This publication synthesizes existing research on the psychological consequences of recurrent large-scale violence while emphasizing culturally rooted protective factors such as family cohesion, community solidarity, and sumud. The paper critically examines humanitarian MHPSS systems which, despite their importance, may inadvertently reproduce epistemic and operational hierarchies and marginalize local knowledge.

Drawing on qualitative fieldwork, interviews, and longitudinal engagement with Gazan students over several years, this research interrogates the assumption that formal education in conflict-affected settings reliably discourages support for political violence.  By centering students as active learners within a contested pedagogical environment, the dissertation shows how post-Oslo schooling in Gaza often failed to resonate with students’ lived experiences of occupation, insecurity, and structural violence, limiting its credibility as a peacebuilding intervention.