A/HRC/37/40 jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan since 1981. The Syrian Arab Republic also noted that the Secretary-General had indicated that Israeli practices and policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and in the occupied Syrian Golan violated international humanitarian and human rights law, and that some of them might be considered discriminatory. The Secretary-General had also stated that certain Israeli practices might amount to forcible transfer of protected persons, which could constitute a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention. 8. The Syrian Arab Republic also referred to the 2017 report of the Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on the situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories (ILC.106/DG/APP), in which the Director-General noted attempts by Israel to foster the overall integration of the occupied Syrian Golan into Israel by delinking it from the Syrian Arab Republic, by isolating it and by increasing Israeli settlement activities therein. The ILO report states that Syrian farmers face competition from Israeli settlers, in the production of both apples and cherries, as the latter often benefit from higher yields and lower costs due to more capital-intensive farming methods and advantageous conditions in terms of water supply. Access to water supply, which is essential for agricultural activities in the occupied Syrian Golan, is limited for Syrian farmers due to the Israeli prohibition on building new wells. As a result, half of the water needed for farming has to be purchased from the Israeli water company. The report also states that settlers enjoy subsidized access to water and paid only about a third of what Syrian farmers have to spend on water. 9. In its note verbale, the Syrian Arab Republic stated that, for decades, Israel, the occupying Power, had been committing in a systematic manner violations of the human rights of the Syrian Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan, including the right to development and to fundamental freedoms. Those violations include confiscation of land, establishment of Israeli military sites, and the construction and expansion of Israeli settlements. The Syrian Arab Republic noted that those practices aim at restricting movement and access to livelihoods, with a view to forcing Syrian residents of the occupied Syrian Golan off their lands. The Syrian Arab Republic stated that Israel used various means, such as the exploitation of occupied Syrian Golan natural resources, arbitrary detention and ill-treatment of detainees, to achieve its ends. 10. The Syrian Arab Republic referred to the expansion of settlements and residential units by Israel. It stated that, since August 2017, Israel has been carrying out controlled detonation of landmines in the occupied Syrian Golan as part of a plan to expand settlements in the cleared areas with a view to changing the demographic composition of the occupied Syrian Golan. It also stated that such policies constitute explicit violation of the civil, economic, social and cultural human rights, including the rights to work, to property, to freedom of movement and to preserve cultural and historical heritage, of the Syrian population of the occupied Syrian Golan. 11. The Syrian Arab Republic also referred to the Israeli policy of consolidating its occupation of the Syrian Golan and the Katzrin settlement, which was built over the ruins of three Syrian villages (Qazrin, Dawra and Shqef) that were destroyed in the 1970s. It further referred to recent statistics released by the so-called local council of the Katzrin settlement and stressed that there was a 30-per cent increase of Israeli settlers (from 6,300 in 2014 to 8,300 in 2017), adding that 150 Israeli families settle yearly in the occupied Syrian Golan. According to the Syrian Arab Republic, Israel continues to provide incentives in the form of financial aid to Israeli settlers and to increase the concentration of economic, cultural and scientific institutions in the occupied Syrian Golan with a view to turning Katzrin into the largest grouping of settlers since the beginning of the occupation. The Syrian Arab Republic indicated that, in 2018, Israel plans to construct 1,700 housing units and a 1,000-bed hotel in the Katzrin settlement as part of a project called “My Katzrin”. It stated that Israel also plans to take control of additional land (approximately 10,000 m2) in the industrial area of Katzrin settlement to be used by an Israeli company working in the field of biological technology. 12. Furthermore, the Syrian Arab Republic stated that Israel continued to pursue its “colonial” policy to surround villages in the occupied Syrian Golan by establishing two new districts in the Katzrin settlement, composed of 1,700 and 4,000 housing units each, with a view to increasing the number of settlers. It indicated that the settlement of Odem, 3