Abstract
This article traces my evolution as a political activist in relation to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict over the past decade, and describes the ways my activism has become integrated into my professional life. I discuss my journeys in Israel/Palestine with delegations of the Compassionate Listening Project, highlighting disturbing stories of injustice and abuse and inspiring stories of interfaith cooperation and nonviolent peace work. My focus is on the emotional impact of becoming the bearer of stories of unbearable human experience that I felt compelled to bring back and share. I reveal my struggles with continuing to speak and write publically about the injustice that I witnessed. In the course of standing up to both internal and external attacks on bearing witness, I have discovered a stronger therapeutic voice with my patients as well.
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Rita Karuna Cahn
Rita Karuna Cahn, LCSW, is a psychotherapist in private practice in San Francisco. She is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco, and is on the supervising and teaching faculty of The Psychotherapy Institute, Berkeley.