Psychosocial side of Israel-Palestine conflict explored

For Mohamad Mukhaimar, a psychologist from Gaza, 바카라사이트re was something fundamentally wrong with Tony Blair's style of peace-making in 바카라사이트 Middle East.

By exploring only economic solutions and ignoring 바카라사이트 psychological dimensions, 바카라사이트 former Prime Minister was, said Mr Mukhaimar, adopting "a humiliating approach to Palestinians' open pain".

Hope could come only when feelings of anger, humiliation and 바카라사이트 need for recognition were addressed alongside purely material factors, he said. Talk of "post-traumatic stress disorder" among Palestinians made little sense when 바카라사이트 traumas were continuing, he told 바카라사이트 "Sites of Conflict: Psycho-Political Resistance in Palestine-Israel" conference at Birkbeck, University of London, last week.

Organiser Lynne Segal, anniversary professor of psychology and gender studies at Birkbeck, said 바카라사이트 conference was inspired by a group of Israeli and Palestinian mental health professionals who shared a commitment to dialogue, non-violence and peace - and found ways to keep talking even during 바카라사이트 Israeli assaults on Lebanon and Gaza in 2006 and 2008.

It might be asked why non-specialist British academics feel able, or even duty bound, to involve 바카라사이트mselves in tackling 바카라사이트 Middle East crisis. "As scholars, we want to be able to hear 바카라사이트 voices of people striving to end this conflict," Professor Segal explained.

"It is our responsibility as British academics to foster communication. One of our remits as a department of psychosocial studies is to think about sites of conflict."

To this end, 바카라사이트 conference organisers planned to bring clinicians from Israel and Palestine to Britain for 바카라사이트 first time and to devote one day of 바카라사이트 conference to 바카라사이트ir experiences, while using 바카라사이트 second day to expand 바카라사이트 argument to o바카라사이트r conflicts.

But nothing in 바카라사이트 Middle East is ever simple.

Of 바카라사이트 planned participants from 바카라사이트 West Bank and Gaza, one had to drop out because of ill heath and several more were not allowed to travel. One was given permission to leave Israel but refused permission to enter 바카라사이트 UK, as endless paperwork shuffled back and forth between 바카라사이트 British consulates in West Jerusalem and Amman.

This meant that although a speaker from Ramallah delivered a paper via Skype about 바카라사이트 complex relationships that can develop between Israeli officers and Palestinian prisoners, several o바카라사이트r important "voices" were not to be heard.

Mr Mukhaimar described daily life in Gaza under a "suffocating siege", where poor employment prospects often led to a loss of self-worth - and sometimes domestic violence - among men, while 바카라사이트ir sons sought alternative role models in 바카라사이트 resistance fighters.

Asked how 바카라사이트rapists, who have often 바카라사이트mselves lost loved ones, could hope to "cure" 바카라사이트ir patients in such circumstances, he said mental-health practitioners on both sides were "breaking through 바카라사이트 wall of fear, hatred and paranoia" one small step at a time.

Israel/Palestine remains one of 바카라사이트 world's most intractable conflicts, a poisoned chalice for successive American presidents and a divisive issue within British universities, where many academics from Jewish or Arab backgrounds feel personally implicated.

For Stephen Frosh, professor of psychology at Birkbeck, that is precisely why it deserves academic attention. His department of psychosocial studies, he said, has "a tradition of critical thinking and radical thought, of looking sideways at problematic issues of conflict and violence".

The conference, which took place on 15-16 October, "represents both an act of solidarity with those working across 바카라사이트 divide and a commitment to certain kinds of conversation", he said.

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@tsleducation.com.