CRC/C/ISR/CO/2-4 (c) The 2006 and 2007 amendments to the Employment Law No. 5714-1954 which extend the maternity leave from twelve to fourteen weeks; (d) The 2002 Registration of Information on the Influence of Legislation on the Child’s Right Law No. 5762; (e) The 2002 amendment to the Special Education Law No. 5758-1998 which gives priority to the placement of children with disabilities in a regular education facility and increases the budget for this purpose; (f) The Compulsory Education (Physical Violence Reporting Rules) Regulations No. 5770-2009. 5. The Committee notes as positive the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in September 2012. 6. The Committee further welcomes the following institutional and policy measures: (a) The Child Friendly Initiative (CFCI) which aims to integrate children’s rights in policies, programmes and budgets at municipal level; (b) The Ofek Hadash (New Horizon) reform of 2008 and the Oz Betmura (courage for change) reform, both aiming at changing and improving the education system; (c) The Arabic language education programmes in pre-school, elementary school and high school for improving the Arab populations’ language skills; (d) The programme “Tsila” creating afternoon centres for the ages 3-9 in preschools and elementary schools with extracurricular and social education in small groups, aimed at reducing the gap between socio-economic levels, as recommended by the Trajtenberg Committee. III. Factors and difficulties impeding the implementation of the Convention 7. The Committee takes into account the national security concerns of the State party. The Committee however emphasizes that the illegal long-lasting occupation of Palestinian territory and the Syrian Golan Heights, the continued expansion of unlawful settlements and construction of the Wall into the West Bank as well as land confiscation, destruction of houses and livelihood of Palestinians constitute severe and continuous violations of the rights of Palestinian children and their families, feed the cycle of humiliation and violence and jeopardize a peaceful and stable future for all children of the region. The Committee urges the State party to end the occupation of the OPT and the Syrian Golan Heights, to withdraw all settlements illegally established which present, as observed by the United Nations Secretary General (A/67/375, para. 47) an existential threat to the viability of a future Palestinian State, and to cease the transfer of its population into the Occupied Syrian Golan Heights. IV. Main areas of concern and recommendations A. General measures of implementation (arts. 4, 42 and 44, para. 6, of the Convention) The Committee’s previous recommendations 8. The Committee regrets that the State party has consistently failed to provide information on the follow-up to the Committee’s recommendations relating to children 2