Palestine
Palestine co-sponsored the 2024 and 2025 UN General Assembly resolutions on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which welcomed the Treaty’s entry into force and called upon ‘all States that have not yet done so to sign, ratify, accept, approve, or accede to the Treaty at the earliest possible date’.1 However, as Palestine is not a UN member State, it did not have the right to vote on the resolutions.
TPNW Status
| Key weapons of mass destruction treaties | ||
|---|---|---|
| NUCLEAR WEAPONS | ||
| Party to the TPNW | Yes (Ratified 2018) | |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Acceded 2015) | |
| Ratified the CTBT | No | |
| Party to an NWFZ | No | |
| CSA with the IAEA | Yes (In force 2022) | |
| AP with the IAEA | No | |
| BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL WEAPONS | ||
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Acceded 2018) | |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Acceded 2018) | |
| TPNW Art. 1(1) prohibitions: Compliance in 2025 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (a) | Develop, produce, manufacture, acquire | Compliant |
| Possess or stockpile | Compliant | |
| Test | Compliant | |
| (b) | Transfer | Compliant |
| (c) | Receive transfer or control | Compliant |
| (d) | Use | Compliant |
| Threaten to use | Compliant | |
| (e) | Assist, encourage or induce | Compliant |
| (f) | Seek or receive assistance | Compliant |
| (g) | Allow stationing, installation, deployment | Compliant |
| TPNW voting and participation | |
|---|---|
| UNGA resolution on TPNW (latest vote) | N/A |
| Participated in 3MSP (2025) | Yes |
| Participated in 2MSP (2023) | Yes |
| Participated in 1MSP (2022) | Yes |
| Average MSP delegation size (% women) | 3 (8%) |
| Adoption of TPNW (7 July 2017) | Voted yes |
| Participated in TPNW negotiations (2017) | Yes |
| Negotiation mandate (A/RES/71/258) | N/A |
| Fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Nuclear facilities | No |
| Fissile material production | No |
| HEU stocks | No |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
| SQP with the IAEA | Yes (Revised) |
Latest developments
At the Third Meeting of States Parties (3MSP) to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in March 2025, Palestine expressed grave concern at the continued development and modernization of nuclear arsenals, ‘the expansion of nuclear deterrence alliances’, and ‘a rise in the dangerous logic used to justify the possession of nuclear weapons’.2
Noting its role in the drafting of the TPNW in 2017, it renewed its call for the Treaty’s universalization and reaffirmed ‘its categorical rejection of the threat of using nuclear weapons by any party against any party, including the recent threats issued by an extremist official in the Israeli occupation government’.
In concluding its remarks, it emphasized ‘that no country has a legal right or entitlement to possess nuclear weapons, and the elimination of nuclear weapons is neither optional nor conditional, but rather a moral, political, and legal responsibility’.
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2025, Palestine said: ‘The possession, use, or threat of use of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction under any circumstances constitutes a grave breach of the fundamental principles of international law.’ It stressed that nuclear-armed States ‘must take concrete, time‑bound, and transparent steps towards dismantling their arsenals rather than expanding or modernizing them’.3
Recommendations
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Palestine should continue to encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW.
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Palestine should ensure that all the TPNW obligations are implemented domestically, through legal, administrative, and other necessary measures.
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Palestine should conclude and bring into force an Additional Protocol (AP) with the IAEA.
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Palestine should also sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).