Criminals and Protectors: The Multiple Meanings of Gun Possession Among Palestinians in Israel

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This research explores the social meanings of unlicensed guns as experienced by Palestinian Arab Citizens of Israel(PCIs). Guns have long been part of Palestinian life as botha tool of political resistance and of colonial control. Overthe past decade, however, guns have taken on additional meanings: gun crime and possession have drastically increased in PCI communities despite a simultaneous increase in police presence, with most perpetrators and victims being young men (Darweish et al. 2020) - a pattern paralleled in other racialized communities under settler colonial regimes (Fanon 2002).This paradox has turned Arab localities into 'lawless' zones where guns are pervasive objects. New societal norms and biopolitics are reshaping the way PCIs live with the gun; patriarchal traditions are dominating the gun violencediscourse; and identities linking gun possession with manhood are being nourished. Negligent law enforcement has erased the dichotomy of safe and unsafe spaces in Arab localities, generating fluid perceptions of the gun; itcan be condemned for inflicting violence, tolerated as a means of protection, or praised as political resistance. The state's views are similarly fluid, disregarding guns in 'Arab-on-Arab' crimes yet securitizing them when used against Jews. This study will unpack these phenom