Political Violence and the Palestinian Family: Implications for Mental Health and Well-Being by Vivian Khamis

Author:Vivian Khamis [Khamis, Vivian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, Ethnic Studies, Social Science, Political Science, Social Work, Sociology, General
ISBN: 9781317720164
Google: iNbYDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2020-03-24T12:28:24+00:00

Secondary Victimization

Secondary victimization was one of the themes that emerged in participants’ discussions. They referred to the many injustices that occurred to them after the crises. Many family members indicated that these secondary victimizations were, in fact, more painful in many ways than the actual crises because they were inflicted by others who were in caregiving roles and who recognized their vulnerability and abused them nonetheless. They also felt victimized by the systems they thought were put in place to relieve pain, not enhance it. The following six extracts reveal aspects of this theme:

Ah, what can I tell you? What happened to me is not a minor thing. I am the mother of the martyr “M,” who was shot in the stomach by the Israelis and was taken to America and died; and the mother of “H,” the injured, who was shot in one eye, and in the other eye he doesn’t see more than 30 percent; and the mother of “N,” who was taken by the military army more than twenty times for interrogation, beatings, and humiliation; and my son “R” was in the Israeli prisons. But now they are in the prisons of the Authority. What can I tell you … about being beaten, or having my house broken into, or my humiliation by the military occupation? But whatever the Israelis do, like killing or terrorizing, I don’t think of them … even if they shoot me or injure me or kill me. But now the Authority has come to complete their work for the Israelis … that’s what kills me more than the killing of my children.

They beat my son, the brother of a martyr, and the beating was very painful. I went to a person in the Palestinian Intelligence and I introduced myself as the mother of the martyr “I” and said that I spoke on behalf of the mothers of all the martyrs, and I told them, “When you came, we were very happy and thought it would be for our good, but what you do now is more difficult to endure than what the Israelis did. Why do you beat my son when we are with you? If you are against us, we will be against you. The Israeli killed my son because I am his enemy, but why do you beat my son?”

That is what we got … the son of the poor became the bridge and they climbed over him. The son of the poor became the bridge for the son of the rich to pass over him, and they are the rich class and we are the poor class.

In the past our morale was high … let me tell you why … because the Israelis used to beat the women and the girls— but now you see your cousin … whom are you going to fight? Your brother … your cousin, these never threw a stone at the enemy; they used to hide in their houses… and now they have become responsible and they earn a salary at the expense of my son.

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