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While mental health disorders are one of the largest health problems in Palestine, unfortunately, they are the least acknowledged. As a result of the israeli occupation, Palestinians are exposed to an ample amount of terror and violence. Consequently, this exposure has increased the prevalence of mental health disorders, some of which include PTSD, anxiety, insomnia, and schizophrenia.
Mental Health of Palestinians
Almost a third of Palestinians are in desperate need of mental health interventions. However, with that being said, amidst the healthcare provision, mental health services in Occupied Palestine are among the most under-resourced sectors. Palestinians have experienced a series of traumatic events that have ranged from the imprisonment and torture of their loved ones and watching israeli forces demolish their houses to the confiscation of their homeland. These dreadful and abominable experiences trigger an environment that fosters anxiety and stress, uncertainty of what is to happen in the future, and constant instability, which can lead to the most detrimental effects on mental health. While mental health is a concern for both adults and children in Occupied Palestine, the psychological effects of the conditions in which they live in are especially traumatizing for children.
Following the arrest and detention of her brother and three brothers, Rahaf, a 14-year-old girl living in Palestine, has experienced acute psychosomatic symptoms such as insomnia and trembling hands. “We were sleeping, and we woke up to find them standing over our heads,” she says of the israeli army, who have regularly ransacked her family home for as long as she can remember. “In one month, they raided the house twice.”
About 32.7% of children in the Gaza Strip suffer from severe levels of PTSD, 49% of children suffer through moderate levels of PTSD, and 16% of children suffer from low levels of PTSD.
The Effect of the israeli Occupation on Mental Health Services in Palestine
In general, the mental health services in the West Bank are difficult to come by and are inconsistent in quality. Regrettably, there is no legislation that addresses the mental health of Palestinians and no budget allocated to it by the Ministry of Health. Due to a lack of funding and the ongoing terrors from the israeli forces, the region is unable to have mental health policies or a plan that addresses those whom are directly affected by trauma and loss and severely suffer from mental health disorders.
On December 23, 2020, a few days after the israeli government proudly showed off its COVID-19 vaccine campaign that excluded the Palestinians living in the West Bank, 20 Palestinian, israeli, and international health and human rights organizations released a joint statement in which they urged israeli authorities “to live up to their legal obligations and ensure that quality vaccines be provided to Palestinians living under israeli occupation and control in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”
The legal obligations the organizations are referring to come from the International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law. Under those laws, the state of Israel, as an occupying power, must adhere to the duty of ensuring and protecting the healthcare services provided to the Palestinians living under its occupation. However, the israeli government has failed to obey to those laws, and conversely, is the cause behind all mental health and physical issues that Palestinians face every day in its occupation.
The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened and aggravated the Palestinian healthcare system, which is a system that is already fragmented, underfunded, and underdeveloped. The pandemic, as well as the recent surge of attention on what is happening in Palestine, has shed light on the disinclination of israel of maintaining the law and their responsibility of ensuring healthcare to those living in the Occupied Palestine territories. Instead, israel continuously implements its restrictive policies and unnecessary abuse in the Occupied Palestine territories, which consequently worsens the mental health of Palestinians and the accessibility to health services.
Jenny Higgins, the Advocacy Coordinator at Médecins du Monde in Palestine said, “working on something so specific and fundamental as healthcare provides organizations with a strong mandate and clear lens through which to examine and criticize the israeli occupation and the effects it has on the right to health of Palestinians.”
It is imperative that the attention and support given to Palestine and Palestinians is not only limited to when they are being abused, killed, and thrown out of their homes, but rather is given every single day. With knowledge comes power. And with power comes the ability to support Palestine even more. If you cannot lift the injustice, at least tell everyone about it.