Is it a war against terrorism or a war for terrorism?

Ginach, Michal

doi:10.1590/1415-47142006002004

Abstracts

The question of this study has to do with the underlying fantasy behind the Israeli pattern of encounter with Palestinians. In other words, does Israel create that which it claims to fear most, i.e. terrorism?

This paper is based on my research in Israel and the United States. It is an attempt to decipher some of the collective unconscious wishes as well as the myth that motivates the Israeli political behavior vis-àvis the Palestinians. To get to this fantasy, I conducted focus groups and interviews out of which I drew the common narratives, and repeated phrases. I also looked at the Israeli political actions as a form of enactment of unconscious wishes.

Israeli; unconscious; terrorism; victim; victimization

O tema deste estudo é relativo à fantasia por trás da forma de encontro dos israelitas com os palestinos. Em outras palavras: será que Israel cria aquilo que diz ser o seu maior medo, o terrorismo?

Este trabalho é baseado na minha pesquisa em Israel e nos Estados Unidos. É uma tentativa de decifrar um pouco dos desejos do inconsciente coletivo e também o mito que motiva o comportamento político de Israel em relação aos palestinos. Para chegar a esta fantasia, conduzi grupos e entrevistas dos quais retirei as narrativas comuns e frases repetidas. Também observei as ações políticas de Israel como uma forma de atuação de desejos inconscientes.

Israelense; inconsciente; terrorismo; vítima; vitimização

El tema de este estudio es la fantasía que subyace al encuentro de los israelitas con los palestinos. En otras palabras: será que Israel crea aquello que dice ser su mayor miedo, el terrorismo?

Este trabajo está basado en mi investigación en Israel y en los EE.UU. Es una tentativa de descifrar un poco de los deseos del inconsciente colectivo y también del mito que motiva el comportamiento político de Israel en relación con los palestinos. Para llegar a esta fantasía, coordiné grupos y entrevistas de los cuales retiré las narrativas comunes y las frases repetidas. También observé las acciones políticas de Israel como una forma de actuación de deseos inconscientes.

Israelita; inconsciente; terrorismo; víctima; victimización

Le thème de cette recherche porte sur la fantaisie sous-jacente quant à la forme de rencontre entre les israéliens et les palestiniens. Autrement dit, pourrait-on affirmer qu’Israël crée ce qu’il considère sa plus grande peur, c’est-à-dire, le terrorisme?

Cette étude est basée sur ma recherche menée en Israël et aux États-Unis. Il s’agit d’une tentative de comprendre quelque peu les désirs de l’inconscient collectif et également le mythe qui motive le comportement politique d’Israël par rapport aux palestiniens. Pour parvenir à cette fantaisie, j’ai accompagné des groupes et menée des interviews dont j’ai retenu les récits en commun et les phrases répétées. J’ai aussi remarqué les actions politiques en Israël en tant que forme d’action des désirs inconscients.

