A/HRC/31/73 lack of accountability for alleged violations during the 2014 Israeli military operation in Gaza (A/70/392, sect. V), will be further illustrated in section V B. 47. The Special Rapporteur reiterates that settlements, the blockade, Palestinian prisoners and detainees and accountability are critical areas to address and urges Israel to take concrete steps towards addressing related ongoing violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. V. Cases of alleged violations raised with Israel through communications from special procedures 48. Between June 2014 and the end November 2015, the Special Rapporteur transmitted 10 communications (joint letters of allegation or joint urgent appeals) to the Government of Israel, raising allegations of violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law by Israeli authorities. Through communications, the Special Rapporteur seeks to intervene in individual cases but also to raise broader concerns regarding the legislation, policies and practices of the Government of Israel that give rise to human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. 49. In 2014, the Government of Israel responded substantively to one out of three communications sent in the second half of the year. By the end of November 2015, out of seven communications sent, the Government of Israel had responded to two. 50. Of the 10 communications, 2 concerned the threatened forced eviction of a Palestinian family in East Jerusalem; 1 addressed the forced eviction and forcible transfer of Bedouin communities in the West Bank; 2 related to allegations of violations against Palestinian human rights defenders; 2 centred on allegations of excessive use of force by Israeli security forces; 1 concerned legislative developments affecting the human rights of Palestinians detainees and prisoners held by Israel; and 2 alleged violations of the principles of international humanitarian law in Israeli strikes during the Israeli military operation in Gaza in July and August 2014. A. The West Bank, including East Jerusalem 51. The Special Rapporteur previously reported (A/70/392, paras. 61-68) on the pressure brought to bear on Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem to leave. This is related to settlement activity and the apparent policy of the Government of Israel to establish a demographic composition in Jerusalem whereby the Jewish population outstrips the Palestinian population by a certain percentage. Combined with the declaration in Israeli law in 1980 that all of Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, 58 contrary to international law (Security Council resolutions 476 (1980) and 478 (1980)), this provides the backdrop against which the right of Palestinians to live in East Jerusalem is continually challenged. 52. On 20 November 2015, the Special Rapporteur and the Special Rapporteurs on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context; on the independence of judges and lawyers; and on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health sent a follow-up urgent appeal to the Government of Israel against a forced eviction of a Palestinian family in East Jerusalem (see A/HRC/31/79, case No. ISR 58 Basic law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel (1980). 15

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