From sumud to intifada: Supporting non‐violent action to enhance mental health

Abstract

Background The siege of Gaza provides a challenge for mental health workers across the world in terms of how to respond to the forces that create the mental health problems caused by it. Inside Gaza, there are responses to the siege that have therapeutic purposes and outcomes. These need to be understood.They also set up the issue of active solidarity. Aims To provide a background to the mental health crisis in Gaza and to examine some of the psychosocial methods being used to help alleviate symptoms of PTSD. Materials and Methods This is a survey of methods used by Palestine Trauma Centre in Gaza between 2011 and 2018. Results Statistics are contained not in this report but in the referenced report by Dr Mohamed Altawil. Discussion The article discusses the importance of action or activity in the therapeutic process and how actions directed at changing environmental circumstances can enhance personal wellbeing. Conclusion It is to be hoped that mental health workers outside Gaza can find some way of showing solidarity with those trying to be resilient under siege and actively support mental health workers inside Gaza.

Multilingual public diplomacy: Strategic communication of Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in Twitter during Operation Guardian of the Walls

“…These theories attempt to delegitimize Israeli theses that military operations are performed surgically against terrorist commandos. Perhaps the most famous of all is the so-called Dahiya Doctrine based on the destruction of civilian infrastructure with the aim of terrorizing the civilian population (Harrold, 2020) and destroying the nerve-line support of adversary armed groups. 2…”

“…These theories attempt to delegitimize Israeli theses that military operations are performed surgically against terrorist commandos. Perhaps the most famous of all is the so-called Dahiya Doctrine based on the destruction of civilian infrastructure with the aim of terrorizing the civilian population (Harrold, 2020) and destroying the nerve-line support of adversary armed groups. 2 Finally, the significant step forward of the Israeli communicative environment is known as the new public diplomacy, replacing the hasbara introduced in the mid-2000s (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel, 2008).…”