A/HRC/43/67 into areas under Palestinian control (A/HRC/34/39, para. 18). 55 A flashpoint for settler violence remained the Nablus Governorate, which alone recorded 60 per cent of all Palestinian casualties from settlers’ attacks in 2019.56 Six Palestinian villages surrounding Yitzhar settlement continued to be targeted by repeated and apparently organized settler violence, prompting several Palestinian families to leave their homes and relocate. 57 58. OHCHR documented the cases of two families forced to leave their homes on the outskirts of Urif village, in 2019, under the pressure of continued incursions by settlers from Yitzhar settlement. In one case, a divorced woman decided to leave her house, located 600 metres from Yitzhar, to protect her nine children from repeated settler attacks. She and her former husband had endured several settler attacks in previous years.58 She decided to leave after two consecutive attacks, on 5 and 9 May 2019, and after her ex-husband had moved out of the house. During both incidents, a group of settlers stormed the house with stones while the children were inside. On 9 May, the incursion of settlers was followed by the intervention of Israeli security forces and a settler security guard, who fired a tear-gas canister then live ammunition at neighbours who had intervened to protect the children. The woman left her house the day after the attack and moved into a tent with her children outside the village. In a separate case, in June 2019, after settlers repeatedly targeted their property with stones, a couple and their three small children sold their house in the outskirts of Urif and relocated to the opposite end of town. 59. In previous reports, the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner have stressed that, contrary to the obligations of Israel as the occupying Power to ensure the safety and security of the occupied population, settlers largely enjoy impunity for attacks against Palestinians (see A/HRC/31/43, para. 37; A/HRC/34/39, para. 18; and A/HRC/40/42, para. 55). V. Settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan 60. On 25 March 2019, the President of the United States of America issued a proclamation recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan. Within a week of the proclamation, reports emerged that Israel was planning to transfer 250,000 people to the occupied Syrian Golan by 2048, to build 30,000 new homes and to create 45,000 new jobs.59 Shortly after the proclamation, the Government of Israel announced the establishment of a new settlement town in the northern part of the occupied Syrian Golan. 60 At a meeting of the Security Council on 27 March 2019, the Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs reiterated the position of the United Nations on the occupied Syrian Golan, as reflected in the relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, notably Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 497 (1981). 61 61. In parallel to these plans for the expansion of settlements, Israel continued to maintain extremely restrictive zoning and building policies, with an impact on the Syrian population. These include the issuance of demolition orders and a recent process aimed at zoning some of the only viable land for expansion of Syrian villages as a national park. 62. The occupied Syrian Golan continues to be used for Israeli renewable and nonrenewable energy industry expansion. In a submission to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in relation to the periodic report of Israel, Al-Marsad, a nongovernmental human rights organization active in the area, asserted that the Israeli energy 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 See also Yonatan Yanonich, “Yitzhar, A Case Study: Settler violence as a vehicle for taking over Palestinian land with state and military backing”, Yesh Din, August 2018. Information provided by the West Bank Inter-Cluster Coordination Group; data on file. At least three families moved from Burin and Urif villages in 2018; see A/HRC/40/42, para. 50. OHCHR documented two attacks, on 25 and 29 April 2017. In one attack, the woman’s ex-husband was injured with multiple fractures. “Al-Marsad Rejects New Illegal Settlement Plan for the Occupied Syrian Golan”, Al-Marsad, 3 April 2019. “Golan Heights: Israel unveils 'Trump Heights' settlement”, BBC News, 16 June 2019. S/PV.8495, p.2. 13