Gaza Withdrawal and Ethical Dilemma

After the Six Day War, the Gaza strip   was one of several territories Israel won control over from Egypt, occupied, and eventually established settlements . Israeli officials, including Ariel Sharon, hoped the settlements in Gaza would make it difficult to return the land to the Palestinians, serve as safeguard against further attacks, and facilitate annexation of Gaza.1 As a part of the 1993 Peace Accord following the first intifada, Israel removed all citizens out of populated areas except in the settlements and military installations. 2 Ten years later Ariel Sharon, now Prime Minister, implemented Israel’s unilateral disengagement, or withdrawal, from the Gaza settlements.3 The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) assumed this responsibility under the leadership of Brigadier General Gershon Hacohen.   As the commander, he faced several critical thinking dilemmas while planning how the IDF would safely and peacefully remove the settlers from Gaza. If we consider the defense of territory a basic military mission, how did Hacohen logically reason this order and develop a course of action to accomplish his mission? His mission was to peacefully relocate over sixty percent of the settlement’s residents in the allotted time frame; 4 applying the Elements of Thought critical thinking model to his potential thought process, two elements posed the greatest challenges to the planning and implementation of disengagement:   point of view and concepts.
Point of View, one of the eight Elements of Thoughts, is the frame of reference through which a decision maker views a problem.   This element ensures the decision maker is not only aware of his own insights and weakness, but also encourages looking the problem from others’ points of view as well.5 While the commander most likely framed his plan based on his experience   and training as a military officer, Hacohen also considered several other points of view which could have made him rethink or alter his plan, including: the settlers’,...