As part of the Campaign to Minimize the Impact of the Siege on the Gaza Population, Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) organized a conference on the "Effects of Siege on the Life and Mental Health of the Population in Gaza Strip" that took place at Al-Quds International Hotel in Gaza city. The conference dealt with several topics on the impacts of the siege on the life of the citizens as well as its impacts on health, education, environment, and economic situations. A number of interested individuals, academics and representatives of international, local and governmental organizations working in the Gaza Strip participated in the conference.

Mr. Husam El-Nounou, Public Relations Director at GCMHP, commenced the first session of the conference, welcoming the attendants and asserting that the aim of this conference is to shed-light on the impacts of strict siege imposed on the Gaza Strip and its consequences on the lives of civilians as well the damages in service sectors. He added that this conference will discuss the psychosocial changes that have appeared recently in the individual behaviors, social and humanitarian relations and the whole society.

In term, Dr. Jumaa' El-Saqa, Public Relations Director at Al-Shifa Hospital, spoke about the effects of siege on the health situation in Gaza. Dr. El-Saqa added that the electricity cut-off has strongly affected the health status of the population and led to crisis in the hospitals. In addition, he went over some statistics about the siege and its impacts on the patients, especially patients of cancer and kidney failure as well as the patients waiting to be transferred for further health operations abroad. Dr. El-Saqa asserted that Israeli Occupation Forces used internationally prohibited weapons that caused the appearance of various deformities, amputations and burns amongst the injured. Dr. El-Saqa also warned against the imminent run-out of medicine supplies in the hospital stocks whereas several of the necessary medicines for chronic diseases had already been out of stock. He added that Gaza hospital suffer from critical shortage of medical instruments and obstacles in maintenance. Furthermore, Dr. El-Saqa pointed that the lack of construction raw materials paralyzed all building or reconstructing projects in the Gaza Hospital and health institutions. The siege has also minimized the supplies of fuels and electricity offered to the Gaza Strip; thus threatened the life of hundreds in operation rooms, and even affected the dead in the refrigerator as they were about to decay. Also, the siege has strongly affected the first-care centers and led to sharp decline in their services.

Additionally, Dr. Yousef Abu Safya, Chairman of Environment Quality, presented a paper concerning the impacts of the siege on the environment in the Gaza Strip. He said that the siege resulted in air pollution since piles of garbage spread and being burned in unsecured areas nearby the populations, besides the difficulty in collecting it because of the lack of petrol to run the sanitation vehicles. Dr. Abu Safya warned against the collapse of sanitation reservoirs; thus causing a critical humanitarian disaster. He added that 50% of the sewage water flow into the sea and thus polluting it. Dr. Abu Safya pointed that the World Health Organization (WHO) has recently declared that the water of Gaza Strip doesn’t meet the standards of use of human beings. He added that the agricultural lands have been completely damaged as a result of the systematic shelling that aimed at damaging the lands, thus causing severe shortage in the supplies of vegetables and fruits in the Gaza Strip.

In another work paper on the effects of siege on the economic situation in the Gaza Strip, Mr. Mohsen Abu Ramadan, Director of Arab Center for Agricultural Development, stated that the Palestinian economy structure is fragile and uncovered because the occupation transferred it into dependent and subsidiary. This situation became more profound after the Israeli declaration of considering Gaza as enemy entity. He added that the national gross income has significantly declined due to the paralysis of all commercial activities, including exports, imports and manufacturing. Israel has prevented the access of all industrial and basic materials except 20 items (of food and medicine) out of the regular 5000 items. In addition, Mr. Abu Ramadan warned against the serious rise of poverty rate that exceeds 80%, whereas the acute poverty line amongst the populations is over 36%; while the unemployment rate is around 85%. Furthermore, UNRWA declared that about 80% of the populations in Gaza depend totally on humanitarian aids. Mr. Abu Ramadan asserted on the importance of ending the status of internal fragmentation in order to end the economic deterioration and break the siege.

Furthermore, Dr. Ali Kahlifa, representative of Ministry of Education, presented a work paper on the impacts of siege on education process in the Gaza Strip. He said that siege led to sharp deterioration in the education process since the frequent incursions obstructed the study in the schools. He pointed to the rise of school drop-out and early marriage among girls as a result of economic hardships of the families. In addition, the electricity cut-off created new challenges for the students' academic performance as there is severe coldness and weak lightness within the class rooms. Moreover, the lack of construction raw materials paralyzed the maintenance and reconstruction projects in the schools as well as caused overcrowded classes. Also, university students couldn’t join their studies abroad or in the local universities for the economic hardship and lack of books and lab instruments in the universities.

