oppression as an ancient religious ‘conflict’ rather than relatively recent settler-colonialism. These mythologies often erase our narratives and very existence as Palestinians.
We understand anti-Palestinian racism as “a form of anti-Arab racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames or dehumanizes Palestinians or their narratives” (Majid, 2022, p. 1). Majid identified multiple forms of anti-Palestinian racism, including:
• Nakba denial;
• justifying violence against Palestinians;
• not acknowledging Palestinians as an Indigenous peoples;
• eliding the human dignity of Palestinians;
• excluding or pressuring others to exclude the presence and/or perspectives of Palestinians;
• and, defaming Palestinians and allies with slander such as being inherently antisemitic, violent, or terrorist threats/sympathizers.
Although recently named as a distinct form of racism, anti-Palestinian racism is not new. It is rooted in historical and ongoing euro-western racial-religious supremacy, settler-colonial logics, Orientalist dehumanization, and Zionist mythologies.
Our research alongside Palestinian Muslim students and families
This article shares some of what we’ve learned in our narrative research alongside Palestinian Muslim students and families into their curriculum-making experiences in Alberta. 2
With the support of Palestinian community members, Muna invited participants to this research after institutional ethics approval in July 2022. Between October 2022 and June 2023, Muna engaged in multiple (recorded and transcribed) research conversations with participants:
• Jenin (18), Yassin (16), and their parents Mahmoud and Hannah;
• Bisan (18), Suha (18), and Eman (18), and Bisan’s mother Hiba;
• Othman (17), Hussein (14), Ali (13), Adam (9), and their mother Yafa;
• Aminah, a mother of two recently graduated high school students.
Alongside co-researcher Farid Saberi, Nada and Muna engaged in an extensive literature and media review from January to May 2024, focusing on anti-Palestinian racism in the Canadian settler-colonial context. Iteratively collecting and analyzing research texts, we identified two main narrative threads that reverberated across participants’ stories: All participants experience(d) systemic anti-Palestinian racism in schools; yet all participants engage(d) in teaching and learning about Palestine in their homes and communities.
Narrative threads and participants’ stories
We stress that the following threads are interconnected and cross-generational; parent participants experienced anti-Palestinian racism in schools both as parents and students.
All participants experience(d) systemic anti-Palestinian racism in schools through a combination of:
• Silences and exclusions whereby Palestine and Palestinians are not named/mentioned in classrooms and schools. These silences/exclusions were underscored in every research conversation—including by participants attending Islamic or Arabic-English bilingual schools who shared that, even if Palestine was named/mentioned, the history and ongoing colonization of Palestine was never taught/discussed. As Yassin asserted, “There’s really no educating on the topic of Palestine [in schools].”
• Silencing, censorship, and repression of anyone trying to disrupt pervasive silences around Palestine in schools. Participants experienced this mainly through teachers or administrators shutting down their attempts to discuss Palestine. As Yafa’s quote at the beginning of this article highlights, Adam’s teacher attempted to stop him from focusing on Palestine for a relevant school project. Describing her high school’s censorship/repression of Palestine compared to their vocal advocacy of other global justice issues as “hypocritical,” Jenin shared her experience of being silenced by an administrator:
“I tried to tell [administrator], ‘Is there anything we can do?… Can we at least just post posters about it so students can learn about what’s going on?’… She straight up told me, ‘No, you’re not allowed’…. It’s like we’re not even allowed to be Palestinian.”
As Hiba asserted when discussing her family’s experiences with school censorship/repression of Palestine and Palestinians, “You’re good as long as you’re silent.”
• Colonial mythologies and erasures where the ongoing Nakba, violent settler-colonization, and sometimes existence of Palestine are denied. Jenin shared a story of how, during Israel’s bombardment of Gaza in May 2021, her high school’s Instagram account posted a message that erased colonial violence and oppression by referring to “the conflict” and how “we don’t choose sides.” Yafa shared a story of egregious anti-Palestinian racism by her son’s teacher, who denied the very existence of Palestine:
“We had just come back from Palestine…[Othman’s] teacher asked the students, ‘Who was somewhere that is humid?’ Othman said, ‘I’ve just come back.’ [She asked,] ‘Oh from where?’ [He responded,] ‘I was in Palestine.’ The teacher said, ‘Oh! That doesn’t even exist.’ He was in grade 8. He was upset.”
• Dehumanization of Palestinians via racist language, framings, smears, stereotypes, misrepresentations, and gaslighting. Hannah shared how, growing up on these colonized lands, and in the face of pervasive school silences and media vilification of Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims, “you were always kind of…trying to portray yourself as a normal human, right?”
In addition to Bisan’s experience of teachers’ inaction when another student wrapped a keffiyeh around his head and declared himself a “terrorist,” she described how her grade 12 social studies teacherwould regularly harass her with anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim racism:
“He’d always come to me when I’m with my friends and just say really weird remarks and talk about Israel and Palestine….like ‘no country’ jokes…then he would talk about me being Muslim, [asking] ‘Why don’t I wear the hijab?’…and also saying, ‘You’re the only Falasteeni [Palestinian] here, is it because there’s not a lot of you?’”
