Violence in the West Bank
Giacaman et al., “Individual and Collective Exposure to Political Violence.”A survey of 3415 Ramallah District 10th and 11th grade students in 2002-2003, representing 36% of all Ramallah District 10th and 11th grade students.
The study looked at exposure to trauma/violence individually (being searched, beaten, detained, tortured, etc.) and collectively (being exposed to bombings, seeing violence directed at others).
Boys are more likely than girls to be exposed to violence, especially individually directed at them. For example: 30% of boys reported being beaten by the Israeli army, compared to 2% of girls. 54% of boys reported being body searched compared to 9% of girls. 8.8% of boys reported being tortured compared to 1.1% of girls. These are 10th-11th graders, 15-17 year old kids, 80% of whom have seen a shooting, 39% of whom have witnessed a killing.
Girls are more likely than boys to report mental health outcomes, but this is generally true, not just for those living under military occupation. I wonder to what extent the gender gaps can be attributed to sociocultural factors (“Girls … are more likely to feel ‘imprisoned’ at home, with less access to social/political support with possible protective/moderating effect on mental health outcomes”) versus the Israeli army intentionally targetting men. Certainly it’s both.
Although the correlation between specific individual violence and decreased mental health was the strongest, “the effect of collective exposures was generally not less than the effect of individual exposures”.
| Percentage exposure | Total (N = 3415) | Male (N = 1637) | Female (N = 1777) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual exposures (%) | |||
| House searched | 35 | 40 | 31 |
| House occupied and you in it | 14 | 16 | 12 |
| House occupied and you thrown out | 9 | 10 | 7 |
| Beaten by the Israeli army | 15 | 30 | 2 |
| Beaten by Israeli settlers | 2.4 | 4.6 | 0.3 |
| Used as a human shield | 6 | 10 | 3 |
| Body searched | 30 | 54 | 9 |
| Detained or arrested | 17 | 29 | 6 |
| Humiliated | 23 | 34 | 13 |
| Stripped in public | 2.1 | 3.7 | 0.6 |
| Interrogated | 13 | 22 | 5 |
| Tortured | 4.8 | 8.8 | 1.1 |
| House sealed or demolished | 1.7 | 1.9 | 1.6 |
| Collective exposures (%) | |||
| Shelling in the neighborhood | 31 | 33 | 29 |
| Exposed to tear gas | 60 | 72 | 50 |
| Exposed to sound bombs | 63 | 71 | 56 |
| Saw shooting | 80 | 86 | 75 |
| Saw explosion/shelling | 50 | 57 | 44 |
| Saw stranger being humiliated | 67 | 72 | 62 |
| Saw stranger being arrested | 62 | 70 | 54 |
| Saw stranger being injured | 49 | 60 | 39 |
| Saw stranger being killed | 28 | 32 | 23 |
| Saw friend/neighbor humiliated | 35 | 42 | 29 |
| Saw friend/neighbor arrested | 37 | 44 | 31 |
| Saw friend/neighbor injured | 22 | 30 | 15 |
| Saw friend/neighbor killed | 11 | 14 | 8 |
Highlights
Contrary to expectations, individual exposures did not consistently have a greater negative effect on health outcomes than collective exposures, although the sub-scale of direct personal exposures to violence consistently showed the strongest effect among sub-scales. The results emphasize the importance of going beyond individual experiences and including the health outcomes of collective violation when analyzing violent and traumatic contexts.
Especially in the 2002–2003 period when this study was completed, army invasions and destruction of property and homes, military checkpoints, closures, curfews, and the erection of the ‘separation wall’ all led to intense exposure to direct violence and the rapid impoverishment of the population.
The most frequently reported events were exposure to tear gas and sound bombs, having seen shooting and explosions, and having seen strangers being arrested, injured and humiliated.
The gender differences in exposures and outcomes identified, with girls having a higher prevalence of depressive like symptoms, particularly for the individual ETV, have been corroborated in other studies both in the OPT and elsewhere. The scores on each outcome scale for girls were consistently higher, and girls had a higher prevalence of depressive-like symptoms compared to boys. These results may be explained as gender differences stemming from the way in which boys and girls are socialized in the OPT, with societal norms allowing greater freedoms to boys, especially of movement outside the domestic sphere or the school, and consequently leading to higher exposure among boys, compared to girls.
In comparison to girls, boys are more likely to experience injury and are exposed to higher levels of violation by the Israeli army. They tend to externalize by using abusive language and aggressive behaviour to a higher level than girls. A study completed on Palestinian children and youth 8–18 years old found that boys are more likely to get angry, scream or swear to overcome their stressful situations compared to girls. Girls, on the other hand, are more likely to feel ‘imprisoned’ at home, with less access to social/political support with possible protective/moderating effect on mental health outcomes, and thus experience more psychological effects related to depression, loneliness and desperation, findings that are analogous to those of other studies. The finding that girls have higher prevalence levels of depressive like states is all the same consistent with findings relevant to culturally diverse societies which are not under military occupation, where females were found to be at higher risk or exhibited higher prevalence rates of depressive disorders compared to males during both adolescence and adulthood.