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Israeli Occupation Causes Widespread Depression among Palestinians
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| Palestinian civilians are under constant threat of losing a house, a child, or anything else. |
RAMALLAH,
West Bank, May 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Israeli
occupation of Palestinian territories affected, and still do, all
aspects of Palestinian life in a negative manner beyond belief .
Palestinians increasingly suffer from depression and shock, especially
since the latest Israeli aggression launched on the West Bank on March
29, according to Palestinian psychologists.
Palestinian
civilians are experiencing acute mental problems due to the frequent
Israeli army incursions into their autonomous areas and the violence
it entails, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP) Saturday, May 25,
2002.
The
destroyed economy and the lack of prospects for a solution to the more
than half a century long catastrophe are also responsible for these
problems.
"Around
70 percent of the population is suffering from psychological shock, in
particular those who hoped" to see the conflict resolved, Mahmud
Sahwil, head of the Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims in
Ramallah, told AFP.
"No
hopes have become reality, on the contrary, the signs of the
occupation are increasingly visible, and the economy is deteriorating.
As a result, frustration is rising and has become a collective
phenomenon", he added.
The
most common medical conditions resulting from the situation are
firstly "physical illnesses due to psychological problems"
and secondly "anxiety and depression", Sahwil explained.
He
recommended his patients to start "getting involved in
decision-making" to "express their feelings so that they are
no longer just accepters" of the traumatic events around them.
He
added that "Israeli violence turned the Palestinians into
time-bombs" and said that his greatest worry was "the
long-term effect that this violence can have on people's psychological
state."
The
effects can "impact on the social and family environment and
sometimes only emerge many years" after the events occurred.
In
the Gaza Strip the situation is just as bad.
Dr
Iyad Zaqout of the Gaza Mental Health Program told AFP that Israel's
"repeated incursions ... have caused a state of anxiety, tension
and mental fatigue" among the Gaza population because they feel
"powerless" in the face of the events around them.
Children
are also suffering, "their school work and their ability to sleep
are disrupted because they constantly feel insecure" explained
Zaqout, who said that bed-wetting is also frequent.
Putting
part of the blame on the Palestinian Authority, Zaqout said he also
saw many cases of schizophrenia because "the Palestinian
leadership tends to change strategy abruptly without informing people
or preparing them".
Many
are disturbed by the question of attacks against Israeli civilians. On
the one hand, explained Zaqout, they consider these operations
legitimate "because Israel kills Palestinian civilians and
children".
But
on the other, Palestinians hear others "question whether it is
right to kill Israeli civilians through suicide attacks."
"Just
like their leadership, they do not know how to answer this question,
and this leaves them in a state of constant depression and
tension."
Twice
a week, Zaqout's clinic offers psychological therapy sessions to help
patients deal with problems caused by the current crisis.
The
center also makes television broadcasts to advise Palestinians on how
to deal with psychological tension.
Meanwhile,
an Egyptian analyst, speaking to IslamOnline on condition of
anonymity, lashed out at Israel, international community and the
United States, blaming them for what the Palestinians are suffering.
”In
short, the Israeli occupation is terminating a whole people before the
eyes of the international community. The U.S., for its part, sees
terrorism everywhere, even in the acts of resistance by a people under
occupation,” said the analyst.
“However,
it fails, deliberately or ignorantly, to see state terrorism, in its
ugliest form, practiced by Israel,” he added.
With
additional reporting by Khaled Mamdouh, IOL Cairo Staff
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