1. The Framework for Israeli Human Rights Violations 1.1 The Impact of Israeli Policies and Violations on the State of Palestine’s Ability to Ensure Human Rights The Israeli occupying authorities have escalated threats and plans to annex Area C and Israeli settlements, including around the occupied city of Jerusalem. Annexation undermines the potential for ending the occupation, prospects for a viable Palestinian state, and self-determination for Palestinian citizens. In parallel, an unbridled Israeli escalation has targeted the existence of Palestinians in Area C. Israel has stepped up the demolition of Palestinian homes and structures, attacks on privately-owned Palestinian properties, seizure of Palestinian land for settlement activity, and forced displacement of Palestinians from their communities. Systematic Israeli practices and policies have created an apartheid regime, where Israeli settlers enjoy privileges, support from Israeli occupying authorities, and guarantees of security and welfare. Meantime, Palestinians are deprived of their most fundamental human rights. In both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupying forces killed 312 Palestinians, including 57 children, and injured about 8,355 others. Since the Al-Quds uprising broke out in late 2015, the bodies of 38 Palestinian martyrs have been withheld at Israeli mortuaries. A total of 1,063 children, 140 girls and women, six members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), and 38 journalists were held in Israeli detention centres. Additionally, the Israeli occupying authorities demolished and destroyed 538 Palestinian homes and structures across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The Israeli occupying authorities continued to violate the Palestinian right to education. In addition to settler violence, the Israeli occupying forces continued to target Palestinian students, teachers, and schools in the West Bank, particularly in Jerusalem, Hebron, and Area C, disrupting the education process. Overall, 77 schools were attacked on at least 302 occasions, including by live fire, stun grenades, and tear gas canisters. Settler violence was on the rise. Throughout the West Bank, Israeli settlers carried out around 429 attacks on Palestinian citizens, land, and properties. Settler violence included running over Palestinian children, elderly persons and women, arson, uprooting and damaging of fruit-bearing trees, and frequent raids into historical and religious sites, particularly in the occupied city of Jerusalem. Israeli settlers also assailed Palestinian citizens and properties, including commercial premises, homes and private vehicles in the Jerusalem, Executive Summary 2018 11