A/HRC/37/39 48. In addition to the financial benefits provided by the Israeli authorities for operating in the settlements, businesses engaged in certain sectors are able to take advantage of captive Palestinian markets for Israeli goods. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Occupied Palestinian Territory operates as a captive market for Israeli exports due to the imbalanced customs arrangements enshrined in the Paris Protocol on Economic Relations and restrictions on movement and other obstacles to trade.36 With regard to the economic consequences of situations of occupation, UNCTAD had noted that they always involved the exploitation, impoverishment, marginalization, displacement and appropriation of resources of the occupied indigenous people. Such acts often deprived the people under colonial rule of the internationally recognized human right to development by confiscating their national resources, preventing them from accessing and utilizing those resources, depriving them of the ability to produce and thus forcing them to consume products produced by the occupier. 37 49. An example of how Israeli companies are benefiting from a captive Palestinian market can be seen, for example, in the telecommunications industry. Palestinian mobile and landline companies are prevented from operating fully and effectively in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, owing to restrictions on the import of necessary equipment, which is often identified by Israeli authorities as “dual use”; restrictions on the movement of goods and people; the inability to have independent access to international networks; restrictions on the building of the necessary infrastructure in Area C following the rejection of permit requests; and the provision of limited frequencies by the Israeli authorities.38 Palestinian mobile providers are reportedly prohibited from operating inside Israel and annexed areas, including East Jerusalem, which forces users to rely on Israeli mobile providers.39 Israeli telecommunications operators are authorized under the Oslo Agreement to provide services to settlements and settlement roads, but their infrastructure now covers large areas of the West Bank. According to World Bank estimates, between 10 and 20 per cent of the mobile market share in the West Bank has been captured by unauthorized Israeli operators, largely due to the fact that Palestinian companies do not have access to more than 60 per cent of Area C. In 2014, the Office of the Quartet Representative estimated that the quota captured by Israeli operators was even higher, between 20 and 40 per cent of total market share.40 IV. Preliminary observations of responses of business enterprises 50. In communicating with companies and reviewing publicly available information, OHCHR encountered a number of companies that acknowledged some connection to the settlements and provided explanations of their involvement on a number of grounds. A summary of the most common explanations are set out below. OHCHR offers the following observations in response in the interest of continuing the dialogue with companies. 51. A major argument used by companies to explain their involvement in listed activities is that they provide jobs to Palestinian families and help to support the Palestinian economy. 52. OHCHR observes that this argument does not recognize that the presence of the settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which is unlawful, serves to depress the 36 37 38 39 40 14 Report on UNCTAD assistance to the Palestinian people: Developments in the economy of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (UNCTAD/APP/2016/1), para. 20. Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventieth Session, Supplement No. 35 (A/70/35), annex, para. 6. World Bank Group, The Telecommunication Sector in the Palestinian Territories: A Missed Opportunity for Economic Development (World Bank, Washington, D.C., 2016); see also World Bank, West Bank and Gaza: Area C and the Future of the Palestinian Economy, Washington, D.C., 2014, paras. 52-62. “Israeli mobile companies banned from PA cities”, Ma’an News Agency, 1 April 2010. Office of the Quartet Representative, Initiative for the Palestinian Economy: Summary Overview, March 2014 (available at www.quartetrep.org/files/image/initiative.pdf).