By Samia Shoman
Long before I was born in 1975, the course of my life had been drastically altered by history. When David Ben-Gurion declared the creation and independence of the state of Israel on May 14, 1948, my identity as a Palestinian was shaped, along with the history of this region. Throughout my life, I have borne witness to and experienced the ways this day in history changed not only my life, but also the lives of millions of Palestinians and Jews all over the world.
My most recent trip to the region was in July 2013. As always, I felt saddened and overwhelmed as I reflected on what the events of 1948 had caused: an institutionalized system of oppression and apartheid in what some believe is historic Palestine and others see as Israel. This difference in perspective and personal truth is among the many factors that have kept the conflict ongoing into its 66th year.
In my teaching, I use an approach that exposes students to the idea that Palestinians and Israelis have different narratives about the same historical events. The approach encourages critical thinking and allows students the space and opportunity to decide what they think for themselves. At least in my district, it is an approach that has enabled me to build support among a broad range of parents, students, and Middle East scholars — even when I have been challenged by community groups questioning my intentions and curriculum because I am a Palestinian American who teaches the conflict in my contemporary world studies class.
Teaching the conflict takes courage. I write this article in hopes of encouraging teachers who are committed to social justice to take on the challenge. In this context, social justice means exposing students to Palestinian narratives alongside the Zionist narratives that often dominate textbooks. I use the term Zionism and teach it explicitly to my students. Zionism is the support of an exclusively Jewish state in Israel, along with the land that it claims should be part of Greater Israel. An important distinction to make is that not all Jews or Israelis are Zionists, and there are non-Jewish Zionists.
War of Independence or Catastrophe?
I anchor my Palestine/Israel unit in the events of 1948, although the historical background starts long before this, with the First Zionist Congress of 1897 and the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Later we backtrack to cover this history; it is important that students understand that Zionist organizations had plans to turn Palestine into a Jewish state long before World War II.
I present the 1948 events as both the Israeli War of Independence and the Palestinian Nakba (nakba is Arabic for catastrophe). It is through the events of 1948 that students get their most intimate understanding of how different narratives determine what people see as the truth. For example, my students learn that a Palestinian student in the West Bank or Gaza and an Israeli student in Israel will learn different stories about what happened in 1948. What those students learn shapes their beliefs about the legitimacy of the state of Israel. It is through this lesson that my students begin to grasp the idea of multiple and competing narratives as they read, watch, critique, and analyze text and video footage of things that happened in 1948 from different perspectives. As students work their way through the history, they begin to develop their own truth about what happened.
Continue reading and find lesson handouts at Rethinking Schools.
Samia Shoman, a California native with Palestinian roots, has dedicated her career in public education to promoting racial and social justice in the classroom and broader educational organizations she has worked in. She is currently part of a California collaborative leading a Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Coalition. As a long time high school social science teacher, with a special love for working with English Learners, her current passion is leading an alternative Newcomer Program and the implementation of Ethnic Studies for all ninth graders in her district. Samia currently serves as a Manager of English Learner & Academic Support Programs. In addition to her secondary school work, Samia served as a lecturer in the College of Ethnic Studies Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diaspora Program and the Masters of Public Health Program at San Francisco State University. Samia holds a B.A in Political Science with a minor in Spanish from UC Davis, an M.A. in Education from San Francisco State University, and an Ed.D with a focus on Organization and Leadership from the University of San Francisco.
Classroom Stories
I have used the “Independence or Catastrophe” resource coupled with a lecture for more background in my class with great success. Students are eager to discuss and learn more about the larger historical context and challenge corporate media narratives that do not align with their values as young people. As a recent Gallup poll suggests, students are challenging the narrative in large part due to the work of Palestinian journalists on the ground in Gaza through social media.
While I do have concerns about being doxed or having complaints laid upon me, my job as an educator is to inform young people about the world around them and this development is one of the most significant historical tragedies of the century. It cannot be ignored or put aside. Young people deserve the space to learn, unlearn, reflect, and build their world views in schools.
Thank you for providing sources and standing with teachers in this time.
Four weeks after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, I asked my Diversity in the U.S. students if they wanted to take time out of our regular curriculum to learn about what was happening in Israel/Palestine. They said, “Yes, please!”
I began our lesson with Samia Shoman’s Independence or Catastrophe? Teaching Palestine Through Multiple Perspectives exercise. Although designed for younger students, it was the perfect way to start engaging my college students with the historical perspective from both sides.
This exercise, combined with my research and lesson on the history in the region before and after 1948, gave me the perfect way to frame what we were seeing, reading, and hearing — through competing narratives. On our first day, after I shared the regional history between 1914 and 1948, our students completed the Shoman exercise in groups, and reported on the different narratives, guided by the discussion questions.
On the second day we looked at videos and news reports on what happened on Oct. 7th and what was happening in Gaza at that moment. We then used the framework and ideas from the Shoman exercise to discuss the current day: What are the narratives on each side? What language are they using to describe their experiences? What do they say they want? What are they fighting for? What impact is this having on people? On their communities?
Students were interested, attentive, and engaged. By the end of our week, students in both sections of the course thanked me for helping them better understand what was going on, since all they knew was from bits and pieces on social media. Thank you for helping me design what turned out to be a valuable learning experience for both the students and myself.
I have used Zinn Education Project lesson plans — Hunger on Trial: An Activity on the Irish Potato Famine and Its Meaning for Today and The People vs. Columbus, et al. — with my elementary students for a number of years and they have always been well received. This past year, after reflecting on the Columbus lesson, the students thought of other examples of displacement and genocide.
Because my teaching partner and I had addressed the war in Gaza and taught multiple lessons about Palestine, including Independence or Catastrophe? Teaching Palestine Through Multiple Perspectives by Rethinking Schools, my students suggested a similar activity where Israel is put on trial. Another suggestion they gave was to research and write out the charges themselves.
As a whole class, we brainstormed who we thought should be brought to trial. We came up with the Israeli government (and the IDF), Britain, Nazi Germany, the United States and NATO, the media, and Hamas. The charge: the murder of Palestinian civilians and children in the years following 1917. In groups and with assistance, the students were assigned the task of writing an indictment. Once completed, they were assigned a different defendant to research and write their defense as they did in The People vs. Columbus lesson. The jurors were selected from each group and everyone had access to read each indictment. From there, we held a trial followed by another reflection.
Although there were improvements to be made, many students reported this activity as being the most memorable at the end of the year.
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