It is difficult for Israelis who move freely throughout their country to understand Palestinian life in the West Bank, which becomes more difficult from year to year, from one agreement to the next. After it was decided to remove West Bank roadblocks to allow for movement that does not endanger Israeli security, it turned out that additional surprise roadblocks had been established.

In the last month alone, 546 roadblocks were counted, in addition to various procedures, magnetic cards, enclaves that non-Jews are prohibited from accessing and roads that only settlers are allowed to use - conditions that generate a frustrating uncertainty for the Palestinians.

Even a government that, due to its weakness, is not currently capable of working to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians cannot free itself of its obligation to manage the occupied territories in a way that enables people to live there. The Palestinian population cannot wait patiently for the final Winograd report on the Second Lebanon War or the results of the Labor Party primaries, because in the meantime it is living in the cruel reality described in the World Bank report released this week. The particularly harsh report shows that Israel continues to take into consideration only the settlers' needs, while abrogating even the minimal needs of the Palestinians.

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The report reveals that, despite its commitment, Israel is continuing to make Palestinian movement difficult, is not prepared to open a passageway - no matter how well-secured - between the West Bank and Gaza, and in effect is blocking Palestinians from accessing some 50 percent of the West Bank. This canonization of the West Bank destroys the Palestinian economy's chance of recovering from its crisis. A large segment of the restrictions stems from the desire to control the area more easily and efficiently, and to make the settlers' lives easier. In the meantime, the settlements continue to grow and blossom, despite previous agreements, while the Palestinians rot in increasing poverty.

The Ehud Olmert government and the Hamas government refuse to implement the steps the United States has suggested to both sides, despite Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' position on the matter. This refusal involves neither intelligence nor purpose, just an ongoing and frustrating failure. The gradual improvement, monitored by the Americans, would be an attempt to prevent an outbreak of violence in the region. The proposal was viewed by the Israeli government as a command, rather than as the act of a helpful friend. Therefore, there is no choice but to agree, regretfully, with the findings of the World Bank report that Israel is preventing the rehabilitation of the West Bank economy.

The personal struggle between the Supreme Court president and the justice minister was no reason for Dorit Beinisch to sling arrows in all directions during her speech at the judicial swearing-in ceremony. A speech replete with general accusations only detracts from the status of the Supreme Court, about which Beinisch is so concerned. The court president, who was angry about the "insolent" demand of the judicial selection committee to examine a complaint against a candidate, spared only the judicial system from the rod - a system that views all censure as inappropriate, thereby unifying all its critics.