Palestine
Mine Ban Policy
UPDATE: 2 January 2018 - On 29 December 2017, Palestine acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty, which will enter into force for it on 1 June 2018. Palestine becomes the 164th State Party to the treaty. (Material below will be updated at a later date)
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Policy
The State of Palestine has occasionally attended Mine Ban Treaty meetings, most recently the Fifteenth Meeting of States Parties in Santiago, Chile, in November–December 2016, and the Third Review Conference in Maputo, Mozambique, in June 2014.
In September 2012, Palestine submitted a voluntary Article 7 report. The report states that a Higher Committee for Mine Action, within the Ministry of Interior, was established in 2012 as an interministerial body, which is currently developing and adapting legislation with regards to mine action. In February 2012, the committee mandated and allocated resources to the Palestinian Mine Action Centre (PMAC) to coordinate all mine action related aspects in the West Bank.[1] The PMAC was established in April 2012.[2] Palestine submitted an additional voluntary Article 7 report in 2013.
Palestine is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), but not its Amended Protocol II on landmines or Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
The Monitor has not found any allegations of use of antipersonnel mines or mine-like devices by any Palestinian entity in recent years.[3]
In its 2012 voluntary transparency report, Palestine stated that it does not possess a stockpile of antipersonnel mines, that it will not retain any mines for training purposes, and only transfer mines for destruction. The report also stated that it never had production facilities for antipersonnel mines. The report listed mined areas and provideed information on the status of its risk education and victim assistance programs.[4]
Clearance efforts in Palestine are ongoing. In May 2016, the HALO Trust began clearing landmines around Christian holy sites in the West Bank.[5]
In February 2012, the Israeli army seized and surrounded land belonging to a Palestinian family in the southern West Bank town of Surif by placing yellow warning signs, claiming that the land was mine-ridden and that the area was a closed military zone. The owner claimed that the area was cleared of mines by the Palestinian Authority more than 20 years before; the owner said the mines had been laid by the Israeli army when the area was used for military training.[6]
In June 2012, the UN conducted training in landmine removal for three weeks. The training was held in Jericho under the auspices of the PMAC, and trained members of the public security forces.[7]
[1] Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report (covering period until 1 August 2012), September 2012.
[2] “The Palestinian Mine Action Center (PMAC),” On the Record, 26 June 2012.
[3] Palestinian militias have produced and used command-detonated improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The Mine Ban Treaty prohibits use of victim-activated IEDs and booby-traps, which function as antipersonnel mines, but does not prohibit use of command-detonated IEDs. Media and other reports are not always clear whether devices involved in explosive incidents in the OPT are victim-activated or command-detonated, and reports often use a number of terms interchangeably, citing the use of bombs, landmines, booby-traps, and IEDs.
[4] Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report (covering period until 1 August 2012), September 2012.
[5] Oren Liebermann, “Decades after war, churches near Jesus' baptism site to be cleared of mines,” CNN, 15 May 2016.
[6] “Israeli Land Mines Still Pose Problems for Palestinian Communities,” Palestinian Solidarity Project, 29 February 2012.
[7] “UN experts train Palestinian security to remove land mines,” Palestine TV, Ramallah (re-broadcast in English language translation on Mosaic News), 25 June 2012.