Global Statement
We, the Ireland Palestine Mental Health Network (IPMHN), wish to express our deep abhorrence of any attack against civilians that is in violation of international law.
IPMHN is part of the global network of concerned mental health professionals who liaise with, and support our Palestinian mental health colleagues who work with the daily traumatic consequences of the settler colonialist subjugation of Palestinian families. The Palestinian people for decades have endured daily humiliation at the hands of the Israeli state, who are unlawfully occupying Palestine; this inevitably leads to violence.
Can you imagine, as a mental health professional, working in an atmosphere of terror, with minimal resources trying to support a traumatised people? Clinicians at the Trauma Centre in Gaza today report that “they are striving to cope in a situation with which they are depressingly familiar, electricity cuts, bombings, the destruction of homes and multiple traumas in families. Today the horror of the 16- year siege has intensified to a shocking degree. No one is safe.”
The Israeli government has declared war this week, having already spent the last 75 years oppressing Palestinians, and over the last 16 years creating the world’s largest open-air prison, Gaza. The draconian air, sea, and land military blockade, imprisoning and depriving citizens of access to food, water, and medical treatment, has been happening much longer than this week. Each day more lives are lost, and children are terrorised.
The plight of the Palestinians, and the Israeli apartheid regime, has been ignored by Governments around the world. Our hope, given the appalling scene unfolding before our eyes, is that this will be a wake-up call for a global response towards a peaceful resolution that upholds the right to life and freedom of both Palestinians and Israelis. We call for an immediate ceasefire on all sides.
In the meantime, we continue to stand with our Global network in sending our love, respect, and solidarity to our Palestinian colleagues as they encounter the trauma of war.
The Steering Committee Ireland Palestine Mental Health Network
Bernie Congdon, Psychotherapist. Carmel O’Hara, Psychotherapist. Mary Jennings, Mindfulness and Focusing Practitioner. Arlene Healy, Psychotherapist. Áine Hutchinson, Psychotherapist,