A/HRC/22/63 B. Equality and right to non-discrimination 1. Inequality and discrimination in the application of the law 39. Information presented to the mission demonstrates that distinct legal systems exist in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and are applied separately to Israeli settlers and Palestinians. Broadly, Israelis in Area C are subject to Israeli domestic law enforced by the police and courts in Israel. A patchwork of Israeli military orders and Ottoman, British and Jordanian legislation is applied to Palestinians, who are also subject to a military court system with a wide jurisdictional reach. 40. By ―channelling‖ Israeli civil law into the territory of settlements, ―legal zones‖ have been established within the West Bank where Israeli laws apply to settlers in order, for example, to regulate the status and authority of governmental institutions within settlements. These laws do not apply to Palestinians. Other Israeli laws are applied personally to Israelis in the West Bank, giving them preferential legal status over Palestinians. A matrix of military orders applies personally, by law or by practice, only to Palestinians to regulate and control most aspects of daily life, including by restricting an extensive range of rights. Israelis and Palestinians are also treated differently by the same laws; for instance, some military orders designate areas in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as ―closed military zones/areas‖. With the exception of military training or firing zones, only Palestinians are prohibited from entering such areas unless they have a permit, even if the area encompasses Palestinian land, thereby denying Palestinians access to or ownership of land. The so-called ―seam zone‖ is closed to Palestinians, while Israelis and foreign visitors have unrestricted access. Certain other Israeli laws expressly discriminate against Palestinians. In 2012, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination reiterated its concern about the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Provision) that suspends, with rare exceptions, family reunification between an Israeli citizen and a person residing in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, with a severe impact on family rights. 41. The mission again noted the extraterritorial personal application of Israeli legislation, with the application of Israeli criminal law to Israelis in the West Bank with respect to offences they allegedly committed there. 42. According to the Secretary-General, lack of accountability permeates all types of acts of violence committed by Israeli settlers against property and persons. 24 The situation today closely resembles that described by the inquiry conducted in 1984 into action taken with regard to settler violence headed by the then Israeli Deputy Attorney General, Yehudit Karp. According to Yesh Din, an Israeli non-governmental organization that monitored 869 cases between 2005 and 2012, more than 91 per cent of all investigations concluded into complaints of criminal offences against Palestinian persons and property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory were closed without an indictment being served, mostly owing to investigative failures.25 This is despite the fact that attacks and intimidation by settlers against Palestinians are often carried out in daylight and in the presence of Israeli army or police personnel, who frequently do not stop the violence or are ineffective. 43. The mission was informed that, when acts of violence are committed by Palestinians against settlers, these are appropriately addressed, indicating that the lack of law 24 25 10 A/67/375, para. 39. Yesh Din, ―The impact of the settlements on Palestinian rights in the West Bank‖, November 2012, available from www.yesh-din.org/userfiles/file/Position%20Papers/Yesh%20Din%20Position%20to% 20UN%20FF%20Mission.pdf.