Official health agencies such as the International Red Cross are worried about the psychological and well as the physical effects of the Jenin massacre and continued wartime abuses of the Palestinian people. There is no way to know for sure what exact effects this war will have on the psyche of the Palestinians. However, the experience of apartheid war in South Africa and war in Chechnya are good indications of what may lie ahead. South Africa has shown the legacy of apartheid to be negative, resulting in crime, displaced peoples, loss of productivity, high health bills, demoralized population, and aggression (Speakout, p.2).

Similarly, by the later half of the last century, the Chechens had twice experienced near annihilation. First, they were deported to Kazakhstan, and exposed to extreme cold and were then placed in a local mosque and burnt alive. In the fields, 30,000 died of hunger and frost. It was only through International pressure they were finally allowed to return home. As a consequence they lost their industrial buildings, educational institutions, schools, museums and 70% of their health institutions. Psychiatrists Kuri Idrisov and Khapta Akhmedova stated that since the 1995 occupation, 10 concentration camps were provided for 25,000 people. From these 17000 were killed, 1200 declared missing, 6800 people survived, 4,800 became disabled, 1500 developed TB and 500 became handicapped as a result of torture. Torture included being thrown into cages with dogs while others watched, hung from the ceiling by cuff attached to their hands, electric shock, and having ears removed and nails pulled out. After three years, 62% had highly intensive flashbacks, intrusive memories and nightmares. Many have also suffered depression, anxiety, and feelings of loneliness, helplessness and then rage.

During the flashbacks a neuro-vegetative disorder occurred in 70% of cases and there was memory disorder for 92% (Idrisov p.1-3). By the time of the 1999 occupation, most Chechens had been forced into a life of precarious existence. Between 1997 and 1999, Grozny had a children’s psychological rehabilitation center. Known, as “Little Star”, it comprised of psychologists, teachers and nurses. But Russian aggressions made the workers themselves become refugees. The program was relocated to camps in Ingushetia with a team of 34 psychologists and counselors working in six refugee camps. Over 19,000 children have not been able to go to school and emergency psychosocial support has been necessary (Warchild, p.1, 2).

An additional worry is the effect that sex crimes are having on the population. The statistics for sex crimes have still not been established in Kosovo, however, the CDC noted rape survivors ‘often manifest long-term symptoms’ of chronic headaches, fatigue, sleep disturbance, recurrent nausea, decreased appetite, eating disorders, menstrual pain, sexual dysfunction and suicide attempts (Speakout, p.2). The situation is heightened by living in squalid camps, memories of fleeing their homes, losing family members to death squads, and having problems with food and water. As a member of the Red Cross Disaster Mental Health program, psychologist Robert Hayes believes that some survivors will suffer emotional problems years and even decades into the future. This will be compounded by the fact that in trying to raise their children, those born during and after the occupation, will in turn be affected (Ransford p.1, 2). Many fear that the Palestinians may befall the same fate as the Chechens and South Africans.

Media control has shaped perceptions, but on the ground the atrocities are real. In his 1961 Nobel Peace Prize speech, South African Albert Luthuli said, “There are still people in the world today who regard South Africa’s race problem as a simple clash between black and white. Our government has carefully projected this image of the problem before the eyes of the world. This has had two effects. It has confused the real issues at stake…and it has given some form of force to the government’s contention that the race problem is a domestic matter for South Africa. This in turn has narrowed down the area over which out case could be better understood in the world…ours is a continent in revolution against oppression. And peace and revolution make uneasy bedfellows. There can be no peace until the forces of oppression are overthrown” (Drachler, p.153, 154).

bodies from jenin camp