5-3-2017 True independence on Nakba Day: accountability and healing as an Israeli aggressor

http://mondoweiss.net/2017/05/independence-accountability-aggressor/

 

…I went on to study biological psychology in the United States specializing in the behavioral neuroscience of fear, stress, social behaviors, aggression and trauma... Since its inception, Israeli politicians invoke fear by perpetuating a victim narrative based on centuries of real persecution of Jewish peoples. In effect, they reinforce a form of collective Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), whereby annihilation is eternally around the corner. Thus, fear enables a level of aggression and oppression that is a part of daily life in the reality of occupation.  Today is a perfect day of reckoning for Israelis: the anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba ("catastrophe" in Arabic), when Zionist forces ethnically cleansed Palestine of its native peoples in order to fulfill their goal of Judaizing the land.  To heal, we as Israelis must abandon exclusivism and choose the evolutionary path of empathy and altruism. This painful process includes acknowledging shame and guilt and embracing historical truth over propaganda. Once the bond between Zionism and the self is broken Israelis will be able to engage in dissent as a legitimate and natural means of building an inclusive and just society in Israel/Palestine.

Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

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