several regional treaties.54 Notably, Article 12(4) of the ICCPR states that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter its own country.” This rule, which applies to subsequent generations of refugees and IDPs55 and is not restricted to merely “nationals” of a state,56 has been signed without reservation by Israel and is therefore fully binding on it. Similarly, CERD Article 5(d)(ii) provides the same protection. 2. IHL, which applies in situations of armed conflicts (including military occupation), contains a second basis for the right of return. The Hague Regulations, annexed to the 1907 Hague Convention, state that the Occupying Power has to maintain as far as possible the legal and social status quo, in order to interfere as little as possible with the population’s ordinary existence: this logically implies the possibility for the local population to remain in or to return to their homes of origin after the cessation of the hostilities.57 This rule was subsequently incorporated into the Fourth Geneva Convention,58 and constitutes the “general” right of return in IHL, which applies to all displaced persons, irrespective on how they came to be displaced during conflict. In addition to this general rule, there is a supplementary, specific basis for the right of return that rises in cases of forcible mass expulsion carried out on a discriminatory basis.59 In such cases the illegality of the action becomes even greater as it affects the rights of more people, and intersects the general 54 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, 2 May 1948, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3710.html [accessed 27 Jul 2018], art. 7; Organization of American States (OAS), American Convention on Human Rights, Costa Rica, 22 November 1969, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b36510.html [accessed 27 Jul 2018] [hereinafter Pact of San Jose] art. 22(5); Organization of African Unity (OAU), African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 27 June 1981, CAB/LEG/67/3 rev. 5, 21 I.L.M. 58 (1982), available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3630.html [accessed 27 Jul 2018] [hereinafter Banjul Charter], art. 12(2); Council of Europe, Protocol 4 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, securing certain Rights and Freedoms other than those already included in the Convention and in the First Protocol thereto, 16 September 1963, ETS 46, art. 3(2)., available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3780.html [accessed 27 Jul 2018]. 55 Since its phrasing uses the broad verb “enter”, rather than “return” (contained in the UDHR). 56 See HRC, CCPR General Comment No. 27, supra note 16. 57 International Conferences (The Hague), Hague Convention (IV) Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land and Its Annex: Regulations Concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land, 18 October 1907, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4374cae64.html [hereinafter Hague Regulations], art. 43. Additionally, art. 20 of the same Regulations also contains a specific rule concerning the return of captured combatants at the end of hostilities, whose existence implies a fortiori the existence of a duty to repatriate civilians. 58 GCIV, supra note 20, art. 4, 6, and 158. Article 4 defines the “protected persons” under the Convention, while articles 6 and 158 expressly mention repatriation. 59 GCIV, supra note 20, art. 49. 23