Mine Ban Policy

Governance of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), including Gaza and parts of the West Bank, is assigned to the Palestinian National Authority (PA). Two Palestinian factions, Hamas in Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank, both claim to be the legitimate governing authority of the OPT. Neither faction has made any recent public statements on its policy toward banning antipersonnel mines.

The Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the UN attended the intersessional meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva in June 2011. In 2009, the PA-Fatah had sent a representative to the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva, its first participation in meetings related to the Mine Ban Treaty since the First Meeting of States Parties in Mozambique in May 1999.

In September 2012, the OPT 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 Higher 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]

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 voluntary transparency report, the OPT states that it does not possess a stockpile of antipersonnel mines, that it does not retain any mines for training purposes, and will only transfer mines for destruction. The report also states that it has never had production facilities for antipersonnel mines. The report lists mined areas and provides information on the status of its risk education and victim assistance programs.[4]

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 PA 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.[5]

In June 2012, the UN conducted training in landmine removal for three weeks. The training was held in Jericho under the auspices of the Interior Ministries Palestinian Centre for Mine Action, and trained members of the public security forces.[6]

Background

The State of Palestine consists of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), including Gaza and parts of the West Bank. Two Palestinian factions exercise authority within the OPT, the Fatah-led government in the West Bank and the government of Hamas in Gaza. In November 2012, the UN General Assembly voted to recognize Palestine as a non-member observer state. Under its previous UN status designation as a “non-member entity,” Palestine was not able to accede to the convention.

Policy

According to the CMC, in June 2014 a government representative confirmed Palestine intends to join Convention on Cluster Munitions.[1] Previously, official representatives had informed the CMC that Palestine would likely join the convention once it has achieved full legal status with the UN.[2]

Palestine did not participate in any meetings of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions. In June 2010, Palestine attended its first convention-related meeting when it participated in an international meeting on cluster munitions held in Santiago, Chile.

Since 2010, Palestine has participated in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions as an observer. It attended the convention’s Meeting of States Parties in 2010, 2011, and the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. Palestine participated in the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2013 and April 2014.

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.[3]

Contamination and Impact

Mines

The State of Palestine is contaminated with mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW). The precise scope, scale, and impact of the contamination are not known but hazards encompass minefields, military training zones, and areas of confrontation where many explosive devices are left behind.

A 2013 survey by the Palestine Mine Action Center (PMAC) found that Palestine has mined areas covering a total of 19.9km², only marginally less than its previous estimate (20.4km²).[1] A HALO Trust survey of the West Bank in 2012 identified 90minefields, including 13 laid by the Jordanian military in 1948–1967, and 77 minefields laid by the Israeli military along the Jordan River following the 1967 war.[2]

Most minefields are located in “Area C” along the border with Jordan, which covers approximately 60% of the West Bank and is under full Israeli control regarding security, planning, and construction. There are believed to be 14 minefields in other parts of the West Bank and two others in the “no man’s land” between Israel and the West Bank.[3]

Many minefields and hazardous areas are located in fertile agricultural and grazing land and, in some cases, inside or in the vicinity of villages, obstructing socio-economic development and posing a threat of injury to farmers, shepherds, Bedouins, and particularly children. Marking and fencing of minefields are often poor, with some operational minefields not marked at all.[4]

Explosive remnants of war

The precise nature and extent of ERW contamination is not known. The Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) is not believed to be affected by cluster munition remnants.

Gaza had extensive ERW contamination resulting from Israel’s operations “Cast Lead” in 2008−2009 and “Pillar of Protection” in November 2012. Clearance operations conducted in 2010 by the UN Mine Action Team in Gaza (UNMAT-GO) partnered with Mines Advisory Group found mainly mortars, rockets, bombs, and M-15 antivehicle mines used to demolish buildings but also some white phosphorous ordnance.[5] The UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) reported explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) Police destroyed 8.8 tons of ordnance in 2013 and by the end of the year had removed all unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Gaza City to a location outside it.[6]

However, additional heavy contamination will have resulted “Protective Edge” launched on 21 July 2014 and still continuing as this report was prepared, involving longer, more intense bombardment than the previous two operations. By late August, before hostilities had concluded, the UN estimated the operation had inflicted three times as much destruction to buildings as “Cast Lead”[7] and four members of the EOD Police had died attempting to disarm an unexploded bomb that also killed two other people.[8]

Mine Action Program

An authorization issued by the Palestinian Authority’s prime minister on 25 March 2012 set up PMAC, appointed its director, and also set up a Higher Committee for Mine Action as an interministerial body with 27 members representing the ministries of health, justice, education, foreign affairs, interior, military liaison, red crescent, intelligence, and police which is to develop mine action legislation and allocate resources for the sector.[9]

PMAC, which is located in the Ministry of Interior in Ramallah, is mandated to coordinate all aspects of mine action in the West Bank. It receives technical advice from UNMAS.[10] The committee has also established a number of subcommittees internally to deal with risk education, technical issues, legal affairs, foreign affairs, and health and safety.[11]

PMAC is staffed with personnel from the Palestinian National Security Forces, Palestinian Civil Police, and Civil Defense. PMAC has 30 personnel on its team trained by UNMAS for demining but not yet equipped to do so. The Palestinian Civil Police have an EOD unit with 42 personnel in Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin, Tulkaram, and Qalqillyah, which conduct rapid response to locate and remove UXO.[12]

Mine action is subject to the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, under which the West Bank is divided into three areas: Area A is under full Palestinian civilian and security control; Area B is under full Palestinian civil control and joint Israeli-Palestinian security control; and Area C (approximately 60% of the West Bank) where Israel has full control of security, planning, and construction.[13]

