Palestine’s Accession to the WTO: Any Legal Barriers?

Abstract

This paper answers the question of whether the Palestinian Authority (PA), the governmental entity in the West Bank of Palestine, meets the criteria of observer status in the WTO. It found that the PA does not meet all the criteria required to obtain that status. It does meet the first criterion by being a separate union, as it is not part of the metropolitan territories controlled by the Israeli Occupying Authorities. However, the PA falls short of the second criterion, which is the possession of full autonomy on its external trade relations. The lack of autonomy is a result of the Paris Protocol signed between the IOA and PA, which places almost all Palestinian trade relations under the control of the Israeli customs and tariffs policies.