Israeli police officials have drafted new and specific open-fire rules for Israeli security forces slated to take part in the evacuation of settlements in Gaza and part of West Bank, Israel Radio reported Sunday.

Under the new procedures, use of fire-arms is to be defined as a last resort. It will be used only in self-defense or in life-threatening situations, if no other means of containing the threat is available.

According to the new regulations, if security forces are fired upon or are otherwise in life-threatening situations during the evacuation, soldiers or police officers will have to verbally warn before opening fire, then fire a warning shot in the air.

Only then could he fire at the legs of the source of danger, or at his upper body, said the radio, adding the open-fire procedure was reviewed and authorized by senior police legal advisors.

In response to the report, Knesset (parliament) member Zvi Hendel, who is also a resident of a Gaza Strip settlement, said Sunday that settlers would not use weapons during the pullout, and there would be no state of civil war.

Eran Sternberg, spokesman for the Gaza settlers, was quoted as calling the new regulations the latest in a series of government measures aimed at delegitimizing the settlers and their struggle against the disengagement.

In confrontations with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, military regulations, referred to as "procedure for arrest of suspects," allow troops to open fire even if they are not in danger, providing that soldiers first warn fleeing suspects to stop, then fire warning shots in the air, before firing at the suspect.

(Xinhua News Agency June 27, 2005)