FALL 2011 ISSUE #19

Newsletter of Section IX, Psychoanalysts for Social Responsibility, Division of Psychoanalysis, American Psychological Association

Invited Column: What Is Psychoanalytic Activism?

The Psychoanalytic Work Group FROM THE EDITORS for Peace in Palestine/Israel Ghislaine Boulanger, Ph.D. Ruth Fallenbaum, Ph.D. American psychoanalytic colleagues to better by Nancy Hollander, Ph.D. At a time when the conflict between and Stephen Portuges, Ph.D. understand the Palestinian as well as the Israeli Israel and Palestine is becoming even For the past seven years we have been perspective on this conflict that is at the heart of more fraught in Israel, in Palestine, and in engaged in a group called “Psychoanalytic Work intensifying global tensions. America, in this issue several members of Section IX report on their contributions as Group for Peace in Palestine/Israel.” The group We gather twice a year from our far-flung American psychoanalytic activists working was formed by Nadia Ramzy, Faculty Member parts of the world for weekend-long meetings with Palestinians who live under the harsh and participate in discussion groups on the conditions of statelessness and occupation. of the St. Louis Psychoanalytic Institute and As Judy Roth puts it, as psychoanalysts each co-editor of the International Journal of Applied application of psychoanalysis to social issues of them had to struggle against the “binary Psychoanalytic Studies. In 2004, Ramzy, long and prejudice at American Psychoanalytic thinking and rhetoric that activism can Association meetings. Periodic conference calls trigger,” monitoring their own responses interested in the psychosocial dynamics of the and attempting to remain reflective. They “intractable conflict” between Palestinians and continue the work in between our meetings. share that struggle and those reflections Israeli Jews, gathered together Toronto-based Our goal is to engage other psychoanalysts with us. Judy Roth, who spent two years supporting Palestinian mothers in East Palestinian psychoanalyst George Awad, Israeli through public events at which we speak and Jerusalem, moves her focus and empathic psychologist Carlo Strenger, and several Jewish listen to one another as we express diverse imagination between all the players, American, Arab-American and Arab Canadian perspectives and concerns, modeling empathic Palestinians and Israelis alike. Nina Thomas describes the workshops she ran under the psychoanalysts, including the two of us, to speaking and listening, and hopefully motivating aegis of Palestinian Red Crescent Society, form a work group in hopes of helping North others to become actively engaged in social working with Palestinian psychotherapists action projects designed to facilitate peace who share a culture of shame and despair with their clients. In a somewhat more The Psychoanalytic Activist and justice in the Middle East. We have also hopeful vein, Warren Spielberg notes a invited speakers to share their perspectives on shift over 12 years in “a new generation of Editors: Ghislaine Boulanger, Ph.D. the conflict, including psychiatrist Joel Kovel, young people displaying cautious confidence Ruth Fallenbaum, Ph.D. and optimism” in the West Bank. Readers Israeli filmmaker Udi Aloni, Carlo Strenger, and will notice a theme weaving through these President of Section IX: psychoanalyst and holocaust survivor Henri essays: the confusion experienced by our Alice Lowe Shaw, Ph.D. contributors, Jewish American psychologists, Parens. who are providing humanitarian aid to Past President: Frank Summers, Ph.D. Over time we have witnessed changes in Palestinians in the context of their differing Treasurer: Barbara Eisold, Ph.D. attitudes of participants in the discussion groups, ethnic histories and current political polarities. Addressing this very issue, Nancy Secretary: Donna Bassin, Ph.D. including some lessening of automatic pro-Israel Hollander and Stephen Portuges answer the Representative to Division 39 Board: and anti-Palestinian attitudes. Perhaps the most question ‘what is psychoanalytic activism’ Liz Goren, Ph.D. compelling part of this experience has been by describing their participation in a seven- year group of international, multi-ethnic Members of the Board of Section IX: the group process itself, which has focused on psychoanalysts who are struggling to Rico Ainslie, Ph.D., Steven Botticelli, Ph.D the application of a psychoanalytic attitude as discover simply how to talk to each other about the seemingly intractable tangle Diane Ehrensaft, Ph.D., Susan Gutwill, Ph.D. a source of understanding of the nature and in the Middle East. Ghislaine Boulanger Adrienne Harris, Ph.D, Rachael