Yochi Fisher and Loaay Wattad–On Seeing the Trauma of the Other

22 snips

May 15, 2025

Guest

Yochi Fischer

Guest

Loaay Wattad

Loaay Wattad, a Palestinian lecturer and Ph.D. candidate, teams up with Yochi Fischer, a historian and deputy director at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. They delve into intergenerational trauma and the shared histories of Israelis and Palestinians, emphasizing the need for empathy and dialogue. Their conversation touches on the power of children's literature in addressing themes of resilience and hope amid oppression. They explore the complexities of memory and identity, inviting listeners to recognize the intricate dynamics of collective trauma and the possibility of healing through understanding.

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ANECDOTE

Loaay's Childhood Realization

Loaay Wattad shares how his early exposure to Israeli educational TV shaped his initial understanding of identity as Israeli, without knowledge of Palestinian trauma.
The second Intifada and witnessing his father's sorrow over Mohammed al-Durra's death opened his awareness to the existence of Palestinian trauma.

ANECDOTE

Yochi's Inherited Trauma

Yochi Fischer recounts growing up with Holocaust survivor parents who recurrently shared their trauma, especially her father who chose her to remember.
Her father could not acknowledge Palestinian suffering, seeing only his own trauma amidst the events leading to Israel's establishment.

INSIGHT

Entangled Traumas of Holocaust and Nakba

The Holocaust and the Nakba are deeply interconnected tragedies whose memories often became competitive rather than shared.
Silencing one trauma reflects and reinforces the monolithic narratives around the other, perpetuating mutual denial and blocking healing.

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This episode emerged from a private gathering in The Hague in the fall of 2024 with a small group of people who live in Israel — both Jewish and Palestinian, Jews and Palestinians who continue to share life. We’re pleased to invite you now to overhear this particular conversation, with the permission of all involved. It centered around the matter of intergenerational trauma and healing — in a land in which the traumas of two peoples are terribly, inextricably intertwined. Yochi Fischer is a historian. Loaay Wattad is a lecturer, translator, and editor focused on children’s and adolescent literature in Arabic and also in Hebrew. It is a gift to experience the friendship between them, as well as the struggle. This, and the passionate interaction with others in the room that follows, holds complexity and nuance and persistent humanity that news from this part of the world rarely conveys. We were brought together by the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.

Looay Wattad is a Palestinian lecturer, researcher, translator, and editor and a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology and the School of Cultural Studies at Tel Aviv University. He is a member of the Maktoob translators’ circle, a group that translates works of literature from Arabic to Hebrew. He is the editor-in-chief of the Hkaya, a web platform centered around children’s literature.

Yochi Fischer is a historian and the deputy director of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, a senior research fellow at the institute, and head of its Sacredness, Religion, and Secularization Cluster. She also leads its Intellectual Journeys program.Her current research focuses largely on religion and secularization — she also does work on memory and history, and the connection between research and creativity.

Special thanks to Michael Feigelson, Shai Held, Rebecca Plumbley, and Philip Pieters of the Toussainthuis.

Find aFind an excellent transcript of this show, edited by humans, on our show page.

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