2020 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 2(2) Israel has control over who obtains a PA identity card or passport, and can freeze requests for granting permanent residency or Palestinian passports to Palestinians. 45 Palestinian holders of PA passports can travel abroad, however, they need permission from Israeli authorities that are stationed between Gaza and Egypt, and the West Bank and Jordan. 46 It follows that the state of Israel, and not the PA, retains exclusive control of the borders of historic Palestine, as was the case before the PA was established. The legal status of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza could therefore be considered more akin to permanent residency and Palestinian passports issued by the PA understood as travel documents, rather than evidence of citizenship. 47 At the very least, the jurisprudence cited above does not thoroughly answer the specific questions that arise when applying the definition of a stateless person to Palestinians. In particular, the cases fail to identify the competent authority regarding Palestinian nationality matters 48 or the concept of nationality itself, including whether such a status should have a ‘minimum content’, ie, at a minimum, be associated with the right of entry, re-entry and residence in the state’s territory. 49 3 Application of the Exclusion Clause Similar to art 1D of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (‘1951 Refugee Convention’), 50 the 1954 Convention provides that The Convention shall not apply … to persons who are at present receiving from organs or agencies of the United Nations other than the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees protection or assistance, so long as they are receiving such protection or assistance. 51 Palestinian refugees receiving assistance from the UNRWA are thereby excluded from protection as stateless persons under the 1954 Convention. The Court of Cassation has held that when a Palestinian refugee has left the territory covered by the UNRWA’s mandate, they no longer enjoy the protection or assistance of the Agency and, therefore, cannot be excluded from the application of the 1954 Convention. 52 Public prosecutors have attempted to challenge this ruling as no longer relevant, referring to the considerable progress 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 ibid. ibid. Statelessness Webinar (n 5). UNHCR Statelessness Handbook (n 40) [27]–[30]. UNHCR Statelessness Handbook (n 40) [53]; The Concept of Stateless Persons under International Law (Expert Meeting, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees May 2010) 2–3 [9] <http://www.refworld.org/docid/4ca1ae002.html>; Alice Edwards, ‘The Meaning of Nationality in International Law in an Era of Human Rights’ in Alice Edwards and L Van Waas (eds), Nationality and Statelessness under International Law (Cambridge University Press 2014) 11; Gabor Gyulai, ‘Should Nationality Have a “Minimum Content”? Italian Supreme Court Passes Landmark Decision’, European Network on Statelessness (Blog Post, 19 September 2014) <https://www.statelessness.eu/blog/should-nationality-have%E2%80%9Cminimum-content%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%93-italian-supreme-court-passeslandmark-decision>. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, opened for signature 28 July 1951, 189 UNTS 150 (entered into force 22 April 1954) (‘1951 Refugee Convention’). 1954 Convention (n 4) art 1 [2](i). App No C.06.0427.F 22 January 2009 (Court of Cassation) <https://www.refworld.org/cgibin/texis/vtx/rwmain/opendocpdf.pdf?reldoc=y&docid=5065cf842>. 308