Peltz, Ph.D functions of prejudice. Since the group is at [email protected], and Ruth Stephen Portuges, Ph.D. Fallenbaum at [email protected]. continued on page 6 My two year term as President of Section IX is the period I’ve served as president of the of middle income American workers has not drawing to a close. Our section is fortunate section observable participation in Section IX increased in 40 years. Women’s rights and the that Nancy Hollander will bring her passion, projects has wavered. Although our board has security of immigrants are declining, poverty intelligence and scholarship to the leadership been active, in planning events and panels, increases; a social net for those in need is of Psychoanalysis for Social Responsibility as in continuing the small group discussion of frayed and threatened. Wars continue. Debt she assumes the role of President on January the Israel-Palestine conflict, in initiating the increases. Congress resists raising taxes on 1, 2012. Women’s Committee of Section IX; although the wealthiest in this country as one means Several of our section members are our publication, The Psychoanalytic-Activist to increase revenues. Higher education costs stepping into new roles. Past-President, continues to be a rich contribution; although exclude more citizens … and so on and so on. Frank Summers will become the President- individuals have been active in their own ways, Our Section IX panel for the 2012 Division Elect of Division 39 this coming January 1st, something is missing in terms of the potential 39 Spring Meeting will contribute to the and will assume the role of President of the analysis of public reaction and response division the following January. Another Past during our times. We’re excited to present President, Arlene Lu Steinberg, will become our panelists: Bryant Welch JD, PhD; Ruth Division 39 Treasurer this coming January 1. PRESIDENT’S Fallenbaum, PhD, and Leahn Nguyen, PhD, Section member Steven Reisner is running for whose perspectives will provide us with President of the APA. You can visit his website MESSAGE an original and inspiring experience. Our at: www.reisnerforpresident.com reception will feature an art installation and Our section will welcome 6 new board by Alice Lowe Shaw, Ph.D. will be co-hosted by some of our early career members: Susan Bodnar, Sue Grand, Jane members. Hassinger, Elizabeth Hegeman, David we have to generate discourse and action. I’ve been struggling with a poem that Lichtenstein, and Leahn Nguyen. I’m During the Division 39 Spring Meeting last has been pushing into my awareness: W.B. personally quite excited to work more closely April in New York, The Women’s Committee Yeat’s desolate poem, “The Second Coming.” with these individuals given all they have to sponsored a rally addressing the threat to Many of you know the line: “The best lack contribute. women’s reproductive rights and health care. all conviction while the worst are full of In order to strengthen our sense of The rally was very poorly attended. There has passionate intensity.” This line is clearly community, become more aware of the been a lot of speculation about why this was problematic in the polarization and judgment activities of our members and to inspire so; a Field Note in the next issue of the APCS expressed. Yet, I’m moved by the line and it initiative in the application of psychoanalytic (Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture strikes me now. We’re all stretched very thin. thought to social, cultural and political and Society) The Journal: Psychoanalysis, The work we do in our offices and classrooms issues, we have started a four month open Culture and Society, will discuss the possible is certainly sufficient to satisfy a high standard blog through our listserv. Susan Bodnar, meanings of this disappointing turnout. of moral calculus. Nevertheless, we can Co-Chair of our Education Committee, is Worries about the state of our society have also gain sustenance while we contribute moderating this project. As we know, there only deepened in the last two years. significantly by taking advantage of the is always a gap between the writing of an Our hopes for a truly progressive opportunities that our community of socially article and its release. At the time I’m writing U.S. president have been tarnished. responsible psychoanalytically oriented this column the blog has been open for a Unemployment hovers above 9% nationally, professionals offers. I hope our membership week. The only person who has written to a rate projected to continue through 2012. A grows and thrives. us is Susan, who initiated the project. Over recent report stated that the adjusted salary [email protected]

