“I feel we are treated worse than animals…. Sometimes I sit down on my own and cry. Life is very hard. It’s unimaginable. What can I do?”’1 Introduction This report considers the legal status of Palestinian refugees and stateless persons,2 with particular focus on the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and domestic courts, mainly those in European countries. There has been some progress in recent years in certain jurisdictions towards an increased awareness of refugeehood and statelessness among Palestinians. Despite this limited progress, Palestinians continue to face discriminatory legal frameworks and numerous obstacles to obtaining fair treatment as refugees and/or stateless persons. Although the United Nations and some governments have long recognised that most Palestinians who are or have been within the area of operation of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) are refugees, this crucial fact is still too often ignored. In addition, for reasons discussed below, Palestinians who have not acquired a nationality other than Palestinian should be considered stateless under the definition set out in the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. They, however, remain unable to access adequate protection in many countries, or face lengthy legal battles to do so. In the current context, return for Palestinian refugees and IDPs remains elusive due to Israeli policies and practices that perpetuate their displacement and transfer.3 All Palestinian refugees – as well as internally displaced persons (IDPs) – regardless of where they currently reside, are unable to access the right of return to their homeland, parts of which are within what is now Israel and parts of which are under military occupation by Israel.4 Until Israel fulfils its international legal obligations and responsibilities towards Palestinians as set out in this report, it is vital that Palestinians can access effective protection in other countries, as refugees and/or stateless people. 1 2 3 4 Mohammed Al-Mustafa (Palestinian man refused recognition as a refugee or stateless person in the UK, who had tried twice to return to Gaza, which he left as a small child). Kate Lyons, ‘Home Office tells stateless man: go home’ (The Guardian, 22 Jan 2018) https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jan/22/uk-home-office-tells-stateless-man-go-home [accessed 30 June 2022]. He was subsequently granted leave to remain in the UK as a stateless person. Room for Refugees, (Facebook post, 18 Oct 2018) https://www.facebook.com/Room4Refugees/photos/a.1662327484007292/2176846415888727/?type=3& eid=ARDgFOiT6LnrJGPHB7bAsdBLDeZc5ihKkvHgVaSEQsxvc2Vai52_Pc8Y-rZF4JMvo9kOMrmumkHZTjmA [accessed 30 June 2022]. This report refers to ‘Palestinians’ to mean persons who have origins in historic or present-day Palestine; and to ‘Palestinian refugees’ to mean persons who were themselves forced to flee from their homeland due to persecution or armed conflict, or whose ancestors were forced to do so. In some places throughout the report, reference is to ‘Palestine’ refugees, which has a specific meaning as set out by UNRWA and set out herein. See BADIL, Forced Population Transfer: The Case of Palestine — Denial of Reparations, Working Paper No. 22 (BADIL, 2018) https://www.badil.org/cached_uploads/view/2021/04/19/wp22-reparations-of-reparations-1618823911.pdf. See BADIL, Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons 2016 – 2018, Volume IX (BADIL, 2018) https:// www.badil.org/cached_uploads/view/2021/06/04/survey2016-2018-eng-1622811412.pdf, 52-95. 1