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In other houses around Azzun, the Israelis arrested five more men who are suspects in a shooting that took place two weeks ago, when a sniper using a Carlo shot out the tire of a minivan driven by an Israeli along the highway that passes in front of the Palestinian town.

The assailants were unlucky or incompetent, but their intent was to kill, said Col. Roi Sheetrit, the Efraim Brigade commander who led the raid.

He called Azzun “a classic terror village.” He said that finding one gun is not as important as shutting down a gun maker.

“It looks harsh, but there is no room for leniency,” Sheetrit said.

Israeli news media usually characterize all confiscated guns as potential “terror weapons.”

But Israeli commanders acknowledge that many guns cached by Palestinians might be used for self-defense, in clan feuds or by criminals protecting turf.

No matter. “We want to get to the point where there will not be a single weapon in the West Bank,” a senior Israeli commander said in an interview with The Washington Post.

“Our logic is simple, the illegal weapons industry is one of the enablers of attacks,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of security protocols.

“If we target this industry and reduce it, then the cost of weapons will go up,” he said. “Those looking for guns will have to make more arrangements and meet more people in order to get the weapons. People will make more mistakes and the weapons will cost more.”