To join Section IX, and to renew your membership for 2011, please fill out this form send it with a check for $40 ($20 for students and candidates) made out to “Section IX, Division 39, APA” and send it to: Barbara Eisold, Treasurer, Section IX 351 Central Park West, New York, NY 10025

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2 PSYCHOANALYTIC ACTIVIST • FALL 2011 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC REPORTER

occupation or that I would be partnering with Jewish children will inherit. Later, a colleague human rights workers on both sides of this sends a video clip of an Israeli man discussing The Arc of a Frontline seam, grappling with psychosocial models of the thawing of his dissociation, which began as by Judy Roth, Ph.D. solidarity. he watched himself organize a round-up on a An Israeli soldier testifies against a video he filmed years earlier, while in the army. Palestinian 13 year old, trying to prove that he “I didn’t even realize I was arresting children,” I am sitting in the children’s court in Ofer can identify this particular child as one of many he says. The clip ends as he remembers the prison, in what turns out to be the culmination who threw the stones in a village not far from mothers of these children, whom he once of two years’ work around a small project an Israeli settlement. Behind me, in the last encoded as “crazy, hysterical” but now has to strengthen Palestinian mothers in East row of the courtroom, sits the child’s family, humanized as “mothers severed from their Jerusalem whose homes and neighborhood are trying to make contact with him. Families are children”; they were much calmer than he slated for demolition by Israel. The project was not allowed to sit closer, so I am slouching so imagines he would be if soldiers took away his an attempt to create an attachment-based milieu as not to break their view. Mothers’ eyes on child. “I would go mad,” he concludes. that would energize mothers long enough this frontline are barometers of psychic pain, I leave the prison galvanized to think more for them to catch their psychic breaths and but I don’t turn around, wanting to protect this about perpetration and dissociation. But a regain their parenting footing. While we had mother’s privacy. I flash to a Bedouin mother seasoned activist suggests that I am despairing expected mothers to focus on the anticipation I met soon after her home was demolished; of the humanitarian issues on the ground, fast- of losing their homes, the winds of war were she was nursing her child, gazing off into forwarding to the next stage, to post-occupation shifting. Mothers, while worried about their some unreachable place. Like so many other issues, diverting attention from the pull of this homes, were even more preoccupied with the mothers in East Jerusalem, her sad, vacant eyes dehumanizing vortex and away from the most possibility that their children would be arrested were those of a mother whose mind had been impotent. The need to look away hovers, as and interrogated and that they, themselves, hijacked by active trauma. Mothers here are awareness of pain intensifies. might be interrogated. Palestinian children “frontliners,” as Shelhoub-Kevorkian (2009)3 My identification shifts again as I move along were throwing stones and Israeli authorities writes, absorbing and negotiating waves of the arc of this frontline. I am the psychoanalyst were using the toughest measures possible violence, grief, damage, and rage as they ripple who thinks about enactments, how even --large sweeps in neighborhoods, waking across family life. the best have internalized the worst of this families in the middle of the night, separating Next to me sits a minister from Holland, who conflict. The collapsing of dimensionality and young children from parents---often violating wonders what this child must be experiencing. individual uniqueness are enacted repeatedly. international and Israeli law in the treatment of Like me, he has a son this age. But I cannot Everyone is trying to occupy everyone else, minors1. even “see” the child; I am wondering how this to lay claim, cross boundaries, control, and Ofer prison is not for the kids from Israeli judge, who might be a mother herself, erase. The rejected other is not invisible but is Jerusalem. It houses the military court for the can defer the case without ever making eye rendered undesirable, hated. Perhaps, because Palestinian children in the West Bank. And I contact with the child or the parents. She is it is too devastating to see the other who is am here because, as I learned about what was looking at her computer screen. She adjourns flattened by oppression, as if seeing might happening in East Jerusalem, a colleague said the case, the child remains in custody. Someone negate one’s own suffering and experience of that I should check out what is happening to gasps; I don’t know if it is the mother clutching violence. I feel stronger formulating along the West Bank kids and their families. This has my chair, or me. We are all more parents than these lines but feel as though I am “othering” been the nature of the work, one issue leading otherwise. This is the overriding identification. my partners, imposing a psychoanalytic to the next. The children here are not only The time a child loses in the hourglass of this lens that appropriates the meaning of their picked up in the middle of the night, detained, courtroom seems inconsequential. In these dynamics. And I am “othering” myself, by and interrogated; they are subjected to brutal woods, many male teens are arrested at some not acknowledging how partnering across this treatment, and often disappear for days, leaving point, a traumatizing rite of passage. divide and witnessing are enormous privileges, frantic families trying to track them down.2 I look at the Israeli soldier and judge. with humanizing, psychic reverberations. Five years ago, when I started to learn about What time bombs will go off for them in five, “It is just fate that has put you on one side of the deteriorating conditions in East Jerusalem, ten, twenty years, when their children are this this divide and me on the other,” says another I did not know that I would get up close and age? I feel my identification and empathy shift, colleague in the trenches, leveling the playing personal to different sides of the Israeli perhaps because I worry about the legacies my field. I am terribly grateful to these activists who put me in my place and teach me how to 1See: B’tselem, “No minor matter”, 7/2011 3Shalhoub-Kevorkian, N. (2009). Militarization and stand. It is just fate to be a “privileged other,” 2See Detention Report, No.19, DCI/Palestine, July, 2011: and “All guilty! Observations in the juvenile military court Violence against Women in Conflict Zones in the Middle arbitrarily spared from ongoing political 2010-2011,” No Legal Frontiers, July 2011. East: A Palestinian Case-Study continued on page 7

