Contamination and Impact

The State of Israel is affected by landmines dating back to World War II and by mines that Israel later laid along its borders, near military camps and training areas, and near civilian infrastructure. The exact extent of overall contamination is not known.

The total area “not essential to Israel’s security” affected by mines is estimated at 128km².[1] This includes “minefields in the sea”—areas in the Dead Sea—estimated to cover 0.5km².[2] From the results of mine clearance projects, actual contamination is thought likely to cover between 5% and 10% less than this. In August 2011, Israel’s military reported planting new mines to reinforce minefields and other defenses along its de facto border with Syria in the Golan Heights.[3]

Mine Action Program

Israel’s parliament enacted a law on minefield clearance in March 2011 establishing the Israeli National Mine Action Authority (INMAA) to undertake a “comprehensive program of mines clearing projects inside Israel.”[4] The act said its aim was “to create a normative infrastructure for the clearance of minefields that are not essential to national security, and to declare them as free from landmines with the highest degree of safety to civilians, in accordance with the international obligations of the State of Israel, and within the shortest period of time possible.”[5]

INMAA was established in the Ministry of Defense with ministry staff responsible for planning mine action, while commercial companies were hired to conduct clearance using a separate supervising company to conduct quality assurance. INMAA also sets national standards “taking into consideration the procedures of the Israel Defense Forces [IDF] that will be as compatible as possible with the International Mine Action Standards.”[6] The IDF also conducts mine clearance according to “its own mine action plans that are executed by their military methods and techniques” and implements an annual program that includes maintenance of protection of minefields and suspected areas.[7]

Strategic Planning

Israel reports that INMAA has a multi-year clearance plan for 2014−17 that calls for clearance of areas in the Golan Heights and Galilee in the summer and in the Jordan Valley and Arava Plain in the winter, but gave no details. It said demining operations clear on average 1.5−2km² a year. Israel said INMAA would also manage projects in the West Bank that are funded by donations.[8]

Land Release

Israel released 2.2km² through clearance by commercial operators contracted by INMAA in 2013, bringing the total area cleared in the last two years to 3.3km².[9] The amount of land cleared or released by the IDF is unknown.

Clearance in 2013 (see Table 1) was split between northern and southern Israel. Eitan Lidor Projects cleared tasks in Majdal Shams and Had Nes in the Golan Heights, the north central area of Valley of Springs and around Eilat, and the Arava desert in the south. Israeli Mine Action Group (IMAG) cleared a little over 1km² in the vicinity of Sapir in the south. Quadro Mine Clearance undertook a small project on behalf of Roots of Peace at the village of Husan on the West Bank.[10]

Table 1. Mine clearance in 2013[11]

INMAA identified four clearance projects to be undertaken in 2014, including in the Arava Plain (0.8km²), the Valley of Springs (1.1km²), Upper Galilee (0.7km²), and in the West Bank (67,000m²).[12]

Support for Mine Action

INMAA has an annual budget of NIS27 million (approximately US$7.7 million) for mine action.