Palestinian Mental Health Under Military Occupation and Chronic Warlike Conditions

Abstract

The majority of Palestinians have lived their entire lives as refugee people in poor living conditions and protracted political conflict. The research conducted in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt; Gaza Strip, West Bank, and East Jerusalem) has primarily focused on the impact of direct acute violence in the form of military attacks (e.g., airstrikes, shelling) and physical violence from military personnel and settlers, and typically adopts a Western biomedical model. In this chapter, a literature review of research studies on Palestinian mental health in the oPt will be provided, with a particular focus on exploring local expressions and idioms of distress, contextualized accounts of mental health, and emerging research examining different features of protracted conflict that impact on civilians, such as structural violence, economic oppression, and conflict induced humiliation. The findings revealed the pervasive negative impact the military occupation, structural violence, and protracted conflict has on Palestinians’ mental health and various domains of their life. An apparently unique type of mental suffering connected to the oppressive economic and political conditions experienced was identified in the oPt. Research indicated that humiliation induced by conflict constitutes an independent traumatic event and that Palestinians who experienced persistent humiliation reported significantly worse psychological, health, political, and economic functioning, compared to those who experienced periodic exposure to political violence. Unique insights regarding how continual, systemic, and structural oppression can be potentially more psychologically detrimental than specific incidents of conflict and violence were reported. The implications and relevance of these findings to mental health and disaster relief are considered.