At the end of the first session, the participants discussed the means of intervention to minimize the impacts of the siege on all sectors, and the necessity for Palestinian national reconciliation in order to break the siege. Also, they highlighted the effects of the siege on the prisoners and their sufferings since they couldn’t see their relatives. Participants also added that Palestinians have vital role to end the siege through national unity, and avoiding all internal conflicts that increased the pressure and burden on the civilians.

Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj, President of Gaza Community Mental Health Programme and member of the Palestinian International Campaign to Break the Siege on Gaza, commenced the second session; shedding the light on the effects of siege on the mental health situation and the whole community in Gaza Strip. Dr. Sarraj emphasized on the importance of ending the siege in order to promote our people's independence, progress and self determination.

Dr. Taysir Diab, Clinical Psychiatrist and Supervisor at GCMHP, talked about the mental impacts of the siege based on GCMHP's experience. He added that the vast majority of the Palestinian populations suffering from symptoms of mental disoders; yet, he asserted that it doesn’t mean that they are mentally patients. Dr. Diab pointed that the clients of GCMHP's Community Centers suffer from various psychological problems, including panic, insecurity feelings, aggressiveness, anger, easily provoked, psychosomatic disorders, depression, frustration, low morale, fear, poor concentration, feelings of expatriation, lack of belonging or affiliation, lack of confidence of others, emotional numbness, PTSD symptoms, various physical complaint, obsession-compulsive, and rise in illness relapses. Dr. Diab added that siege affected the vulnerable groups, in particular children who suffer increasingly from fear, panic, lack the feeling of risks, tendency of sadness and insecurity feelings as well as bed-wetting and stuttering. At the end of his presentation, Dr. Diab pointed that the siege affected the mental health professionals in term of increasing their mental pressures and state of frustration, avoidance, nervousness, and professional burn-out.

Furthermore, Dr. Ahmad Abu Tawahina, Senior Clinical Psychologist and Director General of GCMHP mentioned that the major aim behind the siege imposed by Israel is to implant panic and fear among the Palestinian citizens. He added that we, as Palestinians, must never live a frustrating and despairing life and have to get rid of the negative impacts of siege since life goes on, and the professionals must exert all efforts in order to help people cope with the difficult situations. Dr. Abu Twahina pointed that we should not drown in terror and fear since most of the above mentioned symptoms are natural reactions to a mad reality. He added that we have to work harder at promoting capacity building of mental health workers who play a key role in minimizing the psychological consequences of the siege. Dr. Abu Twahina also addressed the concept of "victim psychology" and asserted on the importance of offering the mental services for people who suffer from frequent depressions, and increasing concerns. According to Dr. Abu Tawahina, the mental suffering affect everybody but at different levels, and there are depression, anxiety, tension, and despair at the whole community levels.

In his work paper, Dr. Samir Zaqout, a psychologist at GCMHP, talked about the social changes resulting from the siege. He added that the siege started in 1948 when Israeli Occupation practiced siege policy in an attempt to deny the Palestinians their identity. The siege is doubled as it is imposed by Israel and the international community since they didn’t allow the Palestinians to practice their rights in a democratic way. Further, Dr. Zaqout pointed that the siege affected the Palestinian social fabric and domestic relations as hatred and tendency of revenge increased among the Palestinians. It also affected the moral values and accepting the other as well as increasing inter and intra familial disputes and conflicts.

To sum up, Dr. Sarraj pointed to the importance of highlighting such statistics and showing the direct impacts of the siege on the citizens. He asserted on the importance of the accuracy and avoiding exaggeration in stating any statistics. Dr. Sarraj paid special focus on the "victim psychology" since we, as Palestinians, shouldn’t adopt the role of victim, and exaggerate in blaming others and defaming ourselves. Our priority should be national reconciliation and unity and supporting the Palestinian resiliency so as to achieve our legitimate rights, endorsed by international conventions.

At the end of the conference, the attendants came to the conclusion that the siege must end and professionals must undertake their roles in the field of education and mental health in order to cope with the negative consequences of the siege and minimize its burdens on the civilians. Moreover, it was agreed upon working on promoting mental resilience programs for ending the siege and cope well with its negative consequences. It was agreed that the Palestinian people are steadfast and live with dignity, and should not bend or despair and take matters positively and effectively in order to resist all schemes aiming at weakening Palestinian social fabric, and to achieve the Palestinian rights in freedom, independence and establishing the Palestinian state. Further, the attendants emphasized on the importance of working, as specialists in various fields, on influencing the decision makers in the Palestinian society and acquaint them with the destructive impacts of the siege at all levels, especially the mental health of the upcoming Palestinian generations.