Notes: CHA = confirmed hazardous area; ERW = explosive remnants of war; UXO = unexploded ordnance.

Contamination

In the State of Palestine, in the West Bank, hazards encompass minefields, military training zones, and areas of confrontation where many explosive devices remain. A 2013 survey by the Palestine Mine Action Center (PMAC) found that Palestine has mined areas covering a total of 19.9km², marginally less than its previous estimate of 20.4km².[1] A HALO Trust survey of the West Bank in 2012 identified 90 minefields, 13 of which were laid by the Jordanian military in 1948–1967, while the remaining 77 were laid by the Israeli military along the Jordan River after the 1967 war.[2] All minefields, including those laid by the Jordanian military, are under Israeli military control.[3]

According to HALO Trust, as of the end of 2017, more than 0.4km² of confirmed mined area exists (excluding the Jordan Valley) across six minefields in Palestine and two minefields in no-man’s-land between the West Bank and Israel. All eight minefields (see table below) were laid by the Jordanian army.[4]

Confirmed mine contamination as of end 2017 (excluding the Jordan Valley)*[5]

Note: AV = antivehicle; AP = antipersonnel.

Four of the 12 governorates in the West Bank contained mined areas, as of the end of 2017.[6] The governorate of Hebron is no longer considered contaminated, after clearance of the Surif minefield was completed on 1 June 2017.[7]

Most mined areas are located in Area C of the West Bank (see below), along the border with Jordan. Area C covers approximately 60% of the West Bank and is under full Israeli control for security, planning, and construction.[8]

According to the United Nations (UN), of the estimated total of 90 minefields in the West Bank, those in more “central areas”—the governorates of Jenin, Qalqiliya, and Tulkarm—are priorities for clearance.[9] In addition to posing a risk to civilians, mines affect the socio-economic development of Palestinian communities. Mined areas are located in, or close to, populated areas,[10] mostly on privately owned agricultural and grazing land or along roads used daily by communities, and are often either poorly marked or not marked at all.[11] They are accessible to the population, and in in the case of Yabad minefield, in Jenin governorate, local farmers cultivate parts of the polygon. In Nur a-Shams minefield, in Tul Kareem governorate, members of the community have dumped construction waste on part of the minefield.[12]

Other explosive remnants of war

Palestine is also contaminated with ERW though the precise nature and extent of the problem are not known. Hostilities between Israel and Gaza in 2008–2009, 2012, and 2014 resulted in significant ERW contamination.[13]

Program Management

PMAC was established in accordance with Palestinian Minister of Interior decision on 25 March 2012,[14] which appointed a director and created a Higher Committee for Mine Action as an interministerial body, with 27 members representing the ministries of education, foreign affairs, health, intelligence, interior, justice, and military liaison, as well as the police and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. The Higher Committee for Mine Action, which serves as the national mine action authority, is tasked to develop mine action legislation and allocate resources for the sector.[15]

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.[16] The committee has established a number of sub-committees to deal with technical issues, risk education, legal affairs, foreign affairs, and health and safety.[17]

PMAC currently has 10 employees[18] and is staffed with personnel from the Palestinian National Security Forces, Civil Police, and Civil Defense. PMAC also has a team of 30 personnel who were trained by UNMAS for demining a few years ago, but, to date, have not been authorized or equipped to do so, and no agreement has been reached with Israel on this matter.[19] The Civil Police have an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) unit with 42 personnel in Bethlehem, Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, Qalqilya, Ramallah, and Tulkarm, who conduct rapid response to locate and remove items of unexploded ordnance (UXO). The EOD unit is only permitted to work in Area A of the West Bank.[20] A new director of PMAC was appointed in July 2017, following the previous director’s retirement.[21]

Mine action is subject to the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, commonly known as the Oslo II accord, under which the West Bank is divided into three areas: Area A is under full Palestinian civil and security control; Area B is under full Palestinian civil control and joint Israeli-Palestinian security control; and Area C refers to areas where Israel has full civil and security control.[22] Clearance operations must be coordinated with the Israeli authorities,[23] in addition to PMAC.

