A/HRC/40/41 Palestinian Territory and in the occupied Syrian Golan over the past 51 years had violated international humanitarian and human rights law, and that some of them might be considered discriminatory. The Secretary-General had also indicated that certain Israeli practices might amount to forcible transfer of protected persons and collective punishment, which could constitute a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention. 8. The Syrian Arab Republic referred to the 2018 report of the Director-General of the International Labour Organization on the situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories, 1 in which the Director-General noted attempts by Israel to foster the overall integration of the occupied Syrian Golan into Israel by delinking it from the Syrian Arab Republic and by increasing Israeli settlement activities. He also mentioned that Syrian residents of the occupied Syrian Golan, notably the farmers, continued to suffer under discriminatory policies such as those on land confiscation and disproportionate allocation of natural resources, including land and water. 9. The Syrian Arab Republic stressed that Israel had been systematically violating the rights of the Syrian population in the occupied Syrian Golan, including the rights to development and to fundamental freedoms. Those violations included land confiscation, the establishment of Israeli military sites, the planting of landmines under false security pretexts and the establishment and further expansion of Israeli settlements. Those practices were aimed to restrict movement and access to livelihoods, with a view to forcing Syrian residents of the occupied Syrian Golan out of their lands. It emphasized that Israel used various means to achieve its ends, such as the illegal exploitation of natural resources, arbitrary detention and ill-treatment of detainees. 10. The Syrian Arab Republic noted that the Israeli decision to hold local elections on 30 October 2018 constituted a serious violation of the Geneva Conventions and had been met with widespread protests by the local Arab population. It accused the Israeli Defense Forces of resorting to excessive use of force and tear gas while dispersing the protests, leading to cases of suffocation and nausea among the local population, notably in the settlement of Majdal Shams. 11. The Syrian Arab Republic emphasized that Israel continued to implement its “Judaization” and expansion campaigns, including through the confiscation of water sources and fertile agricultural lands throughout the occupied Syrian Golan. It reported that Israel intended to bring the number of Israeli settlers to 100,000 within the next 10 years, and it intended to achieve that goal by offering Israeli settlers in the occupied Syrian Golan additional financial incentives, including tax cuts and job opportunities, and by increasing the number of Israeli economic, cultural and scientific institutions in the occupied Syrian Golan. In addition, as part of the new “Golan plan”, Israel was planning to significantly expand its existing 40 settlement outposts in the occupied Syrian Golan by launching substantial road and rail infrastructure to link the occupied Syrian Golan with what the Syrian Arab Republic described as the occupied Palestinian territories. 12. The Syrian Arab Republic stated that Israel intended to turn Katzrin into the largest grouping of settlements, which would include Majdal Shams. It accused Israel of having confiscated 10,000 m2 of land for the establishment of a new industrial zone in the Katzrin settlement, which, according to the Syrian Arab Republic, was being managed by an Israeli company. 13. The Syrian Arab Republic noted that all those Israeli practices and policies constituted serious violations of the civil, economic, social and cultural rights of Syrians in the occupied Syrian Golan, such as the rights to work, freedom of movement, property and to preserve cultural and historical heritage. It highlighted the discriminatory practices and restrictions imposed by Israel on the Syrian inhabitants of the occupied Syrian Golan and indicated that those practices threatened the existence of the Syrian population. For example, in the area of construction, Syrians faced disproportionately high taxes when submitting requests for utility services. 1 International Labour Organization, document ILC.107/DG/APP. 3