The military's role extended to appointments, licenses and permits, and

legislative powers. The Civil Administration was used as a front to dispense

patronage among the occupied population.[2]:108 There was an attempt to
create Village Leagues by Menachem Milson in 1978, who later became the
head of the Civil Administration. The Village Leagues consisted of "a coalition
of rural thugs...who had no standing in the community". The Palestinians saw
the Leagues as a collection of collaborators and traitors. Political factions and
the PLO were outlawed by the Israeli military, with a conscious policy of
"divide and rule". This policy of co-optation was combined with "Iron Fist"
operations of the then Defense Minister, Ariel Sharon.[8]:54