Professional Behavior during Conditions of Extreme Community Turmoil: The Case of the Removal of Settlements from Sinai

Abstract

This article reports an informal study of six human services professionals who conducted research and practice in Israeli settlements in Sinai during the settlements' evacuation, which was required by the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. The author presents a model of three strategies of professional behavior that can guide human service professionals and social researchers during instances of extreme community turmoil (1) disregarding the crisis and following one's usual professional routines, (2) relinquishing one's professional stance and becoming personally immersed in the catastrophe, or (3) modifying one's behavior to suit the abnormal conditions. From retrospective interviews with the professionals, the author finds that the practitioners chose the first strategy and the researchers the third Professional, situational and personal circumstances for these choices are analyzed, and the author recommends further elaboration of the model and an assessment of the comparative productivity of alternative strategies.