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From Gaza to Harvard: The Politicization of Mental Health and the Education of Palestinian Children

(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Irwin J. Mansdorf - Reports on the status of Palestinian children's mental health and the nature of the Palestinian educational system purport to present data that implicates Israel as responsible for a lamentable state of affairs. Yet researchers generally do not acknowledge that the Palestinian Authority has had full control of the educational system since 1994. In reality, responsibility for the current state of affairs lies with the Palestinian Authority and with Palestinian terror organizations, both of whom promoted, funded, endorsed, and encouraged a culture of violence, hatred, incitement, and terror using children and students as its foot soldiers. A partnership project between Harvard Medical School and the Gaza Community Mental Health Center focuses on the effects of violence on the mental health and functioning of Palestinian children. The Palestinian researcher, Dr. Eyal El-Sarraj, is described as a "highly respected community psychiatrist." In an interview in Tikkun, Dr. El-Sarraj said: "I've asked myself: 'Are they evil by nature, these Jews? Or are they stupid, born mentally subnormal? Why are they doing this?' It's unbelievable. And I found after long, long thinking about it that they are not born evil. And they are not stupid. They are psycho-pathologically disturbed." This is from a man who heads a center that Harvard considers worthy of collaboration and funding.
2004-09-27 00:00:00
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