Citation

Friedman-Peleg K, Bilu Y. Transcult. Psychiatry 2011; 48(4): 416-436.

Affiliation

Tel Aviv University.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, McGill University, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1363461511410239

PMID

21911509

Abstract

Since its establishment in 1998, NATAL, "The Israel Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War," has been propagating the notion of national trauma as a comprehensive category of suffering related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Against the shifting perceptions of PTSD in Israel, we explore recent undertakings of NATAL's experts to naturalize trauma among "pre-clinical" populations of Israeli Defense Force (IDF) veterans. The experts' attempts to de-politicize the suffering of the veterans are constrained by the fact that in their clinical ideology, the apolitical language of the therapeutic is aligned with a somber national pathos that strikes a collective cord of common Jewish fate and identity. This alignment may account for the Israeli public's acceptance of NATAL's agenda, despite its subversive connotations.

Language: en