Barak sends army to defend Palestinians from settlers

In an unprecedented development, Israeli army soldiers are to be deployed to protect Palestinians from Israelis. The front-line troops, a battalion of the Givati infantry brigade, are being sent in to the West Bank to shield Palestinian farmers from attacks by hard-line Jewish settlers aimed at sabotaging the economically vital olive harvest.

The troops will be stationed near a settlement that has frequently been associated with organised violence against the Palestinians. The decision to deploy a unit normally engaged in counter-terrorism operations reflects growing official concern about the threat to the authority of the state from increasingly lawless ultra-nationalist elements.

Earlier this week, Israel's defence minister, Ehud Barak, warned that he was ready to use "an iron hand" against the most extreme settlers: measures under consideration ranged from banning their presence in the West Bank to detaining them without trial under a law widely used to hold suspected Arab militants. "Such people belong behind bars," he observed grimly.

According to political insiders, Barak was particularly incensed by reports of masked, club-wielding settlers assaulting and vilifying young conscripts - some were taunted with cries of "we hope you get kidnapped and killed by terrorists" - who have been attempting to maintain order during repeated clashes. Peace activists who demonstrated solidarity with the Palestinians, a number of Jews among them (including a rabbi), have also come under attack.

Paradoxically, while Israeli troops are now charged with preventing settlers from uprooting olive trees while the two-month long harvest continues, the army maintains its strategy of clearing olive and orange groves alongside roads in the West Bank and Gaza as a security measure against ambushes.

Apart from the harsh economic impact on the many Palestinians whose livelihood depends on olives, the continued cultivation of groves that have often been in the family for hundreds of years represents a potent symbol of their determination to cling to their land.

With a general election looming in Israel early next year, the increasingly lawless conduct of the settlers seems likely to become a hot issue for moderate voters. Militants in Hebron went on the rampage a week ago, desecrating Arab graves and slashing car tyres.

Many Israelis detest them, regarding their habit of creating illegal Jewish 'outposts' in the midst of Palestinian communities as provocative and profoundly damaging to the prospects - distant as they may now appear - of an eventual negotiated peace.

While Barak went on the offensive publicly, a senior aide to the Israeli attorney general, Menachem Mazzuz, has also addressed these concerns. In a leaked letter, he observed that by inciting violence against troops under orders to curb their illegal activities, the settlers had "crossed a red line".