Israélien; inconscients; terrorisme; victime; victimisation

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References

ADORNO, Theodor, W. et al. The Authoritarian Personality New York: Harper & Brothers, 1950.
ADORNO, Theodor, W. The Stars Down to Earth and Other Essays on the Irrational in Culture London/New York: Routledge Classics, 1994.
ANDERSON, Benedict (1983). Imagined Communities – Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. 11. ed. revised. London/New York: Verso, 2002.
BEIT-HALLAHMI, Benjamin. Political and literary answers to some “Jewish questions”: Proust, Joyce, Freud and herzl. In: BUNZL, John & BEIT-HALLAHMI, Benjamin (eds.). Psychoanalysis, Identity, and Ideology: Critical Essays on the Israel/Palestine Case. 2. ed. Boston, MA: Kluger Academic Publisher, 2002.
CARUTH, Cathy. Unclaimed Experience – Trauma, Narrative, and History. Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1996.
FREUD, S. (1913). Totem and Taboo. In: S.E v. 13, p. 1-162.
FREUD, S. (1920). Beyond the pleasure principle. In: S.E v. 18, p. 1-64.
FREUD, S. (1921). Group psychology and the Analysis of the ego. In: S.E v. 18, p. 67-143.
FREUD, S. (1926). Inhibitions, symptoms and anxiety. In: S.E v. 20, p. 87-172.
FREUD, S. (1930). Civilization and its discontents. In: S.E v. 21, p. 57-145.
FREUD, S. (1939). Moses and Monotheism. In: S.E v. 23, p. 1-137.
GILLIS, John, R. Introduction. In: Commemorations – The Politics of National Identity. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1994.
GROSSMAN, David. Death as a Way of Life Tel-Aviv, Israel: Hotyzaat Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2003.
HALBWACHS, Maurice. On Collective Memory. Ed. and trans. by Lewis A. Coser. Chicago/London: The University of Chicago Press, 1992.
JAFFEE, Martin, S. The victim-community in myth and history: holocaust ritual, the question of Palestine, and the rhetoric of Christian witness. Journal of Ecumenical Studies, v. 28, Spring 1991.
JUNG, Carl Gustav. “The concept of the collective unconscious” from the archetypes and the collective unconscious: Collected Works, v. 9.i, p. 87-110. In: CAMPBEL, Joseph (ed.). The Portable Jung . Trans. By R.F.C. Hull. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1976.
KARDINER, Abram. The Psychological Frontiers of Society New York/London: Columbia University Press, 1963.
LE BON, G. (1895). Psychologie des foules Paris. (6-18) [Trans.: The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, London, 1920].
MOSES, Rafael. Unconscious defense mechanisms and social mechanisms used in national political conflicts. In: BUNZL, John & BEIT-HALLAHMI, Benjamin (eds.). Psychoanalysis, Identity, and Ideology: Critical Essays on the Israel/Palestine Case. 2. ed. Boston, MA: Kluger Academic Publisher, 2002.
OBEYESEKERE, Gananath The Work of Culture – Symbolic Transformation in Psychoanalysis and Anthropology. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1990.
VAN DER KOLK, Bessel A. & VAN DER HART, Onno. The intrusive past: the flexibility of memory and the engraving of trauma. In: CARUTH, Cathy (ed.). Trauma – Exploration in Memory. Baltimore/London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.
VOLKAN, Vamik. Blood Lines – From Ethnic Pride to Ethnic Terrorism. Boulder, Colorado: WestYiew Press, 1998.
WEBER, Max. Some categories of interpretative sociology. The Sociological Quarterly, 22 (Spring 1981).
WILSON, Howard, O. On Human Nature Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978.
YERUSHALMI, Yosef Hayim (1989). Zakhor-Jewish History and Jewish Memory Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1996.
ZERUBAVEL, Yael. The historic, the legendary, and the incredible: invented tradition and collective memory in Israel. In: GILLIS, John, R. (ed.). Commemorations – The Politics of National Identity. Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton University Press, 1994.
ZUCKERMANN, Moshe. Towards a critical analysis of Israeli political culture. In: BUNZL, John & BEIT-HALLAHMI, Benjamin (eds.). Psychoanalysis, Identity, and Ideology: Critical Essays on the Israel/Palestine Case. 2. ed. Boston, MA: Kluger Academic Publisher, 2002.

Publication Dates

Publication in this collection
Apr-Jun 2006

History

Received
Sept 2005
Reviewed
Jan 2006

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

[1] ADORNO, Theodor, W. et al. The Authoritarian Personality New York: Harper & Brothers, 1950.

[2] ADORNO, Theodor, W. The Stars Down to Earth and Other Essays on the Irrational in Culture London/New York: Routledge Classics, 1994.

[3] ANDERSON, Benedict (1983). Imagined Communities – Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. 11. ed. revised. London/New York: Verso, 2002.

