Settlers from the illegal outpost Adei Ad in Samaria a week ago uprooted some 300 olive trees belonging to Palestinians who live nearby, according to a report by a Civil Administration source. Uprooting trees is a deplorable and illicit phenomenon that characterizes the way settlers harass their hapless neighbors. It focuses on olive trees, a source of revenue for their owners and a symbol, because of their longevity, of an ancient claim to the land. In most cases the trees are cut down simply as vandalism, but the Civil Administration suspects that at Adei Ad, those uprooting the trees are also thieves - the trees are taken to the outpost and replanted there. The administration has demanded that the settlers (who deny all charges) replant the trees in the place from which they were taken; if the settlers do not meet this request, the Civil Administration will take action to restore the trees.

In the case of Adei Ad, the Civil Administration is worthy of praise. Its chief, Brigadier General Yoav "Poli" Mordechai, former head of the coordination and liaison administration in the Gaza Strip, is well aware of the human, security and political significance of the fabric of life in the territories. In the midst of the inherent contradiction between the security needs of the Israelis and the obligation to allow a livelihood - and dignity - to the Palestinians, the Civil Administration is responsible for softening the hardships and limiting the friction.

The administration has two masters: the coordinator of operations in the territories and GOC Central Command. The appointment of the coordinator, who need not be a military man, is in the hands of the defense minister. Amir Peretz left in place the current coordinator, Major General Yosef Mishlev, a career officer who is satisfied with carrying out policy and does little to shape it. Peretz did not appoint a coordinator who would exercise an ambition to alter the policy of succumbing to the settlers' wishes; they can be satisfied with Peretz's tenure and the fact that no outposts were evacuated.

	Advertisement

The military governor in the West Bank, from the point of view of international law, is the new head of Central Command, Gadi Shamni. The case of Adei Ad is the first test for Shamni, a former commander of the Hebron Brigade who thus knows the political clout of the settlers. Officers come and go, but the settlers stay. Naive officers who believe the slogans of the politicians senior to them soon discover that the politicians abandon them in the front lines and disappear. Even commanders who do not identify with the ideology of the settlers are inclined to pass their two-year tenure as quietly as possible, so as not to endanger their promotions.

The last evacuation (the Amona outpost 15 months ago) ended with a victory for the settlers. They lost the battle, but won the campaign, because with the violent clashes at Amona, the government of Ehud Olmert took fright and has not dared to touch the outlaws. This is a government that went to the polls and was established on a platform calling for evacuation of settlements. Whoever fears a confrontation at the outposts will certainly not touch the settlements.

The new defense minister, Ehud Barak, who gave in to the settlers during his previous tenure at the ministry, has promised he has changed. If this is true, even a little, he now has an opportunity to prove it.