However, under customary international law of state succession, quite entrenched by 1952,108 a successor state could not discriminate against particular national/ ethnic groups in conferring nationality in the new state, and was obliged to grant all habitual residents of the successor territory the citizenship of the successor state, as mentioned above.109Thus, Israel’s Nationality Law violated international law at the time it was passed, and Palestinian Nationality as established by the Lausanne Treaty continues to this day. What becomes relevant, then, is not the definition of de jure statelessness under the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954 Stateless Persons Convention), but the broader definition of de facto statelessness under the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961 Statelessness Convention).110 Refugees and stateless persons lack the protection of their country either as a matter of law or as a matter of fact. The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951 Refugee Convention) and the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954 Stateless Persons Convention) aim at protecting those persons who, for whatever reason, are deprived of such protection by providing for a legal status (i.e., “refugee” or “stateless person” status) and prescribing basic humanitarian standards of treatment which persons entitled to such status may enjoy. The 1954 Stateless Persons Convention The history of the 1954 Stateless Persons Convention dates back to 1947, when the Working Party on an International Convention on Human Rights, created by the UN Commission on Human Rights, presented a report recommending, inter alia, the drafting of a resolution on stateless persons.111 The Commission furthered the proposal by asking the United Nations to “make recommendations to Member States with a view to concluding conventions on nationality.”112 The question was considered by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which, in March 1948, asked the SecretaryGeneral, in consultation with specialized agencies, to carry out a study on stateless persons.113 See, e.g., Ian Brownlie, The Rule of Law in International Affairs: International Law at the Fiftieth Anniversary of the United Nations (MartinusNijhoff Publishers, 1998), 54–55. 109 For details, see Gail Boling, The 1948 Palestinian Refugees and the Individual Right of Return: An International Law Analysis (Bethlehem, Palestine: BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, 2007), http://www.BADIL.org/en/documents/category/35-publications?down load=101%3Aindividualror-en. 110 Most of this argument is made by Qafisheh, The International Law Foundations of Palestinian Nationality: A Legal Examination of Nationality in Palestine under Britain’s Rule. It should be noted that Israel is a state Party to the 1954 Stateless Persons Convention and that it has signed, but not ratified, the 1961 Statelessness Convention. 111 UN Economic and Social Council, “Commission on Human Rights, Second Session: Report of the Working Party on an International Convention on Human Rights,” December 11, 1947, para. 15, UN Doc. E/CNA/56, http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=E/CN.4/56. 112 UN Economic and Social Council, “Report of the Commission on Human Rights, Second Session,” December 17, 1947, para.46(1)(a), UN Doc. E/600, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc. asp?symbol=E/600. 113 UN Economic and Social Council, “Resolution 116D: Stateless Persons,” March 2, 1948, UN Doc. E/RES/116(VI), http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=E/RES/116(VI); see also UN Economic and Social Council, “A Study of Statelessness” (UN Ad Hoc Committee on Refugees and Stateless Persons, August 1, 1949), E/1112; E/1112/Add.1, http://www.refworld.org/ pdfid/3ae68c2d0.pdf. 108 18 Handbook on Protection of Palestinian Refugees