A/HRC/37/43 the event of natural disaster. 53 In May 2017, the first of six planned police stations in Palestinian neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem was opened in the Shuafat refugee camp, as part of a $287 million government initiative to improve law enforcement and security in East Jerusalem.54 61. In addition to its obligations under international human rights law, including concerning the rights to an adequate standard of living and to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, 55 Israel has the responsibility, as an occupying Power, to ensure proper access to health-care facilities and services to the Palestinian population of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, without discrimination.56 62. The persistence of settlement expansion, settler violence, demolition of homes and livelihood structures and the restrictions on freedom of movement have high costs for Palestinian women, including in East Jerusalem (E/CN.6/2016/6). Furthermore, the impact of the restrictive residency regime and denial of family unification requests, such as separation from family members, has a disproportionate impact on women. 57 G. Forced to leave 63. All the above-mentioned factors in East Jerusalem create a coercive environment that places Palestinians under pressure to leave. Like in other areas of the West Bank, namely Area C or the H2 area of Hebron, Palestinians may have no other choice than to leave the very area where they have been living for decades or generations. As described above, a number of Palestinians have felt pressured to move, mainly by forced evictions or the revocation of residency status. Continuing discriminatory practices by the Israeli authorities put hundreds of Palestinians at risk of forcible transfer in East Jerusalem. 64. Such displacement is also evidenced by the growing population of East Jerusalem neighbourhoods situated behind the wall. Residents of East Jerusalem displaced by a demolition or other factors contributing to the coercive environment, often relocate to these areas. According to UNDP, migration trends show that poorer Palestinians move out of central Jerusalem to areas where rent is lower and there are fewer restrictions on housing expansion.58 It is also the only place where Palestinians with residency status in Jerusalem can live with spouses from the West Bank without losing their status. This is an extremely worrisome trend, particular given the lack of services and law enforcement, and the numerous hazardous and unsupervised constructions rising in these neighbourhoods. V. Settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan 65. Illegal settlement expansion and land appropriation by the Government of Israel in the occupied Syrian Golan continued during the period under review, in violation of the State’s obligations under international law.59 According to the civil society organization AlMarsad, the 34 Israeli settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan have a population of about 26,000.60 The estimated 25,000 Syrian residents of the Golan are restricted to living in five overcrowded villages. 61 Owing to discriminatory land, housing, and building and permit 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 14 Ir Amim, Displaced in their own city: the impact of Israeli policy in East Jerusalem on the Palestinian neighborhoods of the city beyond the separation barrier, June 2015, p. 45. In stark contrast to other East Jerusalem neighbourhoods, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, few house demolitions are carried out in the areas Jerusalem beyond the wall, accounting for only 9 per cent of all buildings demolished by Jerusalem Municipality. Daniel K. Eisenbud, “First police station opens in East Jerusalem’s Shuafat refugee camp”, Jerusalem Post, 7 May 2017. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, arts. 11 and 12. Fourth Geneva Convention, art. 56. UN-Women, International Legal Accountability Mechanisms (see footnote 37), p. 14. UNDP, Jerusalem Communities behind the Wall (see footnote 32), p. 6. General Assembly resolution 72/86, para. 1. See http://golan-marsad.org/january-2018-universal-periodic-review-of-israel/. See http://golan-marsad.org/wp-content/uploads/Al-Marsad-UPR-submission-for-Israel.pdf, para. 2.

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