ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the relationship between the Israeli society and the Palestinian society from a psychoanalytical and group analytical point of view, emphasising the processes taking place in the social domain. Both Israelis and Palestinians are currently experiencing a traumatic reality, saturated with violence. Both are the victims of an accumulative and incessant terror. Eissler defines the term “cultural narcissism”. This is the internal force, which pushes us to overestimate our religion, our nation, our political camp. Social or cultural narcissism is a dangerous force that can become powerful and extreme. Bollas wrote about the danger that such narcissism can create a “fascist state of mind”. Enigmatic messages have a Sphinx-like quality. They are terrifying and associated with violence and traumatic experiences. Perhaps the heroism of the leader in our day and age should be the human heroism of sustaining pain and suffering. Touching the suffering paves the way for being empathic to the other’s suffering.
