Monday, Dec. 1, the Palestinian Student Union turned the Covel Commons Terrace into a Palestinian souq, inviting Bruins to spend their late afternoon wandering through an open-air market of food, music and community. From 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., students stepped out onto a terrace lined with tables filled with trays of food, sweets, refreshments and rows of stickers and tote bags.
Many students adorned the keffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian headdress and symbol of cultural identity. Students wore it wrapped around their shoulders or draped over their backpacks, and others tied it to camera straps or knotted it onto tote bags. Keffiyehs also hung from tables alongside Palestinian flags, framing the terrace in red, green, black and white. The space felt both like a marketplace and a gathering, one where Palestinian students could see their culture reflected back.
Serving trays layered plates with falafel, hummus, garlicky spread, salad, chicken and beef. A separate table held bite-sized pieces of baklava. Students stood and mingled with friends with plates and plastic cups of lemonade and fruit juices in hand.
Arabic pop music threaded through the evening. Songs by artists like Nancy Ajram and Amr Diab drifted over conversation.
The souq also doubled as an introduction to the Palestinian Student Union. The club, still relatively new on campus, has been building community through weekly and monthly events that go beyond social gatherings. On Sundays, members organize intramural sports meetups that give students a low-pressure way to connect. Dabke workshops teach the basics of the traditional Palestinian dance.
The organization also emphasizes educational programming. Earlier in the quarter, the Palestinian Student Union hosted a “Books, Bites and Banter” discussion of historian Rashid Khalidi’s book “The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine” which traces a century of Palestinian history, dispossession and resistance. This event invited students to talk about Palestinian history and how it is narrated in different contexts. Members said they hope to use book discussions to create space for students to ask questions and share personal connections to the material.
More recently, in partnership with the Consortium for Palestine Studies and multiple campus departments, the union helped bring legal scholar Noura Erakat to campus for a lecture titled “Revisiting Zionism as a Form of Racism and Racial Discrimination.” It examined the legal debates surrounding United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379 and its later revocation. Erakat is a professor of Africana studies and criminal justice at Rutgers University and the co-founder of Jadaliyya, an independent, online publication “committed to discussing the Arab world and the broader Middle East on their own terms.” After Erakat spoke, an open forum panel was held for questions.
The Consortium for Palestine Studies also plans to host several more workshops, panelists and speakers through events including “Psychic Militancy.” This talk by Lara Sheehi is to be delivered in late January, and there are many more talks and discussions set to be delivered throughout the rest of the 2025-2026 academic year.
The Palestinian Student Union’s Instagram features a symphony of events. It also sells their own Palestinian merch with hoodies and crewnecks in different styles and colors.
For students wishing to learn more about Palestinian culture, UCLA has the “Palestine: A Comparative Ethnic Studies Approach” course. It includes an “examination of Palestinians through interdisciplinary ethnic studies optics and frameworks.” It serves as an introduction to Palestinian history and heritage for the wider UCLA community.
Seen against this backdrop, the souq was more than a one-off cultural night. For organizers, it was part of a broader effort to make Palestinian presence visible at UCLA in a welcoming way. By centering food, music and casual conversation, the event allowed students to engage with Palestinian culture.
By the time students began packing up trays and folding tables, the souq had become an epicenter for cultural exploration. It was a chance to celebrate Palestinian culture and also to establish a visible space for Palestinian students on campus.
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Featured Image via Frank Logue/Flickr
