A/HRC/23/21 deported to another country. Such a deportation would likely violate article 49 of the fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the forced transfer or deportation of protected persons from occupied territories. This was the treatment meted out to Ayman Sharawna, who ended his nearly seven month-long hunger strike in mid-March in return for deportation to Gaza for 10 years. 38. It is interesting to note that Mr. Sharawna and Mr. Al-Issawi were released from Israeli detention on 18 October 2011 in connection with the deal between Israel and Hamas that resulted in the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. It should be of concern to Israelis, Palestinians and international actors that the Government of Israel appears increasingly willing to break the terms of that deal. While 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange for one Israeli soldier, Israeli authorities have since re-arrested at least 15 of the Palestinians who were released. At the end of the period under review, 12remained imprisoned. To the Special Rapporteur’s knowledge, none of those imprisoned was subject to any criminal or other charge. Similarly, Israel has demonstrated its readiness to disregard the agreement reached on 14 May 2012 with representatives of Palestinian prisoners that ended the hunger strike in which at least 1,000 Palestinians participated. According to that agreement, in return for ending the hunger strike, Israel would remove prisoners from solitary confinement, allow family visits, limit the use of administrative detention, and make efforts to improve general conditions. 28 All reports indicate that Israel has backtracked on each element. Israel’s detention regime, in particular, seems designed to disrupt Palestinian society, producing an atmosphere of arbitrariness, instability and powerlessness. The Special Rapporteur reminds the international community that more than 750,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel since the occupation began in June 1967 – around 20 per cent of the Palestinian population. IV. Settlements 39. The Special Rapporteur is concerned by Israel’s consistent and systematic expansion of settlements through subsidies, expropriations, house demolitions and demolition orders, granting permits for homes in settlements and intensifying the exploitation of Palestinian natural resources. In the first quarter of 2013, Israel demolished 204 Palestinian homes and structures, displacing 379 Palestinians.29 40. The report of the fact-finding mission mandated by the Human Rights Council to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements reconfirmed that Israel had full control of the settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 1967 and continued to promote and sustain them through infrastructure and security measures. It concluded that the establishment of the settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was “a mesh of construction and infrastructure leading to a creeping annexation that prevents the establishment of a contiguous and viable Palestinian State and undermines the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination”. 30 The process of “creeping annexation” that is slowly redrawing the contours of the West Bank contrasts with Israel’s purported annexation of East Jerusalem, but both are clearly violations of the fourth Geneva Convention. 28 29 30 16 See “End of hunger strike by security prisoners”, 14 May 2012, at http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/2FA82C2602EA28E585257A13004C821D. OCHA, Protection of Civilians Weekly Report, 23-29 April 2013. Available from http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/9128D6CBDC71A71C85257B60004D974C. A/HRC/22/63.