PSYCHOANALYTIC ACTIVIST • FALL 2011 3 new acquaintances in strange Working Under situations, we took refuge in talking about the weather. THE PSYCHOANALYTIC REPORTER Occupation: Although I have spent significant periods of time yet they are deeply hidden in this small and Psychoanalytic Reflections in post-war, post-conflict countries, never sequestered society. This mixture of gender on Psychosocial Service previously have I been in a place where violence and violence seem to echo the domination and in Palestine1 and the threat of violence hang so heavily in the subjugation that keep reverberating throughout air; where one must become accustomed to the the lives of the Palestinians in general. The by Nina K. Thomas, Ph.D. indignities of being stopped and searched at PRCS workers make that link, viewing domestic random, or, as one of my Palestinian colleagues violence and sexual abuse as emerging out of put it, “depending on the mood of the soldier.” the disempowerment of Palestinian men and “Sometimes we have to live like heroes I have also never been in a place where my the daily humiliations they experience as they because we have these choices that are our identity as an American Jew, with family in Tel are subject to the random behavior of soldiers inherited history…confront or die.” Workshop Aviv, whose roots extend deep into Zionist soil, and encounters at checkpoints. But does this participant, Ramallah, August, 2009. complicated my experience so profoundly as analysis complicate and mask underlying issues it did in Palestine. I experienced that resist address. Is the cause of Palestine was in the midst of a heat wave both intense guilt about violence against women more in the summer of 2009. I was in Ramallah to how Palestinians are ...never complicated than simply provide training to the psychosocial staff of the forced to live and a previously have the Occupation? As Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS). Formal sense of the terror I ask the question training in conducting psychotherapy is severely with which my I been in a place where I know, too, limited for Palestinian workers like those in the friends and violence and the threat of that I am in workshops I conducted. The nominal concern relatives in violence hang so heavily no position to of the four and a half days of training in which Israel live. disentangle the I combined lectures with demonstration groups Because there in the air; where one must multiple strands was “Caring for the Caretaker.” Our daily is so much become accustomed to the involved. sessions focused on helping the nine participants suspiciousness indignities of being stopped recognize and disentangle their own traumatic on all sides, Issues of gender reactions to living under occupation from those I was guarded and searched at definition, power of their clients. All of those who participated in about disclosing my random... differences between the 9 am to 5 pm sessions were field staff from Jewishness in a variety the sexes, between subject psychosocial centers around Palestine including of contexts, including to my and object are all in the room, Hebron, Qalquilya and Ramallah. My translator Palestinian colleagues generating some of the greatest heat in was the supervisor of psychosocial programs for I think of the work I undertook as in our workshop, with men grumbling that women PRCS, a quiet, warm and thoughtful man who is keeping with the “moral witnessing” of blame everything on men, and women bantering deeply concerned both about the quality of work “Machsom Watch,” a group of Israeli women with the men about how they act as if they have his staff is prepared to perform as well as the toll who monitor the treatment of people negotiating all the power. One woman participant describes on them of doing so when they share the political, the checkpoints between Israel and the women solely according to their roles with social and economic traumas of their clients. Occupied Territories (Ullman, 2006), with all no subjectivity of their own. “There are three The ten days I spent in Palestine were the complexities that experience entails. I offer dimensions of mothers,” she says, “in terms of challenging. The threat of violence, danger, reflections on my experience in the West Bank fathers, husbands and brothers.” and suspiciousness on all sides underlie most and some of the complicating factors in working And then there is the issue of clothing. Four interactions with “outsiders.” The oppressive in an environment so thick with historical and of the six women in my workshop are clad in heat, minimally dispelled by an overburdened contemporary traumas. more or less strict, traditional Muslim dress, air conditioning system in the Society’s In thinking about the work I did, four while at least one of the two who are not is both headquarters, made dressing “modestly,” while elements emerge, each complicated by multiple modest and provocative at the same time. In an still withstanding the relentless temperatures, layers of meaning intersecting with the others: effort to make a point about working in groups, a particular difficulty. But the interminable (1) gender, (2) power, authority and agency, 3) addressing the importance of neither overlooking heat was something all of us, the trainee staff, shame, humiliation and powerlessness, and 4) differences in the similar, nor the similarities in supervisors and I, shared. At times, like all despair. difference, I use the example of these similarities Gender and differences among the women in the room, 1An earlier version of this paper was presented at the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis Domestic violence and sexual abuse are all of whom are Muslim and Palestinian. One of weekend, Salisbury, CT, Nov. 7, 2009. problems the PRCS staff confronts regularly, continued on page 7

