As such, Israel is turning the right to education and worship into a tool for forced population transfer, and all Palestinian victims of this practice (a category comprising of individuals still present in the occupied Palestinian territory; citizens of Israel and exiled refugees) hold a legal entitlement to reparation, i.e. return; housing and property restitution, compensation, satisfaction (guarantees of non-repetition, prosecution) and rehabilitation.315 By creating policies which have restricted Palestinian access to medical facilities, and severely undermined the right of Palestinians to adequate housing, Israel has made it almost impossible for Palestinians to live even remotely normal lives. In this light, the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories, established by the United Nations General Assembly, noted in its last report how Israeli authorities cite the lack of building permits - which the committee noted as being almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain - as justification for the demolition of Palestinian homes, and thereby forcing the inhabitants to move. Accordingly, the Committee concluded “that such removals may amount to a violation of the prohibition of the forcible transfer of individuals or communities under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and of the rights to adequate housing and freedom from arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, family and home.”316 Moreover, the coercive nature of the permit regime on the decision of Palestinians to leave their homes, communities and country must also be considered against a range of other Israeli policies (highlighted in this Series of Working Papers) which operate in the context of the almost 70-year long exile of Palestinian refugees. Together, these policies strip Palestinians of their fundamental rights and create an environment in which it becomes ever more difficult to remain. Indeed, this is tragically demonstrated by the humanitarian catastrophe inside the Gaza Strip; an environment which 315 Theo van Boven, “The United Nations Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law”, United Nations, 2010. Available at: http://legal.un.org/avl/pdf/ha/ga_60-147/ ga_60-147_e.pdf 316 Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories, “Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories”, United Nations, 26 August 2014, pages 9-10. Available at: http://reliefweb.int/sites/ reliefweb.int/files/resources/N1451751.pdf 83