The Disengagement from Gaza: A Feminist Approach to a Political Crisis

The Counseling Center for Women in Israel is a feminist therapy organization that was established nearly 20 years ago as a collective of clinical social workers and psychologists. The article will describe single-session trauma prevention workshops facilitated by practitioners from the Counseling Center for Women with more than 800 female soldiers, aged 18 to 21, at army bases throughout Israel. The workshops were held one month before the evacuation of Israeli settlers from Gaza Strip began, and also included follow-up and evaluation 10 days after the actual evacuation. The project was initiated and directed with the cooperation of army personnel. The description of the workshops is based on interviews with the group facilitators and the army officers with whom the project was developed.