The Suffering is Similar—Is the Treatment Equal? An Intervention With Arab Terror Injured

Abstract

In the course of the last Intifada and during the Second Lebanon War, all citizens of Israel were exposed to waves of terrorism that claimed many people wounded and killed, unrelated to religious differences, age, gender, or nationality: Jews and Arabs suffered alike. The acts of terror exposed all inhabitants equally to injury, suffering, and the need to adjust. The professional literature attests that minority groups are at a higher risk of experiencing post-traumatic symptoms as a result of exposure to acts of terror. This article describes the treatment with terror injured, Jews and Arabs, in the frame of the project for terror victims at Rambam Medical Center, in cooperation with Operation Embrace. It also covers the project intervention with casualties of the shooting incident in the Arab town of Shefaram, with the cooperation of Shefaram Social Welfare department. The psycho-social work conducted with the injured, Jews and Arabs, emphasized their similarities, their common fate, and the fact that any of us could be injured in a terror act or a war. The suffering, the loss, and the hurt are common to us all. At the same time, the interventions referred to cultural differences and the diverse ways of coping with the aftermath of the events, based on values, faith, and outlook on life arising from cultural background.