4 PSYCHOANALYTIC ACTIVIST • FALL 2011 I met in Nablus. This group revenues and growth in investment, both of 15–20-year-olds is busy privately and by donor countries, have spurred THE PSYCHOANALYTIC REPORTER setting up their own Internet the economy. Productivity grew by 9% in 2009. company that will provide The stock market average grew by 11%. New advanced technical tutoring. schools, more trained police, new roads, new Maha, a keen 15-year-old girl whose eyes health centers have been built and improvements Is There a New conveyed a strong sense of purpose, remarked, were made to the water systems. According to Palestinian “I do not know when there will be peace. This Ghasam Khatib, a spokesman for Prime Minister will be up to our leaders and Allah. But I don’t Fayyad, a calculated psychological message of Psychology care in the long run; I am intent on educating self-empowerment spread by governmental and Based on Hope myself and developing our minds to build a new religious authorities has also been a vital part of state.” the overall economic program. over Despair and Faisal, a 17-year-old honors student who But other factors are spurring self-reliance has experienced the harshness of the Israeli and optimism. Cairo Arafat, a psychologist and Victimization? occupation, echoed similar sentiments. Both he advisor to the Palestinian Authority, told me: by Warren Spielberg, Ph.D. and his father have been taken from their home “The separation wall (built by Israel to shield several times in the cold of winter to stand all Israel from the Palestinians) has had unintended night for interrogation. He was never arrested. effects. The separation wall has changed our Twelve years ago, as a consultant to Israel’s But the humiliation of having their hands tied focus; we now look more inward. We compare Peace Now movement, I witnessed the following behind their backs and being forced to stand ourselves less with Israelis, more to other Arabs. exchange during a dialogue that the movement all night embittered Faisal. “Still,” he asserted, Before the wall we felt "we can’t do"; now, we had organized in the West Bank town of Ramallah “I can only fight through education, through focus on our "successes." between Israeli and Palestinian students. However the challenges that One of the Israeli participants, Shaul, had remain are great. More than 53% been lecturing the Palestinians in the room on of Palestinians are below the age how they should conduct themselves to “earn of 18, and close to one quarter peace.” He went further, drawing on the famed of all Palestinian children live sarcasm of Abba Eban: “You Palestinians never below the poverty line. Almost miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity 90% of Palestinian families do to make final peace.” In reply, Taisir, a not have a computer at home. Palestinian, angrily shouted, “You Israelis think Most alarming, however, is the you are so smart—you brag that you created incidence of post-traumatic a state out of nothing . . . yet you have had the stress disorder (PTSD) among money of the rich Jews around the whole world these children—close to 40% who have helped you.” in many areas of the West Bank. This exchange occurred within a larger Trauma in children undermines psychological struggle that had erupted earlier, their ability to learn, feel, and reflecting Israeli disrespect of Palestinian ultimately think. The young competence and Palestinian resentment men of East Jerusalem, once over Israeli claims of intellectual and moral the elite both economically and superiority. I have termed these particular socially, are now among the most impediments to dialogue "identity enactments." traumatized of the Palestinian Embedded in this particular enactment, I populations. Under total Israeli thought, was an expression of felt Palestinian sovereignty, outside the reach inferiority and shame. of the Palestinian Authority, Twelve years later, as I traveled the land, I and harassed daily by Israeli heard no such "bitter lemons" from Palestinian soldiers and police, they are youth living on the West Bank (excluding suffering a loss of identity. They East Jerusalem and excluding Gaza. I was not face invidious comparisons with allowed to travel to Gaza; the situation there Israelis and the corruption of is completely different and requires its own bettering my people.” their own culture. article.) Instead, I observed a new generation To be sure, the changes in the Palestinian The legacy of problematic national of young people displaying cautious confidence infrastructure and economy have increased identifications is also an impediment to hope and and optimism. Take, for example, some students confidence and optimism. Increased tax continued on page 8

