I am sure there will be those who are upset by the article ‘To resist is to exist’ (Therapy Today, March 2009) because it explores the psychological stress on Palestinians and does not equally look at what Israelis are coping with. But the article has a very specific focus as stated in its subheading: ‘the psychological impact of military occupation in Palestine’. Israel is not under military occupation. 

There are a host of psychological issues to address within Israel, including but not limited to PTSD, that warrant a full article. Professor Daniel Bar-Tal of Tel Aviv University has recently published a pioneering research study that has caused much debate that would be worth covering in such an article. One has to question, however, why some people are so unwilling to contemplate Palestinian suffering without immediately refocusing the attention to Israeli suffering and without stopping to acknowledge fully that Palestinians are indeed suffering. There is a failure of empathy that is very troubling.

Some readers may not want to believe things are as bad under occupation as described, but the article presents information that has been widely documented by UNRWA, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as well as the respected Israeli NGOs mentioned in the article (Machsom Watch, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, B’Tselem etc).

There may be those who think the article is too ‘political’ for a psychotherapy magazine but what is happening in Palestine has enormous relevance for psychotherapy because there are deep psychological forces at play in maintaining the conflict as well as deep psychological damage being inflicted through the occupation.

The Israel/Palestine conflict obviously provokes strong emotion and any article on the subject is bound to attract some hostile response. I commend you for your decision to publish this article.