Disaster and Mental Health: The Palestinian experience

The Middle East conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis is a deadly battle between two victims. The Israelis, survivors of a long history of persecution and discrimination, are still bearing the scars of victimization. They are trapped in their collective memories of brutal suffering, which culminated in the horrors of the Holocaust. In their attempt to escape their history and to create a better future, they were led by the Zionist movement to establish a Jewish home and a Jewish nation. Their choice was the Biblical land of Palestine and their victims were to become the Palestinians. The modern Palestinian tragedy goes back to the late part of the 19th centaury when the Zionist movement was created in the wake of nationalism which spread in Europe. Zionism’s declared goal was to fulfill the dream of establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The British colonial government which was mandated over Palestine responded favorably by issuing the Balfour declaration in 1917. In the course of their modern history, the Palestinians have found themselves becoming the Jews of the Middle East. They suffer persecution and discrimination in every corner and most painfully in their own country. Their uprooting in 1948 from their homes and villages i