15 Moreover, the report records the allegations of detainees in detention centers in regard to being tortured and abused or ill‐treated. Security clearance not only continued to be a pre‐condition for an individual wishing to have a position in public office, it even became a pre‐condition for anyone wanting to have a passport or any other official document issued. He/she has to have the approval of the security services, in particular the General Intelligence and the preventive security forces, and this is all in violation of the provisions of the law. Security considerations continued to be at the top of the list of priorities at the expense of the system of Rights and Freedoms. This, in consequence, impelled the Commission to renew its warning of the risks that that might end up leading to the emergence of a police or security system. This requires of course ICHR to renew its request from the political leadership to be in charge of matters and to ensure the compliance of the security services to its instructions and guidance as well as their commitment to the laws, order, and Human Rights Conventions while performing their duties. ICHR also stresses the need to promote the role of civil overseeing of the security services as the fundamental guarantee for the safety and security of Palestinian citizens, especially in light of the inactivity of the Palestinian Legislative Council and the absence of its overseeing role of the Executive Authority. The report also tackles the issues of freedom of opinion and freedom of press. It registers a considerable narrowing in the margins of self expression and other press freedoms as both Fatah and Hamas prevented the publication of some newspapers. The report also discusses many cases where citizens were prevented from practicing their rights to peaceful assembly in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As for the issue of societies or associations, the report shows how some of these were dismantled. In others, changes were made in the administrative bodies and yet in others the process of their registration was very slow, which was in violation of the Law of Associations. The third section of the report tackles the issue of accountability as the cornerstone in the area of protecting and promoting human rights, and the basic insurance for holding all those who commit violations of human rights accountable, and thus prosecuting them through developing mechanisms and national procedures of accountability and overseeing of security services, in addition to taking disciplinary measures against them. Moreover, legal proceedings should be filed against perpetrators of crimes of torture and arbitrary detention in order to prosecute them and thus prevent them from promoting the culture of impunity within the Palestinian judicial and political systems. These measures would thus serve as a lesson for others and would deter people from repeating such incriminating actions in accordance with national and international law,