A/HRC/31/44 permit requirements were extended on Fridays to men over 40 and boys under 13 and to all women and girls, although some of those steps were revoked following unrest in July. 16 17. The monthly quota of merchants allowed to leave Gaza during the reporting period was raised from 3,000 to 5,000 and the daily number of exits increased from 400 to 800.17 The quota of Palestinian patients allowed to exit Gaza for medical treatment in Israel was raised from 80 to 120 per day. Israeli authorities also eased restrictions on the passage of Palestinian athletes from Gaza. Thus, in March 2015, 46 runners from Gaza were granted permits to enter the West Bank to take part in the annual Palestine Marathon. 18 During Ramadan, 500 Palestinians from Gaza were given a permit to travel to participate in prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, in Jerusalem.19 While those measures are welcome, they are unlikely to lead, by themselves, to a long-lasting improvement as long as the permit regime remains in place. 18. Over the years, tens of thousands of Palestinians who have sought to enter Israel, Israeli settlements and the “seam zone”, or to go abroad through the Allenby crossing to Jordan, have had their permits rescinded or their applications rejected after being blacklisted by the Israel Security Agency.20 No reasons are given for the rejection, and restrictions are usually instituted without prior warning. As a result, many Palestinians only learn about the restrictions when they attempt to cross a checkpoint and are blocked.21 19. The Israeli NGO Machsom Watch assists blacklisted Palestinians in lodging appeals with the District Coordination Office.22 In 59 per cent of the cases handled in 2014, the organization was able to remove individuals from the blacklist. 23 This high rate of successful challenges raises questions about the overall arbitrariness of the system. 20. Freedom of movement is a human right, yet the individual permit regime makes it a privilege to be granted or denied by Israeli authorities as an exception to the norm. While protection of national security may justify some restrictions in specific circumstances, the requirement that applicants meet narrowly defined criteria, such as visiting a sick relative or requiring hospital treatment, constitutes a fundamental breach of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The relation between rights and restrictions must not be reversed, and freedom of movement must not be made dependent on any particular purpose or reason.24 2. Restrictions on freedom of movement in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem 21. Movement by Palestinians within the West Bank is restricted by a system of checkpoint and permit requirements, as well as by the expansion of settlements and related 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, “The monthly humanitarian bulletin”, July 2015, p. 6. See http://gaza.ochaopt.org/2015/02/further-easing-of-criteria-and-quotas-for israeli-permits-to-exitgaza/. Gisha, “Forty-six runners exited this morning from Gaza”, March 2015. Agence France Presse, “Thousands pray at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa for Ramadan”, 19 June 2015. In addition, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been blacklisted by the police, usually punitively, after having entered Israel without a valid permit. Yet others are administratively blacklisted, for example for unpaid fines. Machsom Watch, “Year-end report, January-December 2014”, January 2015, pp. 16-18. Ibid., p. 16. The District Coordination Office is the Israeli governing body that operates in the West Bank. It was established in order to carry out practical functions within the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Machsom Watch, “Year-end report, January-December 2014”, January 2015, p. 17. See Human Rights Committee general comment No. 27 (1999) on freedom of movement, paras. 5 and 13. 5