Responsible Authorities In the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip from 1993, both the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Israeli Government agreed to establish District Coordination Liaison Offices (DCLs),18 (sometimes referred to as District Coordination Offices (DCOs). The main task of these institutions was, and remains, the civil and security coordination and liaison of Israel vis-à-vis Palestine. Therefore, they are responsible, inter alia, for issuing permits to Palestinian residents of the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). A senior official at the Palestinian DCLs, however, states that the issuing of permits depends solely on the discretion of Israeli authorities. He asserts that the Palestinian function is primarily administrative in nature, with little or no influence over the decision-making process.19 The Israeli DCL is subordinated to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories unit (COGAT), which is responsible for implementing and coordinating the Israeli government’s policies in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and is, in turn, subordinated to the Israeli Ministry of Defense.20 Israeli High Court Throughout the years several individuals and human rights organizations have filed complaints to the Israeli High Court of Justice (HCJ) about the permit regime. However, the HCJ often upholds laws which are considered by many to be discriminatory.21Further, even in those cases in which the Court has made recommendations which would improve the situation for Palestinians, these recommendations have often not been implemented in practice.22 In this Working Paper, we will look into issues connected to civil and political rights, economic rights as well as social and cultural rights. Due to the sheer number of permit types, and their broad interference in numerous aspects of 18 “Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (Oslo II)”, 28 September 1995, Annex III Article 1, sections 3a-3b. Available at: www.acpr.org.il/publications/books/44-Zero-isrpal-interim-agreement.pdf 19 BADIL’s interview with Rifat Muheisen, Head of the Liaison Department of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, “Procedures for obtaining permits”, Ramallah, August 2015 20 Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, “Who We Are”, Located November 2015. Available at: http://www.cogat.idf.il/896-en/IDFG.aspx 21 Amjad Iraqi, “Contradicting Its Own Ruling, Israel’s Supreme Court Legalizes Segregated Communities”, +972 Magazine, 18 September 2014. Available at: http://972mag.com/contradicting-its-own-rulingisraels-supreme-court-legalizes-segregated-communities/96817/ 22 See for example Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, “The Impact of the Separation between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank on Higher Education”, May 2010, page 4. Available at: http://www.gisha.org/userfiles/file/safepassage/InfoSheets/English/students.pdf 13