A/HRC/37/43 D. Collective punishment 53. Collective punishment is expressly prohibited by international humanitarian law and has a negative impact on several human rights (A/HRC/34/38, para. 33). 40 It is also a coercive factor (A/HRC/34/39, para. 57). In East Jerusalem, OHCHR has monitored and documented practices that raise concern with regard to collective punishment, including the punitive sealing of houses and demolitions, the revocation of residency status and the withholding of bodies; for instance, as documented by OHCHR, the family home of Fadi al Qunbar, who killed four Israeli soldiers when he rammed a truck into them on 8 January 2017, was punitively sealed on 22 March 2017, leading to the forcible eviction of his wife and four children in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabal Al Mukkaber (A/72/565, para. 19). After the attack, approximately 240 households in that neighbourhood received a notice of planning or zoning violations, exposing them to the risk of demolition and forced eviction (para. 23). The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, during the period under review, counted 13 cases of punitive demolition and the sealing of houses in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including four in East Jerusalem, affecting 39 Palestinians, including 18 children. 54. In January 2017, Israel resumed its practice of punitive revocation of East Jerusalem residency status as a form of collective punishment (A/72/565, paras. 21-25). Even when not carried out as a punitive measure, this would be a violation of the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose residence (A/HRC/34/38, paras. 62-66).41 Following the above-mentioned attack on 8 January 2017, 11 members of the Qunbar family had their residency status in East Jerusalem revoked, on 25 January 2017 (A/72/565, paras. 21-22). E. Residency regime 55. The strict residency regime for East Jerusalem residents and restrictions on family unification between residents of East Jerusalem and of other parts of the West Bank is another factor contributing to the coercive environment (A/HRC/34/39, para. 56). In Jerusalem, while Palestinians may apply for Israeli citizenship, the overwhelming majority reject that option and therefore only have “permanent residency”, which can be revoked – unlike Palestinians in Israel who have Israeli citizenship. Since 1967, Israel has revoked the residency status of 14,595 Palestinian residents of Jerusalem. 42 Since 1995, Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem are required by Israel to continuously prove that Jerusalem is their “centre of life” to keep their residency status (A/HRC/31/44, para. 29). Residency is not automatically passed on to children, but has to be proven by their parents. If residents lose their residency permits, they become effectively stateless and have no legal status to reside in Jerusalem, thereby risking displacement to the West Bank. OHCHR monitored the case of Shifa Shalludi who, after living 19 years in Jerusalem, lost her permit to live in the city following her divorce. She had no choice but to move with her children to Kafr Aqab, an area on the other side of the wall, but within the Jerusalem municipal boundary, so that her children could retain their eligibility for Jerusalem residency. She lost her job and network in Jerusalem, and now struggles to secure an income and care for the children in a severely underserviced area. Besides being discriminatory, the residency permit regime in Jerusalem violates the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose residence.43 It also has a profound impact on the exercise of economic, social and cultural rights, such as the rights to work, to health and to education (A/HRC/31/44, para. 6). 40 41 42 43 12 Hague Regulations, art. 50; Fourth Geneva Convention, art. 33. See International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 12. In September 2017, the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled against the revocation of the East Jerusalem residency status of four members of the Palestinian Legislative Council on the grounds of “breach of loyalty”; see Adalah, “After 10 years of litigation, Israeli Supreme Court rules interior minister cannot revoke Palestinian parliamentarians’ Jerusalem residency for ‘breach of loyalty’”, 13 September 2017. Human Rights Watch, “Israel: Jerusalem Palestinians stripped of status”, 8 August 2017. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 12.