ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Pediatric Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1665579
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Rights and Needs of Children During Times of War and ConflictView all 5 articles
CTS and Insecurity in East Jerusalem "We have no safety at all": Insecurity and Continuous Traumatic Stress Among Palestinian Adolescents in East Jerusalem
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hebrew University of Jerusalem Minerva Center for Human Rights, Jerusalem, Israel
- 2Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Conflict Management and Resolution Program, Be'er Sheva, Israel
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Children and youth in conflict zones are often exposed to persistent sociopolitical stress that undermines their rights to protection and development. This study explores how Palestinian adolescents in occupied East Jerusalem experience and respond to continuous traumatic stress amid intensified political violence during the ongoing Gaza war. Using a participatory research approach, an advisory group of youth co-researchers contributed to study design, ethics, data collection, and analysis. In-depth interviews were conducted with 24 Palestinian youth aged 12–19, alongside eight adult parents and professionals. Reflexive thematic analysis revealed six interconnected themes: (1) Perpetual threat in everyday spaces; (2) Adaptive hypervigilance; (3) Collective and intergenerational transmission of stress; (4) Emotional suppression and helplessness; (5) Normalization of abnormality; and (6) Distrust in protective systems. The findings demonstrate how structural violence is internalized, embodied, and transmitted across generations, creating a persistent emotional climate of fear and insecurity. This study calls for trauma frameworks that move beyond episodic models to address cumulative, politically rooted stressors that violate children's rights under international law. Policies must prioritize rights-based interventions, including accessible psychosocial support and protective legal frameworks that counter systemic oppression, surveillance, and discrimination. Integrating children's lived experiences and agency into service design and delivery is highly recommended.
Keywords: Continuous traumatic stress, Palestinian youth, Participatory Research, children's rights, Occupation, East Jerusalem, political violence, threat
Received: 14 Jul 2025; Accepted: 20 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zedan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Heba F. Zedan, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Minerva Center for Human Rights, Jerusalem, Israel
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