Palestine
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: Palestine acceded to the convention on 2 January 2015 and became a State Party on 1 July 2015. Palestine has stated that it does not possess any cluster munitions and says there had never been any use of cluster munitions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories by Israeli forces.
Policy
The State of Palestine acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 2 January 2015 and became a State Party on 1 July 2015.
It is not clear if Palestine will undertake legislative or other measures to implement the convention. Two Palestinian factions exercise authority within the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), the Fatah-led government in the West Bank and the government of Hamas in Gaza.
As of 30 May 2016, Palestine has not yet provided its initial Article 7 transparency measures report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was originally due by 27 December 2015.
Palestine did not participate in any meetings of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
In November 2012, the UN General Assembly voted to recognize Palestine as a non-member observer state. Palestine was not able to accede to the convention under its previous UN status designation as a “non-member entity.”[1]
Palestine acceded after participating as an observer in meetings of the convention since 2010.[2] It attended three of the convention’s Meeting of States Parties as an observer, in 2010, 2011, and 2013, and also participated in the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2013 and 2014.
Palestine participated as a State Party in the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015. In an address to the high-level segment of the meeting, Palestine said that it acceded to the convention “because of our belief in a global peace that opens cultures between peoples and promotes a respect for mankind.”[3] Palestine expressed its support for the convention’s objectives of cluster munition stockpile destruction, clearance of explosive remnants, and victim assistance.
Palestine has not elaborated its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention, such as the prohibitions on transit, assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, investment in the production of cluster munitions, and on the retention of cluster munitions for training and development purposes.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
In November 2010, a government representative informed the Monitor that Palestine does not possess any cluster munitions and that there had never been any use of cluster munitions in the OPT by Israeli forces.[4]
[1] When Palestine deposited its instrument of accession with the UN in New York in January 2015, Canada provided the UN with a communication objecting to the accession because “‘Palestine’ does not meet the criteria of a state under international law and is not recognized by Canada as a state.” According to the communication, “Canada reiterates that ‘Palestine’ does not meet the criteria of a state under international law and is not recognized by Canada as a state. Therefore, in order to avoid confusion, the Permanent Mission of Canada wishes to note its position that in the context of the purported Palestinian accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, ‘Palestine’ is not able to accede to this convention, and that the Convention on Cluster Munitions does not enter into force, or have an effect on Canada’s treaty relations, with respect to the ‘State of Palestine.’” See communication of Canada here.
[2] The first meeting on cluster munitions that Palestine attended was an international meeting on cluster munitions held in Santiago, Chile in June 2010.
[3] Statement of Palestine, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Review Conference, Dubrovnik, 9 September 2015.
[4] Meeting with Col. Mohammad A.M. Ghanayiem, Palestinian Ministry of Interior, Vientiane, 9 November 2010.