Team:Edinburgh/mapxmpalestine



Palestinian <![CDATA[The Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) are contaminated with mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), although the precise extent of contamination is not known. There are at least 15 confirmed minefields, all located in the West Bank on the border with Jordan. It was previously suspected that mines had also been laid by Israeli forces on the border between Egypt and Gaza and in various areas across the Gaza Strip, as well as at blockades that separate the Palestinian governorates and in some Palestinian-inhabited buildings. In July 2007, there was a press report of Palestinian militants laying landmines against Israeli incursions into the OPT. ERW are mainly a result of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, but probably have been added to by combat between Fatah and Hamas, particularly in the Gaza Strip. Both abandoned explosive ordnance and unexploded ordnance (UXO) are found throughout the OPT. Explosive ordnance includes Israeli munitions such as unexploded missiles, grenades, and small arms ammunition, as well as booby-traps. In March 2007, the UN reported that flash flooding led to the discovery of four unexploded Israeli artillery shells. A further hazard arises from Palestinian IEDs, including homemade mortars, rockets, mines, and roadside bombs. An assessment mission by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in 2005 concluded that mine/ERW contamination in Palestine was mainly from recovered munitions which are “recycled and turned into IEDs.” In 2007, Landmine Monitor identified at least 94 new casualties from 33 mine, ERW, and victim-activated IED incidents, including 19 people killed and 75 injured. At least 60 casualties were civilian. The status of the remaining 34 casualties is unknown, although most appear to be militants from different Palestinian parties. More than 60% of the casualties were children (58); 21 were boys, three were girls and 34 of unknown gender. Of the remaining casualties, 16 were men. The gender and age of the remaining casualties is unknown.

The 2007 casualty rate is a significant increase compared to 2006 when 34 casualties were reported, but neither year’s data can be considered complete and fully reliable due to the lack of a data collection mechanism, unclear device type distinctions, changes in information providers, and their methods of data collection.

Casualties continued to occur in 2008 with at least 10 mine/ERW casualties in nine incidents to August 2008 (four people killed and six injured). At least six casualties were civilians, including three children. ERW caused five casualties, landmines four (two by an antipersonnel mine), and an unknown device one. Half of the casualties took place during farming or herding. Tampering and collecting scrap metal caused two casualties each and for one person the activity was unknown. Five casualties occurred in the Gaza Strip and five in the West Bank.

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