Educator and former political prisoner Hadeel Shatara spoke to UMKC students virtually on March 9, sharing her experience of imprisonment and the broader fight for academic freedom in Palestine.
Hosted by UMKC Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Mizzou SJP, the discussion shed light on how the Israeli occupation weaponizes education and targets students to suppress Palestinian intellectual resistance.
Shatara, a faculty member at Birzeit University, a Palestinian university, was abducted from the Jordan-Palestine border in June 2024 and held in administrative detention for seven months without charge.
There are currently around 3,400 Palestinians in administrative detention, including over 150 students of Birzeit University, according to Shatara.
Prison conditions, Shatara explained, are brutal, and systematic starvation, strip searches, isolation, and denial of healthcare are routine.
Beyond incarceration, Palestinian students face numerous challenges in pursuing their education, including raids on universities, military checkpoints, arbitrary arrests, and censorship.
Yara Salamed, president and founder of UMKC SJP, shared how certain challenges made attending school in the occupied West Bank difficult as a Palestinian.
“The Israeli regime controlled what materials we were exposed to, oftentimes censoring and removing Palestinian flags, poetry, and other Palestinian writing,” Salamed said. “We had disrupted schooling because if the Israeli regime decided to shut down the checkpoints, we could not cross and get to our schools.”
Shatara explained that the fight for academic freedom is not just a Palestinian struggle, it is a global struggle.
“It energizes [Palestinian students] to continue when they realize that students at other universities are working for Palestine too,” said Shatara.
UMKC students can show their support for the rights of students and educators in Palestine through participation in student organizations.
“Students can get involved with on-campus student groups like SJP where we hold education workshops, on and off-campus protests, and fundraising and awareness initiatives,” said Salamed, a second-year law student. “We started SJP at UMKC to make it a comfortable space for students to collectively come together and channel their solidarity for all Palestinians.”
Awareness is a key step in making change, Shatara said, as shedding light on the reality of the situation in Palestine is what can drive support for the cause.
“It’s not only by marching the streets or holding webinars but by spreading awareness to the other students and to make the world truthfully see what’s going on,” said Shatara.
Salamed shared what she wants students to take from hearing stories like Shatara’s.
“I hope that students will be reminded of the privilege we enjoy in having access to higher education and that we are reminded to use our privileges to serve the communities we can,” said Salamed.
Educational resources and information on events held by SJP are posted on their Instagram and RooGroups.