PSYCHOANALYTIC ACTIVIST • FALL 2011 5 The Psychoanalytic Work Group we are all dedicated to the peaceful and just equates criticism of Israel and Zionism with for Peace in Palestine/Israel resolution of this Middle East conflict. anti-semitism. He said he would then examine continued from page 1 Convinced that U.S. citizens need to know some of the effects of this campaign, which, more about how the U.S. has contributed in the name of protecting and supporting to the continuation of this conflict, Nancy Israel’s survival, actually contributes to the composed of Muslims, Christians, and Jews of has focused her public presentations with very anti-semitism it allegedly seeks to prevent. Arab and Euro-American ethnicity, the members the group on the economic, ideological and George’s reply was to remind Stephen that if are committed to being inclusive, empathic psychological factors responsible for U.S. he were to say what Stephen was proposing, and mutually respectful of conflict-stimulating policy toward Israel and the Palestinians, he would simply be dismissed as a deranged differences among ourselves. When these and has published two articles on the topic. Arab, whereas “[Stephen] would probably attitudes are challenged or threatened, the group She has grown to see with more sensitivity be sent to live in the occupied territories as a is committed to a process of self-examination the subtle complexities of Middle Eastern Palestinian!” that includes an exploration of both personal cultures and their expression in the different With this opportunity to visit the Promised and political motivations. A shared conviction political perspectives of the conflict. From Land in mind along with Stephen’s deepest that our group process represents and reflects the beginning, because of her familiarity wish to see Israel/Palestine become a land some of the social/political dynamics of the with Latin America and her critique of the of equal promise for all Semites, he was Palestinian/Israeli conflict takes us beyond impact of neocolonial policies, she has been comforted by George’s ironic remarks. He the psychodynamics of a typical workgroup. quick to criticize Israel and the U.S., and her also realized that being in dialogue with By openly discussing our psycho-political sympathies have been with the Palestinian the psychoanalytic activists in this group, micro-dynamics, we think that we can perspective of the conflict. As part of the who represent the region’s rich ethnic and better understand obstacles to working for group experience, however, she has had to religious diversity, has helped him to reduce peace among the traumatized Israelis and negotiate the multiple identifications that the intensity of his own ethnic identity conflicts Palestinians, other regional powers, and the demand self-exploration, including the and slightly modify his childhood-based, U.S. that are at the heart of this complex social contradictions that mark her psychologically: Hollywood inspired, Leon Uris version of the conflict. We feel that the group’s presentations intense cultural pride in being a Jew, Israeli-Palestinian conflict. have helped its audiences to better understand ideological criticism of Israeli state policy The group members will continue to both sides of the conflict by reflecting on their alongside a visceral familiarity with Israeli contribute to both APsaA discussion groups own attitudes and seeing the dynamics in Jews, identification with Palestinians whose in New York in January 2012, and we are which we all participate that move our society subjectivity has been erased in their universal especially excited about organizing and toward conflict and war rather than peace. depiction as “the other,” empathy for the hosting in the near future a public forum Our ultimate goal is to find more ways that the traumatic sequelae of both the Holocaust featuring psychoanalytic perspectives on the group can develop its own version of second and the Naqba, and feelings of guilt as Israeli/Palestinian conflict. ❏ tier diplomacy, the goal of which is to facilitate a privileged U.S. citizen who can escape citizens becoming more active in pressing the the immediacy of this high-stakes conflict Suggested Readings: U.S. government to assume a more reasoned, while other members of the group are more Falk, Avner, (2004). Fratricide in the Holy Land: A tolerant, and fair discourse and policy in the personally as well as politically affected. Psychoanalytic View of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. region. These years of intense and intimate work with Madison: The Univ. of Wisconsin Press. The process and goals of the group such a diverse group of people, who, despite have been challenging, and our membership their differences are capable of sustaining Hollander, Nancy (2010). Anti-Muslim Prejudice has changed over time, both in terms of a bond, has been a unique experience and and the Psychic Use of the Ethnic Other, Int. J. Appl. Psychoanal. Studies, 7:73-84. ethnic and religious as well as ideological something for which she is grateful. To use identifications. This group experience has one of the few Yiddish words she knows, Hollander, Nancy (2009). A Psychoanalytic provided us with a rare opportunity to engage Nancy feels in the group like she’s with Perspective on the Paradox of Prejudice: “close up and personal” with individuals landsmen. Understanding US Policy toward Israel and the who represent some of the rich diversity of Finally, one of the recollections we both Palestinians, Int. J. Appl. Psychoanal. Studies, 6: 167-177. the major players in the conflict. We are cherish that captures some of the anguish and religious and secular; we represent a range of hope of our work in the group, took place in Khalidi, Rashid (1997). Palestinian Identity: political perspectives, and our identifications December of 2006, when Stephen sent the The Construction of Modern National and positions on specific issues are flexible late George Awad a précis of his intention to Consciousness. New York: Columbian Univ. Press. and sometimes unpredictable. When our present a paper to a workshop on “Prejudice Mamdani, Mahmood (2004). Good Muslim, Bad exchanges are emotionally intense, the group in the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict” at the Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots acts as an important container. Conflict American Psychoanalytic Association. The of Terror. New York: Random House. Pappe, Ilan among us is tolerable and survivable because proposal indicated that he would evaluate (2006) The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. Oxford: of the personal warmth that pervades our a particularly odious manifestation of an Oneworld. relationships and the basic trust we have that ongoing intimidation strategy that falsely continued on page 7 6 PSYCHOANALYTIC ACTIVIST • FALL 2011 The Psychoanalytic Work Group Portuges, Stephen. (Reporter) (2007). The Commissioner for the International Monitoring for Peace in Palestine/Israel Application of Psychoanalytic Thinking to Social Commission (Reporter). Int. J. Appl. continued from page 6 Problems: Analytic Perspectives on the Palestinian/ Psychoanalytic Studies, 4(3): 277–285. Israeli Conflict. Int. J. Appl. Psychoanal. Studies Segev, Tom. (2007) 1967: Israel, the War and the Piterberg, Gabriel (2008) The Returns of Zionism. 4(3): 286–294. Year that Transformed the Middle East. New York: London and New York, Verso Press Metropolitan Books. Portuges, Stephen. (Reporter) (2007). Understanding Terrorism And What We Can Portuges, Stephen. (2007). Psychoanalytic Sorkin, Michael (ed.) (2005). Against the Wall. Do About It. A Continuing Conversation with Reflections on the Misdiagnosis of Anti-Semitism. New York: the New Press. Paper presented at the meetings of the American Lord John Alderdice, (Former) Speaker of the [email protected] Psychoanalytic Association, NY. Northern Ireland Assembly and International [email protected]

