A/HRC/31/44 cases, West Bank ID-holders have been granted permission to reside in Israel pursuant to renewable Israeli stay permits valid for one year at a time 84 — while family reunification with individuals from Gaza is completely prohibited pursuant to a 2008 Israeli military order.85 Thus, the only option available for mixed families is to live in Gaza while maintaining ties to relatives in Israel — an option that Israel has facilitated since 1995 under the “split-family procedure”. On 23 July 2015, following the disappearance of two Israelis who had entered Gaza without coordination or a permit, a decision was made to freeze the travel of Israelis and East Jerusalem residents to Gaza until further notice. 86 The ban creates an impossible situation for hundreds of split families living between Gaza and Israel. 73. The almost-total denial by Israel of family reunification for Palestinian or Palestinian-Israeli families and the lack of consideration for individual circumstances violate the right to family life and the prohibition of discrimination, since it makes an arbitrary distinction between mixed families involving Palestinians and other foreign nationals and carries undertones of ethnic prejudice. 87 D. Impact of Palestinian disunity on human rights, including freedom of movement 74. Notwithstanding the obstacles imposed by the Israeli occupation, including movement restrictions, Palestinian duty bearers have, to the greatest extent possible, an obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of all people under their authority. This obligation has been underscored by the recent accession by the State of Palestine to seven international human rights treaties. It follows that the Government of the State of Palestine has both positive obligations to protect human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and a duty to seek to mitigate the negative impact of the Israeli occupation to the extent that it can.88 75. In this context, the Secretary-General is particularly concerned about the negative impact of the eight-year intra-Palestinian political division between Hamas and Fatah. Palestinian disunity exacerbates the fragmentation of Palestinian territorial integrity in a way that is similar to the effect of Israeli restrictions on free movement, and thereby contributes to undermining a broad range of human rights (see A/HRC/28/45, para. 59). 76. OHCHR has received reports that the Ministry of the Interior of the State of Palestine, following instructions from the General Intelligence Service, has halted the 84 85 86 87 88 16 into Israel Law, September 2014. Pursuant to the 2005 amendment to the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, applicants must satisfy minimum age requirements: 25 years for women, 35 years for men. Entry can be prevented if the applicant or anyone in his or her family is considered a security threat (HaMoked, Temporary Order?, pp. 21-24). HaMoked, Temporary Order?, p. 29. Letter addressed to the Minister of Defense of Israel, Moshe Ya’alon regarding the ban on entry into Gaza by Israelis, 4 August 2015. Available from http://gisha.org/UserFiles/File/letters/letter_to_yaalon_COGAT_Israelis_11.8.15-eng.pdf. See CERD/C/ISR/CO/14-16, para. 18. See also CCPR/C/ISR/CO/3, para.15; CEDAW/C/ISR/CO/5, para. 25; and CRC/C/ISR/CO/2-4, para. 49. In 2012, in a Supreme Court ruling concluding that Israeli national security prevails over the right to family life, the then Chief Justice of Israel said: “human rights cannot be enacted at the price of national suicide”. See https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/litigation/adalah-v-israel. See, for example, Human Rights Committee general comment No. 31 (2004) on the nature of the legal obligation imposed on States parties to the Covenant, para. 2.