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Can PA end arms proliferation in West Bank?

The Palestinian Authority has ratified draft legislation on firearms and ammunition licensing fees in a bid to create a monopoly on arms in the West Bank.
Masked Palestinian militants hold their weapons during the funeral of Maysara Abu Hamdeya in the West Bank city of Hebron April 4, 2013. Thousands of mourners turned out on Thursday for the funerals of three Palestinians, including two teenagers killed by Israeli army gunfire in some of the worst violence in the occupied West Bank in years. The upsurge in unrest was triggered on Tuesday by the death of Hamdeya, a 64-year-old prisoner serving a life term in an Israeli jail and suffering from cancer. REUTERS/
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RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian parties are currently discussing the implemention of a draft law on firearms and ammunition licensing fees that the Palestinian Authority Cabinet ratified Dec. 13. A government statement declared that the law aims to “reorganize the weapons dossier, reduce the spread of illegal weapons, work to control illegal weapons and confront arms dealers and outlaws seeking to undermine the security of both the homeland and the citizen.”

The draft legislation is based on Law No. 2 of 1998 on firearms and ammunition, issued under President Yasser Arafat, approved by the Cabinet and approved and passed by the Palestinian Legislative Council. The law failed, however, to set out regulations for firearms and ammunition licensing fees, which this proposed law attempts to address.

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