occupied nationals in the West Bank and Gaza who have varying residency statuses and rights to movement and access. Moreover, as per the Oslo Accords, the PA regulates the statuses of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, and all residency conferrals must be approved by the Israeli regime. As the political and legal representative of the fragmented Palestinian people, and as an entity that has recognized the importance of nationality, the PLO must act as the guarantor of exiled Palestinians’ rights to Palestinian nationality. But before it can pursue Palestinian nationality through legal avenues, the PLO must work with the Palestinian people to create a population registry, starting with Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA. In fact, Karma Nabulsi’s 2006 project marked a significant step toward establishing this type of connection between exiled Palestinians and the PLO. This work must be continued. While international law has repeatedly failed to protect the rights of Palestinians—indeed, the rights of countless colonized and marginalized populations across the world—Palestinians throughout the diaspora should nonetheless push for the recognition of their rights to Palestinian nationality. As a first step to safeguarding their rights, Palestinians should demand that their leaders in the PLO diplomatic corps—members of which are tasked with representing Palestinian refugees and exiles across the diaspora—stake claims to their constituents’ rights to belong to Palestine, materially and otherwise, by: Creating forums for Palestinians across the world to gather and set the criteria to determine who qualifies to register for Palestinian nationality. While the Treaty of Lausanne makes provisions for this (jus sanguinis, jus soli, and jus domicile), it is incumbent on Palestinians to articulate these rights in their own terms, much like indigenous communities in North America have been discussing for decades. That is, assigning indigeneity through blood reifies a colonial practice, and so, oppressed communities 9 The Case for Palestinian Nationality www.al-shabaka.org the palestinian policy network