Land Release

Israel has not authorized demining operations by Palestinian deminers and no clearance operations were conducted by or on behalf of PMAC in 2013.[14]

Israeli commercial operator Quadro Projects and Technologies, contracted by California-based Roots of Peace and approved by the Israeli National Mine Action Authority (INMAA), cleared 7,000m² of mined area at the village of Husan in May 2013, destroying in the process six antipersonnel mines.[15]

HALO, working with the approval of PMAC and INMAA and employing 16 Georgian deminers and four mechanical assets, started demining a 67,000m² site at a-Nabi Elyas village in April 2014.[16]

Support for Mine Action

PMAC did not disclose details of its funding. It reported that HALO had received funding from the United States (US$1.41 million for September 2011 to June 2014), the Netherlands ($0.97 million for July 2012 to June 2016), New Zealand ($2.46 million for January 2014 to December 2015), and the United Kingdom ($0.39 million for February 2014 to January 2015).[17]

Casualties Overview

In the State of Palestine, 27 ERW casualties were recorded in 2013. All recorded casualties were civilians and more than 85% of them were children (23); Of the 27 casualties that occurred in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) in 2013, 26 were recorded in Gaza and one in the West Bank.[1]

The Palestinian Mine Action Center (PMAC), which was newly reestablished in 2012 and collected information on incidents in the West Bank, managed casualty data updates during 2013.[2] UNMAS Palestine collected and managed casualty data updates for the Gaza Strip.[3]

The 2013 data represented a decrease from the 49 ERW casualties identified in 2012 and from the 35 casualties in 2012.[4] This was similar to the 24 casualties in 2010 but was still significantly lower than the 46 casualties reported for 2009 following Operation Cast Lead.[5]

The total number of mine/ERW casualties in the OPT is not known; at least 3,475 casualties had been reported by the end of 2013. Defense for Children International Palestine (DCI/PS) recorded more than 2,500 mine/ERW casualties occurring between 1967 and 1998.[6] Between 2000 and the end of 2012, the Monitor identified 975 casualties (153 killed; 809 injured; and 13 unknown).[7]

Victim Assistance

There were at least 1,129 mine/ERW survivors in the OPT.[8]

In 2013, with a view to strengthen victim assistance support and services, UNMAS,with the participation of the PMAC, started to conduct a victim assistance assessment in both Gaza and the West Bank in order to identify existing services and needs in these areas and to define PMAC’s role.[9]

Palestine reported that there was no specific strategic framework for victim assistance in place in the OPT. Mine/ERW survivors received the same support as other persons with disabilities. This support is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Affairs. OPT legislation provides for the provision of health and social insurance, economic opportunities, and equality for persons with disabilities. The newly established PMAC intended to work with partners to establish specific referral and medical assistance mechanisms for mine/ERW survivors and to advise the Palestinian Authority on adapting legislation accordingly.[10]

In 2013, the Ministry of Health continued to be responsible for the rehabilitation sector in the Gaza Strip.[11] Assistance for persons with physical disabilities was reliant on the efforts of UN agencies and NGOs.[12] The International Coordination Department (ICD) coordinates the cooperation between the ministry and international organizations working in the field of physical rehabilitation in the Gaza Strip.[13]

In 2013, it was reported that conditions for persons with disabilities in the Gaza Strip continued to deteriorate due to tightened restrictions on the freedom of movement, shortage of fuel and power supplies, medicines, and medical supplies, including assistive devices. Organizations providing care and rehabilitation for persons with disabilities were also affected by daily electricity outages.[14]

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that, following the destruction in Gaza caused by 50 days of conflict in mid-2014 code-named “Operation Protective Edge,” massive reconstruction was needed and an ambitious recovery plan was launched. However, reconstruction was prevented by pre-existing restrictions on materials needed to re-build homes, schools, and hospitals as well as to repair roads and electricity lines; water and sanitation networks need to be lifted to restore the local economy and social service. OCHA reported that, as the occupying power, “Israel is responsible for ensuring that the basic needs of Palestinians are met.”[15]

In August 2014, Handicap International deployed teams throughout Gaza to locate people with disabilities and injuries in order to address their most urgent needs.[16]

The ICRC, with the support of the Norwegian Red Cross, continued to support the Artificial Limbs and Polio Center (ALPC), managed by the Municipality of Gaza, which is the only center of its kind in Gaza that provides prosthetic and orthotic services to all.[17] In 2013, the ALPC managed to clear its waiting lists and at the end of the year prostheses and orthoses could be delivered within 2–4 weeks compared to 12–18 months previously.[18]

ITF Enhancing Human Security continued to provide rehabilitation at facilities in Slovenia to child victims of conflict from Gaza in 2013.[19]

The Palestine Trauma Centre in Gaza offered support from psychologists, psychiatrists, and specialist trauma counselors.[20]

The Palestinian Disability Law was ratified in 1999, but NGOs complained of very slow implementation. It does not mandate access to buildings, information, or communications, although the UN Relief and Works Agency’s (UNRWA) policy was to provide accessibility in all new structures. Palestinians with disabilities continued to receive uneven and poor quality services and care.[21]

In 2012, seven donors contributed US$2.4 million towards mine action in Palestine, the same as in 2011. The United States (US) provided the largest contribution with $782,132. Contributions from Slovenia and Monaco for victim assistance ($168,294) went through ITF Enhancing Human Security.[1]

International contributions: 2012[2]

Summary of international contribution: 2008-2012[3]