Concluding Remarks Consideration of Israel’s permit regime reveals a system of remarkable reach, both in terms of numbers of individuals affected, and in its impact. For each prospective Palestinian permit-holder, there are a host of others – family members, friends, dependents – who suffer too. For this reason, available statistics constitute only the tip of the iceberg, with the great bulk of suffering inflicted by this regime remaining unseen. Moreover, each permit and its associated processes should not be considered in isolation, but as a component part in a system which demonstrably deprives Palestinians of their fundamental human rights; an expansive and suffocating web of inherently discriminatory restrictions, touching upon virtually all areas of Palestinian life. The natural result of such widespread and structural rights violations is an environment in which the oppressed face relentless coercion to leave. Here, it is important to keep in mind that even in cases where Palestinians leave “voluntarily”, one must consider the wider context and whether or not the decision has been made in a coercive and/or discriminatory environment.312 For instance, through Israel’s restriction on Palestinians’ civil and political rights, such as the right to freedom of movement, including the right of Palestinians with “foreign” citizenship living abroad to visit Palestine, as well as the rights of Palestinian prisoners, the impact upon Palestinians’ lives is felt regardless of whether they live in the occupied Palestinian territory, in Israel or in other countries. It thus becomes impossible for Palestinians to live their lives in ways that can be considered even remotely normal, as the restrictions on their freedom of movement transform this right into a privilege. In addition, the restrictions imposed upon the civil and political rights of Palestinians have resulted in the separation of many families, such as those families in the Gaza Strip who are not permitted to visit their relatives outside of this besieged enclave. Meanwhile, Israeli restrictions governing, for instance, import into and export from the Gaza Strip, as well as Israel’s control over natural resources 312 See BADIL Resource Center for Residency and Refugee Rights, “Forced Population Transfer: The Case of Palestine - Introduction” for an analysis of the concept of forcible population transfer under international law. 81