Social Work in Political Conflict

The aim of this study is to direct attention to the impact of political conflict on social work. To this end, the responses of a group of Jewish Israeli social workers to a knotty labor relations dilemma between a Jewish Israeli mental health facility director and a paraprofessional Palestinian employee were analyzed. This report presents a picture of social workers’ active avoidance of the cultural and political aspects of the problem. The loaded political conflict between Israelis and Palestinians undermined the social workers’ ability to respond to the problem with the requisite cultural sensitivity. It is imperative that greater professional attention be given to the impact of political conflict on social work.