The Arc of a Frontline reject and simultaneously create; destroy while trigger, collapsing nuance and complexity. “I continued from page 3 planting seeds. As a foreigner, you need the “long want you to do what you do in your office in New breath,” as yet another activist says, to learn York,” which I hear as a plea for a measure of violence both as victim and perpetrator. these possibilities. In a terrain where initiatives thirdness. Imprinted during adolescence to engage Israelis slash and burn, a collapsed project can ignite a As I enter my office I exhale the arc of this and Palestinians, my involvements bring me new connection in a different neighborhood. The frontline: the kaleidoscopic shifting of victim home and yet, it is not my home. I am almost playing field is small. and perpetrator, the concentric circles of from there, but I am really from here I try to A Palestinian partner asks me not to be an dehumanization, the questions of solidarity, use my marginality as a muscle, since, as a activist. He wants to focus on the violence that the pleas to humanity, and the wisdom of daughter of refugees, I too wrestle with a legacy ordinary Palestinians live with, the disruptions extraordinary human beings--the activists who of ethnic hatred and a sense of place. and losses of daily life, and the maddening have been my guides. And I wonder, how will it Surprising capacities do exist. People may obstacles. Perhaps, he is worried about the all reverberate, for them and for me? ❏ engage even when they say they refuse; they may binary thinking and rhetoric that activism can [email protected]