UNMAS reports that its intervention in Gaza seeks to reduce the threat and impact of ERW and mitigates the impact of future conflicts on Gaza communities by addressing the following: (i) protection of civilians from current and future ERW threats; (ii) support to reconstruction through ERW risk mitigation measures and EOD support; and (iii) emergency preparedness measures.[24]

Strategic planning

PMAC has a Strategic Plan for 2017–2020, whose primary objectives are the clearance of the Araba, Deir Abu Daif, Nur a-Shams, Qabatiya, and Yabad minefields.[25] As of July 2018, clearance of Deir Abu Daif had been completed.

HALO Trust’s survey and clearance in the West Bank is prioritized by its international donors, in conjunction with the INMAA and PMAC.[26]

Legislation and standards

In November 2016, Palestine announced that it was seeking to adopt and enact a mine action law.[27] As of June 2018, the process was still ongoing.[28]

HALO Trust’s standing operating procedures (SOPs), which are based on its international standards and which also comply with national standards, are approved by the Israeli National Mine Action Authority (INMAA). Once a year, HALO Trust submits its SOPs, including any necessary amendments, to the INMAA for approval.[29]

Quality management

HALO’s work in the West Bank complies with the Israeli Standard Institute for Standards, in particular ISO 9001, 14001, and 18001. HALO carries out its own internal quality control (QC), which is conducted by senior program staff, and which complies with the ISO standards and HALO Trust’s own SOPs.[30] In addition, as required by the INMAA, 4CI Security, an external INMAA-certified quality assurance (QA)/QC company, is contracted to monitor HALO Trust’s clearance in accordance with Israeli National Mine Action Standards.[31]

Information management

The Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) database, Level 1, is used by PMAC.[32]

HALO follows the INMAA’s national standards and provides daily and weekly reports as well as completion reports for every task. The information is shared with PMAC.[33] As a result, all three entities are in possession of HALO Trust survey and clearance data relating to demining operations in the West Bank.

Operators

To date, Israel has not authorized demining operations to be conducted by or on behalf of PMAC.[34] In September 2013, the INMAA gave formal authorization for HALO Trust to clear two minefields in the West Bank deemed high priority by PMAC. Following INMAA authorization, HALO began mine clearance in the West Bank in April 2014,[35] and has continued clearance operations in the West Bank to the present day.

HALO Trust works under the auspices of both the INMAA and PMAC.[36] HALO’s manual clearance team in the West Bank is composed of deminers from Georgia with capacity varying according to the task. For the Deir Abu Daif minefield task there were 22 deminers, while for the manual section of the Araba minefield task, up to 14 deminers were deployed. In addition, during 2017, HALO deployed three armored CASE721 wheeled medium loaders, one armored CAT320B tracked excavator, and one industrial rock crusher. The machines were operated by a Palestinian team.[37]

UNMAS maintains a bomb clearance team on standby in Gaza to remove and destroy existing contamination that poses a threat to Gaza communities.[38]

Land Release

The total mined area released by clearance in 2017 was 41,857m², which is a slight increase compared to 34,057m² in 2016.

Survey in 2017

No land was reduced by technical survey in 2017 or cancelled by non-technical survey.

HALO Trust performs survey as part of its clearance operations of the Jordanian-laid minefields in Area C of the West Bank, which includes joint site visits with PMAC and the INMAA, but it is part of pre-clearance task preparation, and is of CHAs already recorded in PMAC’s database and on maps.[39]

Clearance in 2017

In 2017, HALO cleared 41,857m² of mined area, during which 86 antipersonnel mines, eight antivehicle mines, and two other items of UXO were destroyed.

This included completion of Surif minefield in Hebron governorate, from January to June 2017, during which eight antipersonnel mines were destroyed. Upon completion of Surif minefield HALO Trust immediately relocated to Jenin governorate, and commenced clearance of Deir Abu Daif minefield, which was declared free of mines on 1 October 2017. During clearance of Deir Abu Daif minefield, 76 Belgian PRB-M35 antipersonnel mines and three British MK5 antitank mines were destroyed.[40]

Following completion of Deir Abu Daif minefield, it was agreed with PMAC and the INMAA to scale down mechanical operations over the winter due to wet soil limiting machine use, and to prioritize clearance of the manual segments of Araba, Qabatiya, and Yabad minefields in Jenin governorate. Mechanical clearance recommenced in Spring 2018, as soon as the soil was sufficiently dry.[41]

HALO Trust mine clearance in the West Bank in 2017[42]

Note: AP = antipersonnel; AV = antivehicle.

