(IsraelNN.com) It led to anti-settler headlines, international embarrassment for the State of Israel, condemnations, and apologetics - and yet it all may have been one big bluff, or worse.

On Nov. 3, the branches of hundreds of Arab-owned olive trees were found to have been cut down near the small Jewish community of Mitzpeh Yitzhar in the Shomron. Suspicions were immediately focused on the Jewish residents living nearby, and media reports and public officials took it for granted that they were responsible. The Jerusalem Post internet site reported on Nov. 7, "Last week, settlers from settlements in northern Samaria hacked approximately 500 olive trees belonging to Palestinians," and on the same day, a Voice of America report by Irris Makler went even further by opening, "Israeli settlers in the West Bank have destroyed olive trees belonging to Palestinian farmers in several areas in recent weeks..."

Israeli officials, too, were quick to respond. President Katzav issued a sharp condemnation, saying that the "struggle with the Palestinians ... must be conducted with good sense and integrity." Prime Minister Sharon said he views the matter with "great gravity," adding that he had ordered the security establishment to "take all possible measures" to catch those responsible for uprooting the trees. A headline in Ynet quoted Labor MK Ephraim Sneh as saying, "The Palestinians whose olive trees were cut down by settlers must be compensated." Even the Yesha Council of Rabbis fell into the trap, stating that that acts of vengeance carried out by individuals are forbidden and condemnable, and that the tree-cutting had "defamed the entire sector of Jews living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza."

The story has taken a dramatic turn, however, though the mass media have largely ignored it. Police now feel that left-wing Israelis and the Arab tree-owners may have manufactured the entire incident as a provocation and a way to besmirch the Jewish population. The police have requested that Rabbi Arik Asherman of the Reform Movement and an Arab who filed charges against Jewish Yesha residents submit to lie-detector tests - but the two have, thus far, refused to do so.

The investigation began its about-face when a Jewish National Fund expert brought in by the police concluded that no lasting damage was done to the trees, and that the tree-cutters did not "cut down" the trees, but rather "pruned" them. The severed branches, he said, will begin growing back within 2-3 months. The police thereupon requested that those who filed the accusations against the Jews take lie-detector tests.

"If it is determined that we are speaking about a provocation in which someone cut these branches and then filed a false accusation with the police, then we are dealing with false testimony, which is a serious infraction," police superintendent Doron Ben-Ami said.

Residents of the village of Yitzhar in Northern Shomron and environs have published a statement denying any connection to the cutting of the olive trees. In response to MK Efraim Sneh and others, the residents wrote, "There is not one bit of truth in these accusations, which are simply baseless slander."

It appears that one need not be a policeman to suspect that the entire story was nothing more than another form of anti-Jewish libel. Rabbi Elyakim Levanon of Elon Moreh said that he was told by "official sources" that the pruning involved "dozens of hours of electric sawing." How is it, he asks, "that no one heard? I heard that one of the Arabs said something like, 'we heard something, but we didn't pay attention.' This is a total put-on: how could it be that throughout hours and even days of work, an entire village heard nothing?! [It's possible] that the Arabs did it themselves, in the course of regular pruning, after which someone had the brilliant idea of blaming it on the Jews..."

At the same time, Rabbi Levanon said that there are instances in which Jews would be permitted to cut down Arab trees. Asked what he thinks about Arabs harvesting their olives in proximity to Jewish communities during times of terrorist dangers, he said, "It definitely should not be enabled, but the question is who must stop them. It's obvious that not every individual is permitted to make these decisions on his own. The general guidelines are that in a perimeter of 300 meters around each community, Arabs are simply not allowed to enter. If they do so, it becomes a matter of immediate self-defense, and in such a case, individuals are allowed to take action. They may even take action against the property - i.e., olive trees - of those who endanger them in this way... Not long ago, Arab olive harvesters reconnoitered a community in the Shomron and identified a break in the fence, through which terrorists infiltrated and murdered three precious Jews."

Aviad Vissuly, of the Haifa-area Land of Israel Movement, stated, "It is incumbent upon Central Command O.C. Maj.-Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky to issue clear directives with regard to the [Arab] harvesting of olives on state-owned lands in areas adjacent to Jewish towns. This will eliminate the friction, misunderstandings, and vilification of Israel across the globe. For some unknown reason, Kaplinsky refuses to do so, and as a result, Jewish residents, the IDF and the State of Israel are vilified regularly by the press corps."