not really analogous to the current situation though

a better analogy would be if you went away for over a decade and came back to find someone on your land. in the US, if the 'occupation' was continuous and notorious over that period, the squatters may well have a winning argument for title by adverse possession (the exact requirements vary by state statute).

I recognize the ease with which one can resort to the morally superior feeling that "I would never take that which does not belong to me and any who does this is wrong and less moral than I," but that ignores the complex history of land acquisition and ownership throughout the course of human civilization. there are no easy answers here.