In addition, from October 2017, Israel undertook Israeli-funded clearance of the Karne Shomron and Jinsafut minefields, in the Qalqiliya governorate of the West Bank. Israeli operator 4M was awarded the demining tender by the Israeli Ministry of Defense, and clearance of the two minefields was expected to be completed by May 2018.[43] The INMAA did not, however, report the area of land cleared in these two minefields in 2017.

Progress in 2018

Clearance of the West Bank minefield at Qaser al-Yahud (the baptism site), in the Jordan Valley, commenced in March 2018.[44] The project aims to remove mines and explosive ordnance in the area of the baptism site, which covers a total estimated area of 870,000m².[45] Approximately 90,000m² is thought to potentially contain antipersonnel mines, including improvised explosive devices (IEDs).[46] Israeli Defense Force (IDF) minefield records provided to HALO Trust separate the land for clearance outside of the church compounds into 11 areas, all of which contain a potential UXO threat. Six of the 11 areas are known to contain significant numbers of M15 antivehicle mines in multiple lines and over 2,600 antitank mines in total. The land and buildings inside the seven church compounds are suspected to contain mines and booby traps, but no official records exist regarding this contamination.[47]

The INMAA expected clearance of the baptism site to take between 12 and 16 months,[48] and as of August 2018, HALO expected that the site would be fully cleared by mid-2019.[49]

Article 5 Compliance

Palestine acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 29 December 2017, becoming a State Party on 1 June 2018. Palestine is required to submit an Article 7 transparency report by 28 November 2018, which includes formally reporting on the mined areas under its jurisdiction or control.

PMAC planned to complete clearance of mines areas by the end of 2020, if there are not obstacles from the other parties.[50] Clearance in the West Bank is, however, largely constrained by political factors, including the lack of authorization granted by Israel for Palestine to conduct mine clearance operations.

HALO Trust has completed survey of the Jordanian-laid minefields in the West Bank, and as of the end of 2017, four Jordanian-laid minefields in the governorates of Jenin and Tul Kareem, which fall within HALO’s donor agreement, remained to be cleared. Of these, HALO reported that it was well placed to complete the mechanical clearance of Araba, Qabatiya, and Yabad minefields in Jenin governorate during the course of 2018. After completion of the four priority Jordanian-laid minefields, HALO Trust planned to look into clearance of mined areas in the Jordan Valley, the majority of which are Israeli-laid.[51]

The two minefields in Qalqiliya governorate fall outside of HALO’s funding agreement with international donors, and these two minefields are being cleared by 4M, with Israeli funding, under an Israeli Ministry of Defense tender.[52]

Furthermore, the INMAA began survey of the Jordan Valley minefields in the West Bank in 2017, using an Israeli national budget and operating with Israeli companies. The INMAA sees significant potential for cancellation and reduction of suspected hazardous areas in the Jordan Valley, and is using various technologies and scientific tools to assess the likelihood of mine drift. The INMAA planned to invest around ILS 900,000 (approximately US$250,000) on this project in 2017–2019.[53]

Mine clearance in 2013–2017[54]

PMAC does not have its own budget, and the Palestinian authority only provides funding for the salary of PMAC employees and the PMAC office.[55] In 2017, UNMAS provided a grant of $20,000 to PMAC.[56]

The Monitor acknowledges the contributions of the Mine Action Review (www.mineactionreview.org), which has conducted the primary mine action research in 2018 and shared all its country-level landmine reports (from“Clearing the Mines 2018”) and country-level cluster munition reports (from “Clearing Cluster Munition Remnants 2018”) with the Monitor. The Monitor is responsible for the findings presented online and in its print publications.