'The ripple effects of war'

Books Reviewed:

Suicide in Palestine, Narratives of Despair
Author: Nadia Taysir Dabbagh, London: Hurst and Company, 2005

In contrast to the suicide attacks which figure into war and make headlines, Nadia Dabbagh writes about suicide as a mental health problem in a particular situation: "This book is about ordinary Palestinians living under occupation in the West Bank between the two Intifadas and who, for various reasons, decided to kill themselves." (p. v)

Dabbagh is a British doctor of Palestinian descent, specialising in psychiatry. Hers is the first such study on suicide in Arab society, and she stresses the exploratory, rather than conclusive, nature of her research. For 18 months, starting in the summer of 1997, she did field research while based in Ramallah, at Birzeit University's Institute of Public and Community Health, headed by Dr Rita Giacaman.

When Dabbagh arrived in Palestine, a public debate on the phenomenon of suicide was in progress, sparked by a flurry of media reports indicating that suicide was on the rise, and a general, post-Oslo tendency among Palestinians to examine their own society. In fact, she found that there was an increase in suicide attempts, but that even taking into account "invisible", undocumented cases, Palestine's suicide rate still ranks very low on a world scale.

To put the issue in perspective, she set about perusing police and hospital records, interviewing persons who had attempted suicide, and contacting doctors, nurses, mental health workers and others with connection to such cases. Her aim was to uncover the life circumstances and motivation of those who had attempted suicide, as well as social attitudes and how suicide is dealt with by professionals and institutions.

Dabbagh believes that suicidal behaviour can only be explained in light of social and cultural, as well as psychological and biological, factors. Thus, the book combines a psychiatric approach with basic background information on Muslim and Christian attitudes towards suicide, Palestine's modern history, i.e., the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Palestinian traditions and social structure, and the popular culture born of struggle. Also covered is the disillusionment of the post-Oslo period, when many Intifada activists experienced depression in the no-war, no-peace situation, as Israeli repression and land grabs continued, the shortcomings of the Palestinian Authority became apparent, and the economic situation worsened.

The post-Oslo mood contrasted sharply with the feelings of unity and heroism experienced during the Intifada, a contrast that seemed to be borne out by statistics. For example, an article titled "Blighted Hopes" (Jerusalem Times, June 1997) stated: "During the Intifada, not a single suicide case was recorded in the Palestinian territories. In May alone, no less than 25 attempts have been recorded, eight of them fatal."

As it turned out, most of the men who had attempted suicide, whom Dabbagh was able to interview in depth, had been political activists. The despair they experienced was thus connected to this post-Intifada letdown, exacerbated by not having a job and thus not fulfilling their expected role of family provider, or, in other cases, of not be able to marry.

"The importance of understanding the broader Palestinian political context in shaping people's lives was much more openly apparent in the interviews with the men, than with the women." (p. 181)

For women, the stress that led to suicide attempts was mostly related to their position within the family and society. "The unmarried women interviewed expressed feelings of confinement by fathers or brothers within the family and worries about their reputation within society." (p. 174)

Several women had difficulty adjusting to the conditions of their marriage, and several had been seriously abused by a brother, husband or in-laws. All felt unsupported by those around them and saw no way out of their problems.

What unites both men and women Dabbagh interviewed is a feeling of powerlessness, which has also been linked to depression and suicide in studies in the West. "The tales of these men and women show the `ripple effects of war', the repercussions of an occupation which has sought to strip the population of their land, culture, identity, and traditional ways of life.... Perhaps ultimately this book is a testament to the strength that the women and other relatively powerless groups in Arab Palestinian society have had to muster in order to survive, rather than to the weakness of the particular women who did attempt suicide." (pp. 237-8)

Sally Bland

This article was published in the Monday, March 21, 2005 edition of the Jordan Times. It is used here with permission.