Inheriting the Right of Return
Abstract
This Article assesses one kind of argument for an intergenerational
right of return in the context of the Israel/Palestine conflict. The
question is whether descendants of those who were made refugees
in the 1948 War can acquire occupancy rights from their parents
through inheritance and bequest over territory that they have never
lived on. Standard arguments for their inheriting such rights fail for
a range of reasons. However, a less familiar argument for inheritance
or bequest succeeds—descendants can acquire such rights because
their parents have an interest in their being able to live the kind of
life that, due to the violation of their rights, they were deprived of
right of return in the context of the Israel/Palestine conflict. The
question is whether descendants of those who were made refugees
in the 1948 War can acquire occupancy rights from their parents
through inheritance and bequest over territory that they have never
lived on. Standard arguments for their inheriting such rights fail for
a range of reasons. However, a less familiar argument for inheritance
or bequest succeeds—descendants can acquire such rights because
their parents have an interest in their being able to live the kind of
life that, due to the violation of their rights, they were deprived of