The Palestinian American Research Center (PARC) is a left-of-center think tank that promotes the exchange of research between Palestinian and American scholars and operates a variety of programs promoting Palestine. As an educational group that aims to teach students and professors about Palestine, many of the group’s affiliated scholars include controversial far-left supporters of the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement.

The group focuses on funding research that promotes Palestine and offers several scholarship and exchange programs that sponsor twenty fellows annually including both American and Palestinian researchers. The group states that it receives most of its funding from U.S. sources and is funded by a consortium of fifteen U.S.-based universities and other funders including Network for Good and the American Endowment Foundation. ^{1 2 3}

Background

The Palestinian American Research Center was founded in 1998 by academics to promote academic research about and support for the Palestinians.  Palestinian American Research Center was created in response to a lack of support from U.S. academic institutions for Palestinian scholars and a lack of pro-Palestinian education and research support for U.S.-based academics. A key program for the center is its fellowship program which hosted seven fellows in its first year and since grew to 20 in 2022. ⁴

PARC maintains offices in the West Bank as well as in the Washington, D.C. area. ⁵

Funding and Affiliations

While the Palestinian American Research Center does not publicize its funders, the group has received funding from the U.S. Department of Education as part of the department’s American Overseas Research Centers program, which “provides grants to consortia of institutions of higher education (IHEs) to establish or operate an AORC that promotes postgraduate research, exchanges, and area studies.” In a 2002 grant application to the Department of Education, PARC noted that the group (at that time) represented a consortium of fifteen U.S. colleges and universities and 100 individual members with the goal of expanding the pool of Palestinian affairs experts in the United States. The group also opened an office at Villanova University in its early existence. ⁶

The center also reported that it had obtained grants from the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation in its first four years of existence. ⁷

Other funders of the center include Network for Good and the American Endowment Foundation .⁸

PARC is a listed partner organization of the Middle East Studies Association, a left-of-center U.S.-based think tank highly critical of Israel. ^{9 10}

Criticism

In 2020, the appointment of Ilana Feldman as the interim dean of George Washington University’s (GWU) Elliott School of International Affairs was criticized by supporters of Israel over her being “an active known supporter of the anti-Israel “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” (BDS) movement through her involvement with the Palestinian American Research Center.” ¹¹

Another academic involved with PARC, Sarah Ihmoud, spoke at an event promoting the BDS movement co-sponsored by Anthropologists for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions and Jadaliyya. ¹²

Leadership

Penelope Mitchell is the Palestinian American Research Center executive director, holding that position since 2006. She previously worked for the Academy for Educational Development managing human resource development activities in Botswana, eSwatini, India, Honduras, and the Caribbean. She also worked for the Education Development Center and was logistics coordinator in Kenya for Earthwatch. ¹³

1. “Palestinian American Research Center text search.” Nonprofit Explorer. Query Conducted March 24, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text_search?q=%22palestinian+american+research+center%22
2. Palestinian American Research Center.” Department of Education AORC. Accessed March 24, 2024. https://www2.ed.gov/programs/iegpsaorc/aorc-palestine.pdf
3. “Mission.” Palestinian American Research Center. Accessed March 24, 2024. https://www.parc-us-pal.org/mission/
4. “Mission.” Palestinian American Research Center. Accessed March 24, 2024. https://www.parc-us-pal.org/mission/
5. “Mission.” Palestinian American Research Center. Accessed March 24, 2024. https://www.parc-us-pal.org/mission/
6. “Palestinian American Research Center.” Department of Education AORC. Accessed March 24, 2024. https://www2.ed.gov/programs/iegpsaorc/aorc-palestine.pdf
7. “Palestinian American Research Center.” Department of Education AORC. Accessed March 24, 2024. https://www2.ed.gov/programs/iegpsaorc/aorc-palestine.pdf
8. “Palestinian American Research Center text search.” Nonprofit Explorer. Query Conducted March 24, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text_search?q=%22palestinian+american+research+center%22
9. “Home.” Middle East Studies Association. Accessed March 24, 2024. https://mesana.org/
10. “Palestinian American Research Center.” Middle East Studies Association. Accessed March 24, 2024. https://mesana.org/partner-organizations/palestinian-american-research-center-parc
11. Romirowsky, Asaf. “Normalizing Palestinian Scholarship and Anti-Semitism in the Nation’s Capital.” Newsweek. May 21, 2020. Accessed March 24, 2024. https://www.newsweek.com/normalizing-palestinian-scholarship-anti-semitism-nations-capital-opinion-1505249
12. “BDS and Our Movements for Justice: The Academic Boycott at the American Anthropological Association (8 June).” Jadaliyya Reports. Accessed March 24, 2024. https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/45113
13. “Who We Are.” Palestinian American Research Center. Accessed March 24, 2024. https://www.parc-us-pal.org/who-we-are/