A new policy formulated in recent weeks by the Public Security Ministry will give settlers preference in gun licensing procedures.

Public Security Ministry officials, policemen and others have in recent days reviewed lists of persons seeking gun permits. Under the new guidelines, citizens who live in places defined by security officials as danger regions will receive preference in gun license issuance procedures.

Open gallery view Hand-held gun.

This danger zone designation extends to the entirety of the West Bank, along with a number of towns and communities along the Green Line that either border Palestinian villages and towns, or lack adequate defenses.

Explaining the policy, security officials say that "when a citizen lives in an endangered region, the treatment of the request cannot be the same as the case of other citizens - preference will be given to such requests, and the review of the requests will be expedited. Responses will be given, first of all, to requests that come from residents who live in danger regions; and this is unlike the situation in the past, when requests were handled according to the order in which they came, and no preference was given."

During meetings of Knesset committees held last February, settler representatives argued that under current circumstances several Israeli citizens in Judea and Samaria with criminal records can't get guns for self protection.

Orit Struck, a settler activist, attacked the government firearm permit policy. The government, she charged, "has created a situation in which every other citizen in Judea and Samaria has a criminal record for some nonsensical offense" and can therefore not own a firearm.

Police Brig. Gen. Meir Ben Yishai responded that "if someone throws a stone at a demonstration that does not suffice as a reason to disqualify a firearm request - we do not deny permits on those grounds, and I say that responsibly."

Over the last year, responsibility for firearm licenses has been relayed from the Interior Ministry to the Public Security Ministry. Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch has stated in the Knesset that one of his goals is to reduce the number of firearms held illegally by citizens.