[4] BEIT-HALLAHMI, Benjamin. Political and literary answers to some “Jewish questions”: Proust, Joyce, Freud and herzl. In: BUNZL, John & BEIT-HALLAHMI, Benjamin (eds.). Psychoanalysis, Identity, and Ideology: Critical Essays on the Israel/Palestine Case. 2. ed. Boston, MA: Kluger Academic Publisher, 2002.

[5] CARUTH, Cathy. Unclaimed Experience – Trauma, Narrative, and History. Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1996.

[6] FREUD, S. (1913). Totem and Taboo. In: S.E v. 13, p. 1-162.

[7] FREUD, S. (1920). Beyond the pleasure principle. In: S.E v. 18, p. 1-64.

[8] FREUD, S. (1921). Group psychology and the Analysis of the ego. In: S.E v. 18, p. 67-143.

[9] FREUD, S. (1926). Inhibitions, symptoms and anxiety. In: S.E v. 20, p. 87-172.

[10] FREUD, S. (1930). Civilization and its discontents. In: S.E v. 21, p. 57-145.

[11] FREUD, S. (1939). Moses and Monotheism. In: S.E v. 23, p. 1-137.

[12] GILLIS, John, R. Introduction. In: Commemorations – The Politics of National Identity. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1994.

[13] GROSSMAN, David. Death as a Way of Life Tel-Aviv, Israel: Hotyzaat Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2003.

[14] HALBWACHS, Maurice. On Collective Memory. Ed. and trans. by Lewis A. Coser. Chicago/London: The University of Chicago Press, 1992.

[15] JAFFEE, Martin, S. The victim-community in myth and history: holocaust ritual, the question of Palestine, and the rhetoric of Christian witness. Journal of Ecumenical Studies, v. 28, Spring 1991.

[16] JUNG, Carl Gustav. “The concept of the collective unconscious” from the archetypes and the collective unconscious: Collected Works, v. 9.i, p. 87-110. In: CAMPBEL, Joseph (ed.). The Portable Jung . Trans. By R.F.C. Hull. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1976.

[17] KARDINER, Abram. The Psychological Frontiers of Society New York/London: Columbia University Press, 1963.

[18] LE BON, G. (1895). Psychologie des foules Paris. (6-18) [Trans.: The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, London, 1920].

[19] MOSES, Rafael. Unconscious defense mechanisms and social mechanisms used in national political conflicts. In: BUNZL, John & BEIT-HALLAHMI, Benjamin (eds.). Psychoanalysis, Identity, and Ideology: Critical Essays on the Israel/Palestine Case. 2. ed. Boston, MA: Kluger Academic Publisher, 2002.

[20] OBEYESEKERE, Gananath The Work of Culture – Symbolic Transformation in Psychoanalysis and Anthropology. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1990.

[21] VAN DER KOLK, Bessel A. & VAN DER HART, Onno. The intrusive past: the flexibility of memory and the engraving of trauma. In: CARUTH, Cathy (ed.). Trauma – Exploration in Memory. Baltimore/London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.

[22] VOLKAN, Vamik. Blood Lines – From Ethnic Pride to Ethnic Terrorism. Boulder, Colorado: WestYiew Press, 1998.

[23] WEBER, Max. Some categories of interpretative sociology. The Sociological Quarterly, 22 (Spring 1981).

[24] WILSON, Howard, O. On Human Nature Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978.

[25] YERUSHALMI, Yosef Hayim (1989). Zakhor-Jewish History and Jewish Memory Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1996.

[26] ZERUBAVEL, Yael. The historic, the legendary, and the incredible: invented tradition and collective memory in Israel. In: GILLIS, John, R. (ed.). Commemorations – The Politics of National Identity. Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton University Press, 1994.

[27] ZUCKERMANN, Moshe. Towards a critical analysis of Israeli political culture. In: BUNZL, John & BEIT-HALLAHMI, Benjamin (eds.). Psychoanalysis, Identity, and Ideology: Critical Essays on the Israel/Palestine Case. 2. ed. Boston, MA: Kluger Academic Publisher, 2002.

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