Liberating voices: The political implications of Palestinian mothers narrating their loss

This article juxtaposes the different threads of the history and reality of the Palestinian nation under occupation, with women's own narratives to the effect of such a history and reality on coping with losses emanating from such occupation. This article explores the effect of trauma and victimization of women in areas of political conflict as revealed through the voices of mothers of martyrs in Palestine who participated in an empowerment group that was termed "voice therapy" and their narratives were gradually unveiled. The study aims to reflect these mothers' visions in coping with the agony of losing a child. In doing so, it shows how the common law of gender shapes the life and life choices of women. The mothers' narratives have political and ideological implications, which highlight the need to re-examine the analytical framework with which to explain the conditions and reactions of women to trauma. In addition, they have theoretical, therapeutic implications; they reveal that we must pay more attention to the hidden casualties of armed conflicts and to the importance of building intervention programs that first and foremost acknowledge the muted voices of such casualties. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.