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Israel's objection to the nascent agreement for a Palestinian unity government, and the frozen plans for a unilateral withdrawal, require, among other things, that Israel continue to bear responsibility for the well-being of the Palestinian population in the West Bank. According to a June High Court ruling, "Protecting the security and possessions of the local residents is among the most basic obligations of the military commander in the field."

The ruling involved a petition by the representatives of five West Bank villages that were subjected to a series of violent acts by settlers. The bullying neighbors uprooted their olive trees, ran off their flocks and occasionally attacked villagers. The upcoming olive harvest will be the first test of Defense Minister Amir Peretz in protecting these farmers and their livelihood.

The justices ruled the state's efforts to deal with the problem produced insufficient results, and instructed the security establishment to act "more forcefully against lawbreakers in order to uproot this phenomenon."

The attorney general determined that the ruling required the security establishment and the police to make "significant decisions to change the existing situation." Despite the large size of the Judea and Samaria district, only 6 percent of the police force - and 2.5 percent of the police budget - are assigned to it.

The severity of the "existing situation" can be gleaned from a report by the human rights organization Yesh Din. Based on a sampling of 92 files opened in the Judea-Samaria police district, the report reveals only 10 percent of Palestinian complaints of Israeli violence in the West Bank ended with indictments. An examination of closed cases revealed a number of serious flaws and failings.

It was reported at the end of the week that the GOC Central Command will be issuing orders limiting the movement of 16 settlers considered "extremists," meaning they can be blocked from approaching olive groves. At a meeting in the GOC's bureau, Peretz expressed surprise that at the end of the previous olive harvest, during which hundreds of trees were destroyed, no one stood trial. Peretz said attacks on peaceful farmers push them into the arms of terror organizations, shame Israel in the eyes of the world and impair its international standing. He directed the Israel Defense Forces to assign all necessary human resources to protect Palestinian citizens, and instructed the comptroller of the defense establishment to scrutinize activities in the territories during the upcoming harvest.

The importance of the defense minister's directives notwithstanding, they are not sufficient to bring the Palestinians the security they deserve. To this end, the government must allocate a proper place on the agenda to law enforcement in the West Bank, along with the necessary resources. A government that demands, and rightly so, that the Palestinian Authority act forcefully against extremist Islamic elements that threaten the well-being of Israel's citizens, among them settlers, must show the same forcefulness toward Jewish law-breakers who threaten the well-being of Palestinian citizens.

The olive harvest test

_{By Haaretz Editorial}