# Salman Abu Sitta

Salman Abu Sitta (Arabic: سلمان ابو ستة; born 1937) is a Palestinian researcher. Abu Sitta, who was expelled from Palestine as a child in 1948, has dedicated his life to the Palestinian cause and is engaged in public debates with Israeli peace activists. Abu Sitta is the founder and President of Palestine Land Society in London, dedicated to the documentation of Palestine’s land and People.
He is most known for mapping Palestine and developing a practical plan for implementing the right of return of Palestinian refugees.

## Early life

Salman Abu Sitta was born in 1937 into a Palestinian family. His family's land and the village bore their name, Ma'in Abu Sitta (the Abu Sitta springwell), in Beer Sheba District of Mandatory Palestine. In 1948 he became a refugee, fleeing to the Gaza Strip following the 1948 Palestinian expulsion during the 1948 Palestine war. He later attended and graduated from al-Saidiya secondary school in Cairo, Egypt, ranking first in Egypt. After graduating from Cairo University's Faculty of Engineering in 1958, Abu Sitta went to the United Kingdom to continue his post-graduate studies, receiving his PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of London, UCL.

## Career

He was a member of the Palestine National Council. He studied refugee affairs and authored over 400 papers on the subject. He directed international development and construction projects. He was the founder and President of the Palestine Land Society (PLS) He was the General Coordinator of the Right of Return Congress.
Abu Sitta engaged in debates with Israelis who professed interest in peace without the return of the refugees, including Uri Avnery and Rabbi Michael Lerner.

## Palestinian expulsion (al Nakba)

Abu Sitta spent 40 years digging for information related to Palestine before, during and after al Nakba, the destruction of Palestine. Abu Sitta's work ensured that "the memories and identity of the occupied homeland are never lost". He is regarded by Uri Avnery as perhaps 'the world's foremost expert on the Nakba'. The documentation process began when he was 30 years old, when he stumbled on the memoirs of the Turkish chief of Beersheba, when Palestine was under Ottoman rule. The document dated to the early twentieth century.
   "It sort of started from there, and it has never stopped," Abu Sitta says. "I kept collecting all and any material on every inch of my homeland."
Abu Sitta's claimed to show that the return of the refugees to their homes is sacred to Palestinians, legal under international law and possible without major dislocation to the Jewish settlers in Palestine. His work also includes the compendium Atlas of Palestine 1917-1966.

## Views

Salman Abu Sitta strongly supports the Palestinian right of return. Abu Sitta formulated "a proposal to implement the Palestinian right of return without displacing Israel’s existing population". According to Abu Sitta, residential areas constitute just 2.5% of Israel's land area and it is possible for most refugees to have their lands back without displacing Israelis.

## Published works

* The Return Journey. (2007) Palestine Land Society ISBN 0-9549034-1-2
* Mapping My Return: A Palestinian Memoir American University in Cairo Press Series G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series. (2016) American University in Cairo Press, 2016 / Oxford University Press, 2016 ISBN 978-977-416-730-0
* Atlas of Palestine, 1917-1966. Palestine Land Society (December 2010) ISBN 978-0-9549034-2-8
* The Palestinian Nakba 1948: The register of depopulated localities in Palestine (Occasional Return Centre studies) (1998 reprinted 2000) Palestinian Return Centre ISBN 1-901924-10-6

### Articles

* Peace Palestine - Traces of Poison: Israel's Dark History Revealed, December 4, 2007 (about the biological war)
* Geography of Occupation
* Palestine Remembered Palestine Right Of Return, Sacred, Legal, and Possible
* Jerusalemite 7 June 2007 "Atlas of Palestine 1948: Reconstructing Palestine"

### Videos

* 'Right of Return Conference, Day 1: Keynote Address, 13 May 2013.
* Dr Salman Abu Sitta’s Address to Balfour at the University of Edinburgh, Council for British Research in the Levant, 30 November 2022