resettlement of Palestinian refugees is the choice of the refugee not to return to his or her place of origin.137 All Palestinian refugees, whether they still live in their first country of refuge or have moved to another country, hold the right to voluntarily choose to return to their place of origin in what became Israel, and to housing and property restitution, and/ or compensation for loss of or damage to property. Thus, all Palestinian refugees, including those who have obtained citizenship of any state, should be included in the final durable solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194(III) affirms the above rights and the principle of individual refugee choice.138 By 1948, voluntariness was already an established principle of refugee law and practice.139 This framework is consistent with the options set forth in international refugee law – i.e., voluntary repatriation, voluntary local integration, or voluntary resettlement to a third country, in addition to property restitution. Under international refugee law and modern state practice, voluntary repatriation is considered to be the primary solution to refugee flows. Most importantly, of the three durable solutions, return – i.e., voluntary repatriation – is the only one that is a human right and obligatory on the state of origin. The right of return is a customary norm of international human rights law and is explicitly affirmed in many instruments as a human right. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates: “[e]veryone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.”140 Article 12(4) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) reads: “[n]o one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.”141 Denial of return, nationality and residence – among other rights – on discriminatory grounds, such as race, religion or ethnic origin, is arbitrary and expressly prohibited under international human rights law.142 Following the wording “return to his country,” the return of Palestinian refugee must be accompanied by Israel’s recognition of nationality to such persons, a measure See Boling, The 1948 Palestinian Refugees and the Individual Right of Return: An International Law Analysis, Section 2. See also UNCCP, “Analysis of Paragraph 11 of the General Assembly’s Resolution of 11 December 1948,” May 15, 1950, UN Doc. A/AC.25/W/45, http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF /0/94F1C22721945319852573CB00541447. 138 It is important to note that UNGA Resolution 194(III) has a character unique from all other UN resolutions: the fact that it has been reaffirmed by the General Assembly every year and that it represents the overwhelming majority view of the UN member states constitutes “strong evidence of its authority as customary international law on the Palestinian refugee question.” See Susan M. Akram, Reinterpreting Palestinian Refugee Rights under International Law, and a Framework for Durable Solutions, Information and Discussion Brief (Bethlehem: BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, February 2000), 5, http://www.BADIL.org/en/documents/ category/51-bulletins-briefs?download=552%3Abrief-no.1-reinterpreting-palestinian-refugeerights-under-international-law-and-a-framework-for-durable-solutions&start=50&ei=XmNLVNHMcidPd2_gIAM&usg=AFQjCNHaTYDPAXJavE00Ld5OE9pA6i_HTg&bvm=bv.77880786,d.ZWU. 139 UNCCP, “Analysis of Paragraph 11 of the General Assembly’s Resolution of 11 December 1948.” 140 UN General Assembly, “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (UN General Assembly, December 10, 1948), http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#a16, Article 13(2). 141 UN General Assembly, “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” December 16, 1966, A/RES/2200(XXI)[A-C], Article 12(4). 142 United Nations, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1965, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CERD.aspx, Article 5(d). 137 24 Handbook on Protection of Palestinian Refugees