Friends of Naser Azmi Musabeh grieve with a wreath of flowers on his desk. Naser an 11-year-old from Khan Younis south of Gaza was hit with a live bullet in the head by Israeli troops during demonstrations in eastern Khan Younis. Picture by Hassan Jedi/Zuma Press/PA Images. All rights reserved.In the field of medicine, we often speak of the social determinants of health. In Palestine, not only social, but political determinants of health have a grave impact on the wellbeing and mental health of our community. I am not just talking about the political blackmail through recent blatant cuts of the US administration of millions of US dollars from East Jerusalem hospitals and defunding UNRWA educational and health services, but also through the daily realities of dismal work opportunities, a vacuum of leadership, the threat of political detention haunting our youth, and the pervasive experiences of loss and grief. Centuries of political oppression has created a cascade of damage to collective identity and individuals’ personalities.
The ongoing siege of Gaza is only a single dramatisation of how the political realities of occupation deliberately destroy the quality of life for Palestinians. In a society where the sudden traumatic death of young people is common and the experience of detention and torture touch every family, psychological suffering and collective anxiety are pandemics. Who better than mental health professionals to understand how this omnipresent pain and fear can intimidate the population or even push individuals into radicalisation?
In my governmental office at the mental health unit responsible for mental health services in the West Bank, I often receive donors and representative of international medical and mental health NGO’s, who are interested in supporting our mental health system. Some are ready to pay for medications, equipment, training; but they shy away from advocacy and political solidarity.
