Broken Lives: Loss and Trauma in Palestinian-Israeli Relations

Abstract

The author begins with the transcript of a documentary film, titled Tear of Peace. Produced by IZIS, a Palestinian film company in Bethlehem, the film is about a Palestinian family from the Deheisheh refugee camp, located near Bethlehem in Palestine. In the film, each member of the family describes his or her own personal experience as part of this Palestinian Diaspora and the events that followed their return to Palestine, living in the Deheisheh refugee camp, after the signing of the Oslo Peace Accords. The interviews took place from February to April 2002, 16 months after the beginning of the second intifada against the Israeli occupation. The article highlights the particular characteristics of this family's loss and trauma and concludes with an analysis of current and future relations between Palestinians and Israelis based upon lessons learned from this family's experience.