Palestinian Citizenship Orders, 1925-1941.”26 Thus, by the end of the British Mandate (1917 – 1948), Palestinian nationality was well-established at both domestic and international levels. The UN General Assembly Resolution 181 (II) of 29 November 1947 recommended the partition of Palestine.27 This resolution proposed two states (Jewish and Arab) in historic Mandate Palestine. It set off a series of events that led, among other things, to the mass displacement of Palestinians from their homeland, the first Israeli-Arab war, the establishment of the State of Israel and the failure to establish the Arab/ Palestine State pursuant to the UNGA partition plan of 1947. These geopolitical changes resulted in, and are still causing de facto and de jure alteration of the status of Palestine and Palestinian nationality. The effects of subsequent developments - including the failure to implement UNGA Resolution 194 of 1948, the annexation of the West Bank by Jordan in 1949, the Administration of the Gaza Strip by Egypt in 1949, the enforcement of the Israeli Law of Return (1950) and Israeli Nationality Law (1952) and its subsequent amendments, the occupation of the rest of Mandate Palestine as a consequence of the 1967 War (Israeli occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip) and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994 - have been shaping the legal status of Palestinians either who were displaced from their places of origin across international borders (refugees vis-à-vis Israel) or who remained inside Israel and the oPt.28 Article 5 of the “Articles on Nationality of Natural Persons in Relation to the Succession of States” states that “persons concerned having their habitual residence in the territory affected by the succession of States are presumed to acquire the nationality of the successor State on the date of such succession.”29 The Articles on Nationality incorporate the customary international law principles on nationality and state succession. Under these binding principles, since its establishment, Israel, as the succeeding state, has had the obligation to confer its nationality to Palestinians displaced from their homes of origin (the citizens/habitual residents of the predecessor state). On the contrary, Israel has consistently refused their right to readmission, and has made such persons stateless refugees to the present day. As long as the Israeli Nationality Law denies Palestinians Cited in Qafisheh, The International Law Foundations of Palestinian Nationality: A Legal Examination of Nationality in Palestine under Britain’s Rule, 75. 27 UN General Assembly, “Resolution 181(II) - Future Government of Palestine,” November 29, 1947, UN Doc. A/RES/181(II)[A-B], http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/181(I I)&Lang=E&Area=RESOLUTION. 28 Qafisheh, The International Law Foundations of Palestinian Nationality: A Legal Examination of Nationality in Palestine under Britain’s Rule, 76–77. 29 UN General Assembly, “Resolution 55/153 - Nationality of Natural Persons in Relation to the Succession of States [Annex],” January 30, 2001, UN Doc. A/RES/55/153, http://www.un.org/en/ ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/55/153, Article 5. Article 14 of the same document reads: “1. The status of persons concerned as habitual residents shall not be affected by the succession of States. 2. A State concerned shall take all necessary measures to allow persons concerned [i.e., habitual residents] who, because of events connected with the succession of States, were forced to leave their habitual residence on its territory to return thereto [emphasis added].” Ibid., Article 14. 26 The Palestinian Refugee Problem: An Overview 5