ABSTRACT
Social work as a profession is emerging in Palestine through an ongoing process that includes the accumulation of the efforts and experiences of many players trying to respond to the needs of Palestinians. Community work, in different forms of practice, is the seed of the current forms of social work in Palestine. The term ‘community work’ here refers to broad social work practices carried out in the community, for the community, with the participation of the community, which may be led or initiated by different types of community workers, either as individuals or members of community organisations. Through their community practice, Palestinian community organisations play many of the different roles usually played in community work towards achieving goals: facilitative, educational, representational and technical roles, to use the classifications described by Ife (1995).
