8 remained dire. Meantime, accountability tools for those who violate human rights continued to be inactive. For example, 42 citizens were banned from travelling on grounds of an unlawful decision by a security agency or prosecutor and without any legal basis or court warrant. Although they may lead to lifting travel restrictions, ICHR interventions are sometimes too late. Persons responsible for this abuse are not held to account, nor reparations are provided for the damage caused to victims. This includes the revocation of personal identity cards and passports. Lacking any legal basis, this measure is a form of bullying. Arrests on the grounds of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and political participation persisted. Likewise, restrictions continued to be placed on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. This right marked a major decline in the Gaza Strip, where civil society organisations (CSOs) were banned from holding meetings or workshops without prior permission, even indoors. Hall owners were threatened if they allowed to host such events. All the more so, an International Human Rights Day ceremony was raided and disrupted. Complaints continued to be filed against non-compliance with, and refusal to enforce, court decisions, particularly orders to release detained persons. Encroachments also affected the right to privacy. Cases in point involved attempts to extort and defame citizens as well as to seize their mobile telephones and personal computers. These persistent patterns of violations are indicative of lawlessness, lack of political will to place the rule of law over anyone, and abuse of power. Unofficial bodies, including movements, parties and semi-structured groups, practice intellectual terror and cyberbullying. Widespread parasitic sites have their focus on defamation and incitement. In addition to fabricating news and video, photographs and audio tracks are altered and used for political competition and defamation of opponents. This exacerbates tensions, propagates hate speech, and eliminates positive and constructive dialogue. It has even gone so far as to assault cultural centres, art performances, and some figures by some people who label art as vice. At the same time, law enforcement agencies have failed to provide effective protection to the victims of such practices, which resemble those of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group. Under threat, government bodies cancelled art events. Continued disruption and failure to hold national elections, and even local elections in the Gaza Strip, cannot go unnoticed. Tools of constitutional accountability and control over public authorities’ performance are sidelined. In addition to affecting the legitimacy of many decisions and policies, this stalemate provides cover for violations and impunity. Should this situation, in all its complexity, persist, broader repercussions might The Status of Human Rights in Palestine