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Israel

Last Updated: 18 June 2010

Mine Ban Policy

Mine Ban Policy Overview

Mine Ban Treaty status

Not a State Party

Pro-mine ban UNGA voting record

Abstained from voting on Resolution 64/56 in December 2009, as in previous years

Participation in Mine Ban Treaty meetings

Did not attend the Second Review Conference in November–December 2009

Policy

The State of Israel has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. In March 2010, Israel reiterated its long-standing position on the issue, stating it has not joined “in light of the regional situation in the Middle East and the need to protect its borders. However, Israel supports the humanitarian principles of the Ottawa treaty.”[1]

Israel has said that “it is unable to disregard its specific military and security needs” and that “it cannot commit to a total ban on anti-personnel mines as they are a legitimate means for defending its borders against possible incursions such as terrorist attacks….”[2]

Israel is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines. Israel submitted an annual report in accordance with Article 13 in November 2009, and has stated that it participates in the work on Amended Protocol II “in light of the importance attached to this issue, and the recognition that anti-personnel mines require appropriate handling and control.”[3] Israel is not party to CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.

Chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Tzahi Hanegbi, along with 72 other members of the Knesset, submitted a bill on 10 May 2010 to establish a national mine action authority to manage the clearance of non-operational minefields in Israel.[4]  The bill does not refer to the Mine Ban Treaty or address the issues of use and stockpiling of antipersonnel mines, but it has helped to raise awareness about the treaty among politicians and the public.[5]

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Israel has said it “ceased all production and imports of antipersonnel mines in the early 1980s.”[6] It has dismantled its antipersonnel mine production lines.[7]

Israel declared a moratorium on the transfer of antipersonnel mines in 1994 that was extended for three-year periods in 1996, 1999, 2002, 2005, and 2008. The current moratorium is effective until July 2011.[8]

On 31 December 2007, the Defense Export Control Act entered into force in Israel. The act “criminalizes, inter alia, any violation of the export without an export license or contrary to its provisions. This Act serves as Israel’s statutory framework for the implementation of its obligations under the CCW regarding restrictions and prohibitions on transfer and the Moratorium on any sales of [antipersonnel mines].”[9] 

The size and composition of Israel’s stockpile of antipersonnel mines remains unknown, but it includes both hand-emplaced and remotely-delivered mines.[10]

Israel’s November 2009 CCW Article 13 report states, “There were no newly emplaced minefields this year.”[11]



[1] Email from Tamar Rahamimoff-Honing, Arms Control Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 13 March 2010.

[2] Email from Joshua Zarka, Counselor for Strategic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 18 April 2007.

[3] Email from Tamar Rahamimoff-Honing, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 13 March 2010.

[4] Rebecca Anna Stoil, “Land mine bill wins broad support,” Jerusalem Post, 11 May 2010, www.jpost.com.

[5] Email from Tirza Leibowitz, Director of Rights Advocacy, Survivor Corps, 25 May 2010; and see also, Survivor Corps, “Breaking News in Israel: Mine Free Legislation Introduced,” 10 May 2010, www.survivorcorps.org.

[6] Email from Meir Itzchaki, Regional Security and Arms Control Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 February 2003. In the past, Israel produced low metal content blast antipersonnel mines, bounding fragmentation mines, and Claymore-type directional fragmentation munitions, designated M12A1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, and No. 6.

[7] Interview with members of the Israeli delegation to the Eighth Session of the CCW Group of Government Experts, Geneva, 8 July 2004.

[8] CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 Report, Form F, November 2009.

[9] Article 13 Report, Form D, November 2007.

[10] Israel reported that in 2005 the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) destroyed 15,510 outdated mines at an ammunition disposal facility. It has not reported any further destruction of mines since that time. Article 13 Report, Form C, 22 November 2005.

[11] Article 13 Report, Form B, November 2009. The period covered in the report was 1 November 2008 to 1 November 2009.  In December 2008, Israel launched 22 days of intense military operations in Gaza. According to one news report, the IDF’s law department sanctioned use of antipersonnel mines during the conflict, but there has been no confirmation of their use. Israel used numerous antitank mines for controlled demolition of structures, but a Human Rights Watch field mission found no evidence of use of antipersonnel mines. There was also no evidence of use of antipersonnel mines by Palestinian groups, though Israel apparently anticipated it, as demonstrated by Israel’s use of numerous “CARPET” minefield-clearing fuel-air-explosive weapons.  See Landmine Monitor Report 2009, p. 954.