ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 explains how the circumvention of the statehood question happens whenever Palestine sends an instrument of accession to the depositary. The statehood question in this context paraphrases the question of whether Palestine is a State or not, in the sense that any formal State is a State. A “circumvention” in this context means that the question of statehood is not dealt with in any official manner even though a positive answer to the question seems needed in making a particular decision by the depositary. In the majority of cases, the depositary, be it the UN Secretary-General or national Governments, does not question whether Palestine is a State in international law for the purpose of the accession. In fact, in many cases, the depositary simply accepts Palestine’s instrument of accession, since receiving an instrument of accession is a part of the work that a depositary carries out. This chapter demonstrates how the depositary system works in international law and how the decision of the depositary to accept Palestine’s instrument of accession effectively circumvents the statehood question of Palestine for the purpose of the treaty in question.
