A/HRC/34/36 Rights to freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly 75. The Palestinian Centre for Development and Media Freedoms reported some improvement in 2016 with respect to freedom of expression compared with 2015. 74 It nonetheless documented at least 30 violations in Gaza from November 2015 to August 2016, mostly related to the summoning, arrest, detention, torture and ill-treatment of journalists. OHCHR monitored the case of a 29-year-old journalist who had been arrested by the Israel Security Agency on 1 September 2016 and detained for one day after the authorities claimed he had published confidential documents on social media. His laptop computer, mobile telephone and other personal belongings were reportedly confiscated during the arrest. He was eventually released without being charged with any criminal offence. He alleged that he had been subjected to ill-treatment in detention, including shabeh and beatings. 76. Palestinians in Gaza continued to be harassed for their political opinion and affiliation. On 29 August 2016, the coordinator of Fatah’s electoral campaign in Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis, was abducted and subsequently assaulted by masked men reportedly affiliated with Hamas. On the same day, a female Fatah candidate for Bani Suhailia received several threatening telephone calls and text messages from a man also reportedly affiliated with Hamas. On 17 October 2016, senior officials at the Ministry of the Interior and the Israel Security Agency reportedly threatened a senior Fatah leader in connection with his perceived incitement against the authorities. 77. Moreover, Gaza security forces banned and forcibly dispersed several peaceful assemblies. In a case monitored by OHCHR, on 16 August 2016, the security forces dispersed a sit-in of Fatah-affiliated employees at Al-Aqsa University, inside the university campus. Several participants were assaulted by police and the university security guards. IV. Conclusions and recommendations 78. Over the past seven years, OHCHR has documented and reported repeated serious human rights violations by all duty bearers in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly by Israeli authorities. OHCHR has consistently provided detailed information as to how impunity has driven human rights violations and how lack of accountability on both sides fuels new cycles of violence and conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.75 Few efforts have been employed by the parties to establish accountability and provide redress to past and present violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, with the exception of one Israeli soldier charged with manslaughter in the West Bank. Even in that instance, senior officials and politicians in Israel have called for the trial to be ended or for the soldier to be pardoned if found guilty. 76 The Israeli authorities launched some investigations into the 2014 Gaza hostilities, but justice remains elusive with the exception of an indictment on looting. OHCHR has observed a deterioration of the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory over the past few years. 79. Although the scale of violations is lower, impunity is also a major concern with regard to actions by Palestinian authorities both in Gaza and the West Bank. As the cases outlined in the present report indicate, there is little information about the outcome of investigations often announced by the Palestinian Authority. In Gaza, 74 75 76 16 See www.madacenter.org/reports.php?id=13&lang=1. See A/70/421, paras. 49-51. See www.timesofisrael.com/terrorists-must-be-killed-ex-deputy-idf-head-tells-hebron-shooter-trial/.