A/HRC/25/37
to move to the occupied Syrian Golan that have been carried out by Israel, the occupying
Power, in violation of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva
Convention. According to the Syrian Arab Republic, Israel has continued to allocate
confiscated Syrian-owned land to Israeli settlers and to provide them with assistance,
including funds and licences to build settlements, farms, factories and tourist resorts. In its
note verbale, the Syrian Arab Republic adds that products produced in the occupied Syrian
Golan are misleadingly exported as Israeli products, in violation of relevant United Nations
resolutions.
8.
The Syrian Arab Republic condemned in the strongest terms the decision of the
Israeli Knesset on 2 November 2010 to carry out a survey prior to the withdrawal of Israel
from the occupied Syrian Golan and East Jerusalem, requesting 80 per cent of votes in
favour. According to the Syrian Arab Republic, this constitutes a gross violation of
international law and a new disparagement of the resolutions related to the occupied
Syrian Golan adopted by the Security Council, the General Assembly and the Human
Rights Council.
9.
According to the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic, the occupying Power
obliged the Syrian population of the occupied Golan to hold Israeli identity documents for
assimilation purposes and in order to break the remaining link between the occupied Syrian
Golan and the Syrian motherland. The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic also stated
that Israel denied access to education, health and other essential services to those who did
not possess such documents and mentioned that protests against these measures took place,
with protestors burning Israeli identity documents. Many were reportedly arrested, unfairly
sentenced and imprisoned for long periods, including in several cases for over 27 years.
10.
The Syrian Arab Republic condemned in the strongest terms the brutal and
inhumane treatment, including torture, to which Syrian prisoners are subjected in Israeli
prisons. The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic reports that several prisoners have
developed chronic diseases, particularly cancer, and that Israel, the occupying Power,
would deny them treatment until the last stages of their illness and release prisoners in the
last days of their lives, in order not to be held responsible for their deaths. In this regard, the
Syrian Arab Republic noted that Israel rejected its repeated requests for the United Nations
and the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene to prevent the suffering of
those prisoners of conscience, as well as offers to treat the sick, including at the expense of
the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic. It was also mentioned that the occupying
Power had disregarded the repeated calls of the Human Rights Council to release the
prisoners. The Syrian Arab Republic further reiterated its call upon the United Nations to
intervene to release the prisoners and to allow them to enjoy their right to freedom of
opinion and expression.
11.
In its note verbale, the Syrian Arab Republic also states that the Israeli occupying
authorities prevented Syrian nationals from moving between the Syrian Arab Republic and
the occupied Syrian Golan, including through the Quneitra crossing, noting that the
international community had condemned those unlawful restrictions on the freedom of
movement of Syrians between the two parts of their country. The Syrian Arab Republic
further referred to the situation of students from the occupied Syrian Golan who had been
offered education opportunities by their Government and faced arrest by Israel every time
they returned to their homes during holidays. Those who had completed their studies were
reportedly subject to further restrictions and prevented from practising their professions,
such as medicine, including opening medical centres in the occupied Syrian Golan.
12.
According to the Syrian Arab Republic, the practices of the Israeli occupying
authorities have negatively impacted livelihoods. The Government of the Syrian Arab
Republic reported that Israel prevented water for drinking and agriculture from reaching the
Syrian population of the occupied Golan and that Israeli settlers continued to receive more
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