A National Reckoning: Israeli Soldiers’ Depictions of Wartime Trauma in Autobiographical Graphic Novels

Abstract

The following paper analyses Ari Folman’s 2009 graphic novel Waltz with Bashir and Galit and Gilad Seliktar’s short graphic narrative ‘Houses’. Each presents a visualization of an Israeli soldier forced to bear witness to a morally compromising event during their mandatory national service. The texts, while written within the last decade, depict wars from the 1980s and 1990s. Their narratives differ from the state-sanctioned versions of Israel’s military as an army that always behaves morally. The works present an alternate narrative in which, at times, Israeli soldiers are expected to participate in immoral actions and that there is a lasting on their mental health. Additionally, when considered together, the two paint a portrait of an Israeli society that has not adequately responded to the strained emotions of segments of its population or found ways to bring these soldiers’ feelings of self-doubt and self-recrimination into the national narrative of wartime experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• graphic novels
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Waltz with Bashir
• Farm 54
• First Lebanon War
• First Palestinian Intifada
• trauma

Notes

1 The First Lebanon War was the fourth major international war that Israel participated in following its establishment in 1948. Following the passing of United Nations Resolution 181 which advised partitioning Palestine into two separate countries in November 1947 and its own Declaration of Independence in May 1948, Israel was attacked by Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. The war ended with Israel retaining its independence and an expansion of its borders. Throughout the 1950s, Israel and Egypt regularly engaged in border skirmishes that resulted in heightened tensions and scores of casualties. In June 1967, Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq declared war on Israel. Following six days of battle, Israel emerged as victors, having conquered the Sinai Desert, the Golan Heights, and, most importantly, the West Bank and the city of Jerusalem. The third conflict was in October 1973 and ended in stalemate wherein both Israel and Egypt incurred heavy losses with minimal transferral of land. The causes or justifications of the conflicts revolve around contrasting narratives about who is the rightful owner of the land. Israelis identify their legitimate purchase of land in Palestine throughout the early 20th century and international recognition of their right to establish a national home through the passing of legislation at the United Nations. The Palestinian people rejected the United Nations’ right to partition land at all and identified Israel as an illegitimate occupier of the land. The disagreements over ownership of the land formed one of the central cruxes of the conflict between Israel and surrounding Arab states who were fighting on behalf of the Palestinian people. The second significant factor in the conflict is Israel’s role in creating and perpetuating the Palestinian refugee crisis. In the months leading up to the 1948 war and in the weeks following its conclusion, upwards of 700 000 Palestinians were left stateless and relocated to neighbouring countries like Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan. These Palestinians were not permitted re-entry to Israel or granted citizenship despite United Nations Resolution 194 which calls for their readmission. Following the 1967 war, the Palestinians who had been living in the West Bank under Jordanian rule or in Gaza under Egyptian rule were now considered under Israeli jurisdiction. In the years since 1967, Israel built Jewish communities in the West Bank and Gaza (until it abdicated the territory in 2005) and has established a civilian and military presence there but the country has not annexed the land or granted the Palestinian refugees living there citizenship and they remain as refugees. Recent United Nations reports suggest that the current population of the Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the West Bank is close to 5 million people.

2 Israel’s wars with Lebanon in 1982–1985 and 2006 are Israel’s only international conflicts following the signing of the Camp David Accords peace agreement in 1978. Largely viewed as a success, the agreement between Israel and Egypt has, for the most part, remained in effect to the present day. Furthermore, they paved the way for the subsequent agreement between Israel and Jordan in 1994. Both agreements resulted in de-escalation of conflict within the Middle East and increased spending, trade, and tourism for the three countries. The agreements failed to resolve the Palestinian refugee crisis and by formally signing peace accords with Israel, the Palestinian leadership felt betrayed by their fellow Arab states. Subsequently, while the decision to perpetrate violence and terrorism in the First (1987–1993) and Second (2000–2005) Palestinian Intifadas are directly tied to perceptions of mistreatment and denial of recognition by Israel, their manifestations are also reflection of a Palestinian belief that no other nation will solve its conflict with Israel as its own representative. Acting independently, in addition to the two Intifadas, the Palestinian people have gained recognition by both Israel and the United Nations and have also participated in numerous failed peace accords with Israel.

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Matt Reingold

Matt Reingold is the co-department head of Jewish History at TanenbaumCHAT, North America’s largest co-educational Jewish secondary school. He received his PhD from York University’s Faculty of Education where he researched integrating the arts in Jewish Education. While studying for his doctorate, he was the recipient of a Wexner Fellowship as a Davidson Scholar. His research about the arts in Jewish education, teaching Israel, and Jewish graphic novels has been published in The Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, The Journal of Jewish Education, Religious Education, The Social Studies, Religious Education and Art-Research International. He has papers forthcoming in Dapim and Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies.