COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY UNDER COLONIAL OCCUPATION: THE CASE OF PALESTINE

These reflections are the result of a visit to Palestine in May 2013, at the invitation of the community psychology program at Birzeit University, near Ramallah1. We attended the 2-day International Community Psychology Conference: Global Perspectives, Local Practices, and also visited various urban and rural settings in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. What is known as Historical Palestine was a British mandate after the defeat of Turkey and break-up of the Ottoman Empire in 1918. During this period there was immigration by Jewish settlers, many of whom lived peaceably with their Palestinian neighbours. The United Nations had proposed partitioning the territory between a Jewish and an Arab state. At the expiry of the mandate in 1948, the movement of political Zionism seized the initiative, declaring independence. This was opposed by the Arab nations, leading to the first of several armed conflicts. Clearances of villages, including a number of massacres, together with the fear this engendered, led to the flight of 80% of Palestinians from what became Israel (50% for Palestine as a whole). The Palestinians know this event as the Nakba, which means the great catastrophe. They settled for the most part in what were initially temporary camps that now have a more permanent character in what were the territories of Egypt (Gaza), Jordan (the West Bank), Syria, and Lebanon. The boundaries of the State of Israel were fixed at the “Green Line” by the eventual armistice, with Jerusalem/Al Quds itself partitioned. Israel passed legislation formally dispossessing these previous Palestinian residents of their homes, farms, and businesses while the Palestinians claim the Right of Return. The 1967 Six Day War was a military victory for Israel and territories in Jordan, Syria, and Egypt