Wounded Attachments: Israel and Palestine

Friedrich Nietzsche describes ressentiment as an individual's blaming of their own oppressed position on an external body or force. Characterised by feelings of resentment and inferiority, ressentiment justifies the individual's actions against the perceived oppressor.

Wendy Brown ascribes ressentiment to oppressed groups. In explaining wounded attachments Brown suggests that “politicized identity thus enunciates itself, makes claims for itself, only by entrenching, restating, dramatizing, and inscribing its pain in politics; it can hold out no future—for itself or others—that triumphs over this pain” (Brown 1995, 74).

In his essay, Yoav Litvin utilizes neuroscience, psychology and personal reflection to discuss the Israel Palestine conflict in regards to fear experienced on both sides. He suggests breaking down stereotyped conceptions of the oppressor and the oppressed through nonviolent exposure to the other. Parallels can be drawn between this and Brown's model of 'wounded attachments', wherein both suggest that attachment to pain prevents healing.

Here is a critical/humorous take on the conflict:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3by9FoEFB8

Reference List:

W. Brown, “Wounded Attachments” in States of Injury, Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1995, pp. 52-76.

F. Nietzsche, from Beyond Good and Evil, in D. Ravitch and A. Thernstrom (eds) The Democracy Reader: Classic and Modern Speeches, Essay, Poems, Declarations and Documents on Freedom and Human Rights Worldwide, New York, Harper Perennial, 1992, pp. 77-79.

Litvin, Y 2013, Accountability and Healing in the Israeli Palestinian Conflict, Shomer Shalom: Network for Jewish Nonviolence, viewed 4 May 2014,
<http://shomershalom.org/2013/08/21/never-give-up-nonviolent-civilian-resistance-healing-and-active-hope-in-the-holyland/>.