A Defense of the Undefended Mourid Barghouti College

Mourid Barghouti’s I Saw Ramallah is a personal account (or memoir) of Palestinian displacement do to Israeli aggression and occupation. Barghouti recalls his experiences in different phases of displacement, and presents a testimony of his interpersonal emotions that occurred during these ordeals. According to the Freudian school of psychoanalysis, victims of trauma or unpleasant experiences unconsciously resort to defense mechanisms that are psychological strategies unconsciously used to protect a person from anxiety arising from unacceptable thoughts or feelings. Consequently, I Saw Ramallah can be viewed as an account of how a victim of displacement resorts to subconscious mechanisms, and what effects do they bear on his social life, career, family, and overall welfare. Barghouti confirms in the text of I Saw Ramallah the depth of the influence of the occupation on every aspect of the occupied’s life and psyche when he says, “Occupation prevents you from managing your affairs in your own way. It intervenes in every aspect of life and of death; it interferes with longing and anger and desire” (p 48). An analysis of Mourid Barghouti’s behavioral patterns, belief systems, and emotional states exposes several defense...