Yousef Khafaja: From Stateless in Germany to Palestinian Leader in Los Angeles
When violent counter-protesters attacked the University of California, Los Angeles’ (UCLA) pro-Palestine encampment on April 30, Santa Monica College (SMC) student, Yousef Khafaja, was on the receiving end of severe blows.
Khafaja said that he was on the ground being beaten and later was hit in the head with a metal rod. “I didn’t realize my whole face was bleeding. I didn't realize my head was open. I was just mad somebody stole my Keffiyeh,” he said. A Keffiyeh is a head covering that many men wear traditionally in the Middle East but has become a symbol of Palestine.
Two UCLA medical students came to Khafaja’s aid, and his friends took him to the hospital, where he was treated for a concussion and bad wounds. From the hospital, Khafaja went straight to class in his bloody shirt the next morning without any sleep.
“Obviously, what happened [to me] was horrible, but I have no regrets about what I did. I would do it again,” Khafaja said. He said he knew he did nothing wrong – he was not violent or aggressive and gained a platform through his experience.
Khafaja said that he will be pressing charges against UCLA and the Los Angeles Police Department for not doing enough to protect students, as well as filing a lawsuit against one of the few recently identified perpetrators who attacked him at the rally.
While Khafaja has recently taken the spotlight as someone unafraid to stand up for the rights of his fellow Palestinians, he hasn’t always been so active.
Growing up as a stateless Palestinian bouncing between Germany, Syria, and Jordan, Khafaja was taught to keep his identity to himself. He said that as a child, he was forced to live life as a refugee without a home despite never having experienced war. “[A] war that happened 60 years ago is responsible for me not being able to go to a regular kindergarten or for me not being able to have a home – to legally stay in one place,” he said.
Khafaja’s grandparents were forced to flee from what he refers to as the “lands of ‘48 or what is now Israel.” Khafaja’s mother’s family went as refugees to the United Arab Emirates, and his father’s family went as refugees to Syria.
Khafaja’s father was born stateless but, through various student visas, pursued medical degrees in Yemen, Russia (formerly the Soviet Union), and Poland. After his student visa expired in Poland, he was forced to leave and go to Dresden, Germany. However, his 10 years of studies did not transfer to any degree, and he had to learn yet another language.
Neither of his parents had citizenship in Germany at the time, leaving Khafaja stateless for the majority of his childhood. “I was illegal in the country I was born in, but I was also illegal in every other country in the world, so you can’t put me anywhere,” he said.
Since coming to SMC as an international student two years ago, Khafaja has become politically active. He is the president of the Muslim Students Association club, on the board of the Students for Justice for Palestine club, and regularly attends protests throughout Los Angeles.
“I’ve never felt so good about being Palestinian, ever,” Khafaja said at the Nakba Rally on SMC’s main quad on May 14. He referred to the Latinos, African Americans, Christians, Muslims, Jews, faculty and students. “Being a kid, I wouldn't even mention I was Palestinian. Now I’m here and doing all that. It's just a beautiful feeling.”
