re: Remember when Israel gave back Gaza?

Furthermore, think about the implications of this decision that you can attack a country but you are not at risk for return invasion because they will have to give your land back to you if you lose.

That's not how war works. You don't get participation trophies when you lose. You risk losing your country. That's how it should be to decentivize war.

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I can own a plot my whole life and never visit it.

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Very true. Many do.

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If someone steals that plot and refuses my return, this is a crime.

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It depends on how long they were there before you tried to get them to leave. The onus is on the landowner to make sure squatters aren't stealing their property. If you don't catch people stealing your land for 30 years, that's considered to be your fault.

If it's under a year, you can kick them off, no questions asked. If it's after one year, they can file a possessory action, which would put the burden of proof on you to prove that the land is yours in order to evict them. If you can do so, you can get a court order to evict them.

If you attempt to kick them off after 10 years, as long as they had some sort of legitimate claim to the land, it's theirs. They can now file a petitory action to enforce their right against you. However, if they knew it wasn't theirs, and they had no claim to it, you can go through a petitory action, prove your claim, and kick them off.

If you waited 30 years, however, you're f*&ked. Even if they had no claim to it, if they possessed it for 30 years and you never did anything to attempt to evict them, it's not yours anymore, it's theirs. They can enter a petitory action, prove their 30 years of possession, and become the "true owners'. These actions exist to clear titles and keep land in commerce.

Don't forget, though, that decendants can "tack" possession. If their parents possessed for 20 years, and then died, their children (assuming they continue to possess for the next 10 years) can then tack their parents' possession onto theirs to get up to the needed 30.

All of this comes from the Louisiana Civil Code, which virtually mirrors most Civil Law jurisdictions around the world, which includes most of the Middle East (Iraq, Lebanon, Syria), Europe (France, Spain, Italy, Portugal), and Central (Mexico) and South America (Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Columbia).

However, Israel is a Common Law country like most former English Colonies (India, Canada, U.S., South Africa, Ireland). In England and Wales, adverse possession takes 12 years provided certain requirements are met. In most U.S. jurisdictions, 20 years is the norm.

Adverse Possession and squatters rights are an important part of the legal property regime of literally every non-Communist country on earth.