Narrative expressions of despair under occupation

As part of the first anthropological study on suicide in the contemporary Arab world, 31 suicide narratives from Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza were collected and analysed within their cultural, socio‐economic and political contexts. The sexual segregation of the mainly Muslim society was reflected in the different expressions of distress used in the female and male narratives. Women felt ‘pressurized’, ‘suffocated’, ‘nervy’, with their emotions about to explode. Their suicide attempts were spontaneous outbursts of emotional frustration. Men appeared ‘worn out’, ‘tired’, ‘depressed’ and dying seemed more honourable than living unable to gain status or even become a social adult male. These narratives of suffocation and frustration provide some understanding of reactions to the current dire political and economic situation faced by Palestinians living under siege as Israel uses ever more drastic measures to subdue the population. For suicide bombers, death may also seem more honourable than life under oppression.