Maureen Boerma: Reflections on reasons for signing the Statement and for promoting its dissemination

My professional Association, the Tavistock Relationships Association for Psychotherapists and Counsellors (TRAPC), was, unlike other Associations of ours, responsive to disseminating our Gaza statement to its members, providing them with access to it and therefore the choice of whether or not to sign it. I followed up the statement with a contribution to its newsletter which aimed to explain why I had wished to share the statement with the membership. This was declined despite an appeal that is summarised in the introduction to my piece which I had hoped might accompany my communication to colleagues. Direct circulation to the membership was deemed inappropriate. Here is my introduction and personal reflections on why I wanted to sign and disseminate the Gaza statement.

INTRODUCTION

It is difficult for me to conceive of what might be more important than engaging with our varied and unique responses to an unfolding catastrophe in Gaza which impacts us profoundly both personally and professionally. Each of us will do this in different ways.

I hope this contribution may encourage more open communication and greater understanding of different perspectives, a modelling of our roles as couple psychotherapists.

I can appreciate the anxieties that may be involved in such an exchange of views. A climate of fear can be engendered which may tap into personal and collective fears that something will be unacceptable and cause too much reaction. Rather than imagining this as precipitating uncontainable divisions, somewhat like couples contemplating therapy, might we see it as an opportunity to open up a space for engagement?

I would note that my piece expresses my commitment to a universalist philosophy that is often presumed to be the foundation of psychoanalytic research and the appropriate clinical attitude towards our patients.  This is relevant to how we view the situation in Gaza. However, such a universalist philosophy is  perhaps no longer to be presumed as the basis of our profession – it seems it’s an area of contestation. I believe such broader issues relating to our profession  to be  worthy of our consideration.

Also, as couple psychoanalytic therapists we strive among many things to; provide time for meaningful connection, honour history and understand context, engage with complex dynamics, challenge our own preconceptions and defences, acknowledge and work with difference and, most importantly, call out abuse. I wonder how capable we are likely to be able to do this in our practice if it doesn’t extend to our wider lives?

In this spirit I would hope that we may benefit as psychotherapists from the challenges and potential deepening of understanding that arises from my communication and the rejoinders and discussion that may ensue.

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS

My father, Addeke Boerma, was the first Executive Director of the World Food Programme, one of the UN agencies now struggling in Gaza to bring humanitarian relief to some 2 million famished, displaced, wounded and traumatised Palestinians sheltering from unremitting bombardment. My memories as a child are of his frustration that, as an international community, we had the means at our disposal to create mechanisms to ensure food security for all and yet lacked the political will to implement them. In his 1976 book “A right to food” he wondered “will the world continue along the narrow nationalistic paths that lead nowhere except to needless suffering?” Clear-eyed as he was about the obstacles to tackling the world food problem, I shudder to think of how shocked he would have been to witness the current lack of political will to bring an immediate end to the slaughter in Gaza. 

That food, clean water and energy should be deliberately withheld from a civilian population and that this be justified; that hospital, health and community centres, schools, universities, religious and cultural sites be decimated; that homes be destroyed; that a land be rendered uninhabitable; that humanitarian personnel and convoys be impeded from undertaking their relief work and be targeted; that over 1200 Israelis and more than 31,000 Palestinians, about two thirds women and children, be killed and over 74,000 injured and counting; that there be mass displacement, with a whole population at risk of severe malnutrition, if not starvation, disease, cold and mental trauma, would have been appalling. That it might be as a result of political intent even more so.

He lived through the Second World War and worked with the Dutch government in exile to bring much needed food supplies to the liberated South of Holland. He wished never again to see a people so dehumanised and so brutally exterminated as were the Jews. He joined the United Nations in the belief that collective action could help to deter such misery and horror in the future. 

What we hear of now is the undermining of such ideals with the dismantling of and withdrawal of funding from UNRWA, the relief backbone of Gaza.

The ICJ in its January 26th 2024 ruling concluded that there are plausible grounds to believe there is a genocide being perpetrated in Gaza. We know from history that a principal tool of genocidal intent is dehumanisation of the targeted people and the intimidation of sympathisers. Palestinians are currently being described as animals and branded as terrorists while those calling for an end to the killing are portrayed as terrorist sympathisers. This may explain why there seems to be a blunting of sensibility to the unfolding catastrophe, with continuing political support for a military campaign and prevarication in calling for an immediate ceasefire. Palestinians may be depicted as unfortunate collateral damage or even deserving of extermination.

We must combat such narratives. Let’s inform ourselves on the history of Palestine and Israel over the last 100 years so as to properly understand the context of recent events and challenge uninformed political propaganda. Let’s appreciate the mental health challenges faced; I have found the UK Palestine Mental Health Network to be a valuable resource. Let’s support initiatives which bring Israelis and Palestinians together to develop shared perspectives. Let’s call for an immediate end to the killing and for the urgent rebuilding of humanitarian, medical and civilian infrastructures. Let’s campaign for the return of hostages and for the release of political prisoners. Let’s urge that the principles of international law, as contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent United Nations Conventions, be upheld and form the basis for collective thought and action. Let’s advocate for the end of occupation and for a just peace which respects the humanity, freedom, security and equality of every single human being, whether Israeli or Palestinian. 

I hope this explains why I wanted to share the BPC members’ Statement on Gaza with you.

Maureen Boerma

March 2024

maureenboerma@hotmail.com