Description
Behind the Frontlines
Book Summary
This book offers a unique and deeply human look at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the perspective of mental health. Dr. Samah Jabr, a psychiatrist and head of the Mental Health Services Unit in Palestine, compiles her articles published in international media to analyze collective trauma, psychological colonization, and strategies of dehumanization. Beyond the political debate, the work argues that the occupation is, above all, a serious mental health problem, and proposes tenderness and caring for life as acts of resistance. An essential testimony for understanding the psychological dimensions of oppression.
What is it about?
The book is a collection of articles written by Samah Jabr for outlets such as The Middle East Monitor and The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Through writing that combines tenderness and incisiveness, the author addresses the psychological impact of the Israeli occupation on both an individual and collective level. Jabr explores how collective trauma damages the social fabric, analyzes cultural and psychological colonization, and denounces the tactics of progressive dehumanization of the Palestinian people. The work maintains that the liberation of the Palestinian land is inseparable from the liberation of the minds of its people, placing life at the center as an act of resistance. From a specific context, the book offers a universal reflection on resilience and humanity in the face of oppression.
Main Themes
- Mental health and collective trauma in contexts of occupation and prolonged conflict.
- Psychological and cultural colonization as tools of political domination.
- Strategies of dehumanization and their effects on the psychic integrity of oppressed peoples.
- Non-violent resistance through care, tenderness, and valuing life.
- Oppression and political persecution analyzed from clinical practice and personal experience.
Who is it recommended for?
This book is aimed at readers interested in social psychology, community psychiatry, and the impact of political violence on mental health. It is also an essential read for those seeking to understand the Palestinian reality beyond the conventional political and media approach, as well as for mental health professionals, human rights activists, and anyone interested in the intersection between psychology, resistance, and social justice.
What this book contributes
- A professional and clinical perspective on the collective trauma caused by the occupation, rarely addressed in depth.
- Conceptual tools to understand psychological colonization and dehumanization as mechanisms of oppression.
- Testimonies and analyses that connect the individual experience with the collective struggle for liberation.
- A universal reflection on how to preserve humanity and tenderness in contexts of extreme violence.
- An approach that integrates mental health as a fundamental dimension of political resistance and social recovery.
Technical Specifications
- Author: Samah Jabr
- Publisher: Hojas Monfíes
- Language: Spanish
- Subject: Social discrimination and inequality, Social, group or collective psychology, Political oppression and persecution, Psychiatry
- Collection: Fondo
- Binding: Paperback
- Publication Date: October 2025
- Number of pages: 156
- Weight: 253 g
Editorial Review
“Behind the Frontlines” offers a valuable and rare contribution by placing mental health at the center of the analysis of a political conflict. The author, with a solid clinical background and a narrative voice that combines professional rigor with human sensitivity, manages to build bridges between the individual experience of trauma and the collective dynamic of oppression. The book will be especially relevant for those seeking to understand the psychological dimensions of the occupation and for those interested in approaches to resistance based on care and dignity. A work that invites reflection from a necessary and often silenced perspective.