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Introduction
Since the Second World War, researchers have been investigating the impact of war on the psychological well-being of individuals (Porter and Haslam, 2005). While it can be argued that the effects of war on civilians are universal, the psychological consequences of the formative 1948 war on internally displaced Palestinians have not been documented (Dwairy, 2010). For the Palestinian people, the Israeli War of Independence resulted in what is referred to as the “Nakba,” a catastrophe of tremendous dimensions that altered their life course and history. The youngsters who survived the war are currently octogenarians, making documentation of their experiences a time-sensitive challenge.
The Nakba: a “present-absentee” experience
Meanwhile the gunfire was continuing, clearly intended to get people moving […] Sobbing loudly, they passed in front of the Nakhle houses […] they were setting off on a “trail of tears” towards the Lebanese border. The most heart rending sight was the cats and dogs, barking and carrying on, trying to follow their masters, I heard a man shout to his dog: “Go back! At least you can stay!” (Srouji, 2004, p. 77).
Srouji (2004) sorrowfully describes the expulsion from my hometown village. Many times during my childhood I heard the story of my family’s expulsion from the village and their return a few weeks later. For the past six decades stories like this were recounted in Palestinian families and passed down from one generation to another, but they usually stayed in the privacy and secrecy of their homes (Abu-Lughod and Sa’di, 2007; Kassem, 2011).
The term Nakba conveys the dreadful consequences of the 1948 war on the Palestinians: 400-500 villages were destroyed and 750,000 people were uprooted and became refugees in bordering Arab countries (Abu-Sitta, 2004). Around 160,000 Palestinians remained in the territory that became the State of Israel. Fifty percent of those who did not flee across the borders became internally displaced persons (IDPs), who were prevented from returning to their properties and were assigned the awkward classification of “present-absentees” (Kabha and Barzilai, 1996).
Within a few months, Palestinians who became Israeli citizens found themselves under the governance of their enemy and for two decades were subject to martial law. This population suffered from personal and socio-cultural upheavals while attempting to rebuild their lives...