2.1. Right of Return Right of return as a customary principle under international law Voluntary return (also referred as “repatriation” in refugee law) has a dual meaning under international law: as a customary right recognized upon individuals and as the preferred solution within the framework of durable solutions designed by the international community to address the plight of refugees49 and IDPs.50 As a general principle, the right of those who have been displaced to return to their homes of origin finds its basis in four different bodies of international law: IHRL, IHL, the Law of Nations as applicable to state succession, and refugee law. These bodies will be briefly analyzed in the following paragraphs, in light of their applicability to the Palestinian people. 1. In IHRL, the right of return constitutes a customary norm stated in a vast array of international conventions, such as the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR),51 the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),52 the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)53 and 49 UNHCR has labelled repatriation as the most preferred solutions several times, see e.g. UNHCR, Conclusion on International Protection No. 89 (LI) - 2000, 13 October 2000, , available at: http:// www.refworld.org/docid/3ae68c7e0.html, which states that “[while] voluntary repatriation, local integration and resettlement are the traditional durable solutions for refugees […] voluntary repatriation is the preferred solution, when feasible”; see also UNHCR Conclusions on International Protection: No. 68 (XLIII)–1992; No. 99 (LV)–2004; No. 104 (LVI)-2005; and No. 109 (LXI) – 2009; UN General Assembly, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly, A/RES/62/124, 24 January 2008, para. 16, available at: http://www. refworld.org/docid/47b2fa642.html [accessed 27 Jul 2018]. 50 This is suggested by the same structure adopted by the UNHCR Guiding Principles (supra note 5), where return is the first of the durable solutions envisaged by art. 28-30. 51 UDHR, supra note 13, art. 13(2). The UDHR has achieved customary status, and it has therefore binding force. See Hurts Hannum, “The status of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in National and International Law”, Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law 25, No. 1 (1996): 289-290. 52 ICCPR, supra note 13, art. 12(4). 53 General Assembly, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 21 December 1965, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 660, p. 195, available at: http://www.refworld. org/docid/3ae6b3940.html [hereinafter CERD], art. 5(d)(ii). 22