Bisan’s mom, Hiba, discussed Bisan’s decision to switch schools during her final semester of high school because of the administration’s inaction in confronting the racism Bisan regularly faced. Pained by Bisan’s questions of “Are we not human beings? Are we not people?” Hiba stated, “I think they [schools] traumatize our kids even more.”
However, participants engage(d) in teaching and learning about Palestine in their homes and communities through:
• sharing Palestinian knowledge, culture(s), traditions, narratives, and histories across generations;
• embracing who they are as Palestinians and Muslims;
• resisting systemic silences, censorship, erasures, and dehumanization in multiple ways;
• advocating for a free Palestine in different ways, including: leveraging social media; organizing and attending teach-ins, book clubs, rallies, and protests; leading and participating in student-led movements, cultural organizations, and liberation collectives.
Participants emphasized their intentionality in teaching and learning about Palestine, highlighting the power and beauty of Palestinian culture, sumud (steadfastness), resistance, joy, and love of their land. As Aminah asserted:
“I think also for our kids, the least we can do is teach them who we are, where you’re from, and what’s the story behind it.”
Ongoing systemic anti-Palestinian racism in schooling and society
Throughout our research, it became clear that anti-Palestinian racism in schools is not the exception but rather the norm. We noted (social) media cases of ongoing anti-Palestinian racism at all schooling levels across Canada, including:
Elementary school
• October 2023: An Ottawa principal asking a student to remove the Palestinian flag from their profile picture because “political statements are not for the classroom.”
• November 2023: After asking where he’s from, an Ontario teacher told a Palestinian student that “Palestine is not a country.”
Middle school
• March 2023: Students at a Halifax K-9 school asked to remove their keffiyehs during “multicultural day” by school administration because “it’s a sign of war.”
• May 2024: A teacher at a Mississauga K-9 school creating a display for Jewish Heritage Month that included Zionist mythologies and propaganda about the creation of the State of Israel.
High school
• Reports of anti-Palestinian racism in the Toronto District School Board dating back to the 1980s.
• November 2020: Ontario’s Ministry of Education suppressing a student-created educational video about the history and ongoing occupation of Palestine.
• April 2024: School counselor at an Oakville high school was recorded telling a student wearing a keffiyeh that he reminded her of terrorists.
Post-secondary
• May 2024: McGill University administrators attempting to stifle class discussions about Palestine.
• May-June 2024: University of Alberta, University of Calgary, and York University enlisting militarized police to violently dismantle student encampments for Palestine.
Importantly, our analysis underscored that anti-Palestinian racism in schooling occurs within a wider sociopolitical context of systemic anti-Palestinian racism, evidenced through: the Ontario Legislature’s keffiyeh ban; CBC’s repression/censorship of Palestine and Palestinians; widespread surveillance, censorship, and repression of Palestinians and supporters; and ongoing smears of protests and student encampments against genocide and for Palestinian liberation.
Countering anti-Palestinian racism in schooling
Rather than oversimplified ‘solutions,’ we offer the following considerations and actions towards countering anti-Palestinian racism in school systems.
Countering anti-Palestinian racism entails working against all forms of racism and oppression on these colonized lands. We must root our practice with a deep understanding of the violent, settler-colonial, and racist origins and structures of Canadian schooling and society, and systemic anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism alongside other forms of racism and oppression. This is not a colonial racist ‘history’ or ‘legacy;’ it is ongoing racism and colonization.
Palestinian students cannot continue to inhabit spaces where their existence is silenced and/or liberation is up for debate. Claiming “neutrality” or presenting “both-sides” in situations of injustice is the antithesis of care and upholds systems of oppression. It is vital to take clear positions against genocide, racism, apartheid, and colonialism while encouraging critical analysis of media and processes/structures that uphold oppression.
Classrooms must be places for honest critical inquiry. Our research highlighted how, to maintain colonial comfort and narratives, schools often engage in what Sealy-Harrington called “racist anti-racism”—“claiming the mantle of racial justice, while perpetuating racial injustice.” Racism against Palestinian students and supporters when discussing Palestine and contesting colonial narratives must be countered by intentionally creating spaces for honest critical inquiry.
Anti-racist and anti-oppressive education is collective liberation work. Organize alongside educators, students, and community members in Palestinian liberation/solidarity movements/collectives like Teachers for Palestine BC, Faculty for Palestine, PCAAN, Palestinian Youth Movement, and Students for Justice in Palestine to advocate for institutional/governmental policies, including:
• naming and countering anti-Palestinian racism;
• Nakba education;
• rejecting the IHRA working definition of antisemitism; and,
• implementing boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS).
Systemic anti-Palestinian racism must be actively countered. Developing increased knowledge around Palestine and anti-Palestinian racism is important but not a panacea. Action is needed alongside un/learning. Shatara (2022) and Elbardouh (2024) identified several actions for educators committed to teaching and learning about Palestine, including: uplifting Palestinian culture and joy; modeling how to engage in critical thinking and dialogue about colonial oppression; and engaging with the work of Palestinian authors, activists, artists, and scholars.
Palestinian existence is a form of resistance. Systemic anti-Palestinian racism in schooling must be countered by embroidering Palestinian culture, histories, narratives, resistance, art, literature, and joy into our classrooms and schools.
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- Pseudonyms used for all research participants.
- This article draws on research supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