Working under Occupation: The boundary wall surrounding Qalqilya make a fine clinician with the right training. Psychoanalytic Reflections on separates families from one another, from their Indeed, the staff at PRCS is eager to learn and Psychosocial Service in Palestine lands, and from their access to work or to to develop the skills to deal with the pervasive continued from page 4 school. And sometimes children are not able to and ongoing traumas that are so much a part of get to school or the sick to health care. The their own and their clients’—or beneficiaries, populations the PRCS staff serves are, in the as they call them-- daily lives. They have told the men notes: “The women dressed traditionally words of one staff person: “fearful all the time me of the challenges they face. Among them is are like nuns. The ones who are not are loose.” about their children and their husbands.” Fear the need to maintain a balance in their own lives Power, Authority and Agency and anxiety are a constant presence as too is the and positive feelings about themselves. “When Three of the participants in my workshop demand to submit to a subjugating authority. people are exposed to this level of violence, come each day to Ramallah from Qalqilya. At Shame, Humiliation, and Powerlessness how do they re-establish their identity?” Another 9 a.m. they have not arrived. Should I begin One participant I am calling Rashid describes the frames the dilemma this way: “Sometimes without them? I wait. When they arrive at almost experience of a member of one of his groups. we have to live like heroes because we have 9:30, one tells me she must leave early. Only Israeli soldiers came to the man’s home to these choices that are our inherited history … later do I learn what Qalqilya represents. It is a arrest him. Rashid describes what happened. confront or die.” The Palestinians with whom Palestinian village of about 45,000 people, with “He was late to open the door. His children I am working have few if any opportunities for no shelter from the relentless sun and completely were frightened and held onto his legs. When establishing agency in their lives. surrounded by the Wall. One gate opens for he opened the door the soldiers beat him and A participant I am calling Salee describes two hours in the morning, two hours in the shot him in the leg in front of the children. wanting to experience death. She made a pact afternoon, and two hours in the evening. To They didn’t arrest him. They just left him there. with a colleague that each would do something enter or leave Qalqilya, you must negotiate the The children have nightmares now.” I sensed to the other to bring her to the point of death, checkpoint in the allotted time or risk waiting Rashid’s urgency in having me understand the but they would have a signal when whatever the for it to reopen. It is hard to manage the frame man’s experience. other was doing should stop. Salee never gave working in such an environment. Rashid is a talented staff person who would continued on page 8

PSYCHOANALYTIC ACTIVIST • FALL 2011 7 Section IX, Psychoanalysts for Social Responsibility c/o Ghislaine Boulanger, Ph.D. 242 West 101 Street New York NY 10025

Is There a New Palestinian undermine Palestinian growth and resilience. Whether negotiations succeed or not, this Psychology Based on Hope over A new generation of educated elite is trajectory of self reliance is leading to hope Despair and Victimization? attempting to establish a more positive and confidence, inspiring imagination, critical continued from page 5 sense of Palestinian identity, but it will take thinking and innovation. This movement is time. Real successes and the recognition small at the moment, but it will activate and be social renewal. National identifications are slow and appreciation by the world community of activated by a prime minister who calls for an to change. Modern Palestine has been dominated their accomplishments under the harshest of independent declaration of statehood whether or by numerous foreign powers. Palestinians have circumstances will surely help. So will a fair not the Israelis come to the table. If and when experienced repeated displacements, including peace deal. But many do not expect it. An that happens, at least 130 other countries are 50% of their population in 1948, and over forty October 2010 survey conducted by the Near East likely to recognize the new state of Palestine. years of harsh occupation by Israel. These Consulting Group placed optimism about a future Then it will be Israel’s and the United States’ traumas and their legacy of helplessness, despair, Palestinian state among West Bank residents turn to confront the roots of their own national and rage are deeply imbedded in the young at only 20%. Nevertheless, over 60% of those identity. ❏ Palestinians of today. Facts on the grounds, like polled approve of the current Fayyad government, [email protected] the checkpoints, exacerbate these wounds and and note optimism about their own futures.

Working under Occupation: PRCS who explained that Palestinians feel they intended to illuminate some of the psychological Psychoanalytic Reflections on can have control only over their own deaths. consequences of decades of Occupation for the Psychosocial Service in Palestine It did not alarm or even surprise him to hear psychological lives of Palestinians past, present continued from page 7 Salee’s story. and future. ❏ As I mentioned, each of the elements [email protected] the signal to her colleague who was choking I describe is inseparable from the others, her to the point of suffocation. She collapsed in creating an environment that can easily produce References: a coma requiring hospitalization for a week. I a sense of despair. I do not presume to analyze Ullman, C. (2006). Bearing Witness: Across the was alarmed by her story and discussed it with the political and historical contexts of the Barriers in Society and in the Clinic. Psychoanal. the head of psychosocial programming for the region in this brief essay. My reflections are Dial., 16:181-198.

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