The West Bank operates under a bifurcated legal structure. Israeli settlers are subject to Israeli civil and criminal law, while Palestinians live under military law. This division creates a massive gap in how law enforcement handles friction between these two groups.
When violence occurs, the legal path depends entirely on the identity of the perpetrator and the victim. When settlers attack Palestinians, the Israeli police often manage the scene using civil law procedures. However, because the investigation involves Israeli citizens on territory under military administration, jurisdictional confusion frequently leads to sluggish responses. Officers often fail to secure crime scenes or collect forensic evidence effectively. This procedural laxity makes building a criminal case difficult for prosecutors.
Deterrence suffers because the accountability gap is wide. A settler committing a crime in a Palestinian village faces a civil court, yet the investigative process often mimics a lack of will rather than a lack of capacity. The two systems do not talk to each other efficiently. This lack of coordination ensures that many incidents never reach a courtroom. Consequently, the structural separation ensures that violence remains under-prosecuted, leaving the legal system unable to fulfill its role as a deterrent.
