Exposure to repeated acts of terrorism: perspectives from an attacked community

The beginning of the new millennium has been characterized by the emergence of a new era of global terrorism. With approximately 3000 fatalities in New York City alo-ne, the attacks of September, 2001 represented the largest single act of terrorism in history. While con-fined mostly to the Middle East be-fore 2001, the Al Quaida attack on the USA marked the beginning of a new phase of radical Islamist bom-bings of Westerners in Bali, Istan-bul, Madrid and London and with recently identified terror cells in Germany. How does a civilian po-pulation react when exposed repeatedly to similar events? The Israeli civilian population might be a relevant case study. This article de-scribes scientific findings, clinical observations, and personal pers-pectives on the exposure of the Is-raeli civilian population to the 2000-2003 terror campaign. Historical Background The most recent hostilities Israelis have faced were the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war in which 4000 rockets were fired on the civilian popula-tion and the 2001-2004 string of random terror acts against civilians and Israeli security forces, dubbed by the Palestinians the »Al-Aqsa In-tifada«. According to a Shabac re-port (Israel's Secret service) pub-lished in Yediot Acharonot daily, (29.9.2005, p. 11). The Intifada vio-lence entailed: 26159 recorded terror attacks, mostly shooting incidents;