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Salman Abu Sitta ( 1937 - ) is a Palestinian researcher born in Beersheba , and is considered one of the researchers most closely associated with the issues of Palestinian refugees and the right of return .
the biography
Salman Abu Sitta was born in Beersheba, Palestine in 1937. He received a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from Cairo University in 1959 and a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of London in 1964. He was a Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers (IBE), the Ontario Society of Engineers in Canada, and the American Society of Civil Engineers. He was a former member of the British Institute of Arbitration, the American Committee on Power Structures Standards, and the Aerospace Structures Executive Council. He authored more than thirty scientific papers and books in engineering and received more than one award from the Institution of British Engineers. He also worked as a professor at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. He was an independent member of the Palestinian National Council between 1974 and the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. He was a member of the Palestinian Cooperation Committee in Geneva and head of its Refugee and UNRWA Committee . He authored more than eighty research papers and articles and published four books on refugees in Arabic and English. He designed and drew a map that includes all the villages and cities of Palestine, of which three-quarters of a million copies were distributed in Arabic and English.
Documenting the Nakba
Abu Sitta spent more than forty years digging for any information about Palestine before or after the establishment of Israel . The task he undertook included not only chronicling the Nakba and documenting Palestine , but also working to ensure that “the memories and identity of the homeland will never be lost.” Abu Sitta began his documentation in his thirties when he came across the memoirs of the Turkish commander of Beersheba, which was then under Ottoman rule . This document dates back to the early years of the nineteenth century. “From here the research began and has never stopped since then,” Abu Sitta says. “I have continued to collect every material about every inch of my homeland.”
Works
Atlas of Palestine 1917-1966.
The right of return is sacred, legal and possible (2001), Arab Institute for Studies and Publishing.
The Road Back; A Guide to the Displaced and Present Cities, Villages and Holy Places in Palestine (2007), Palestine Foundation for Culture.
The Nakba Record 1948 (2000), Researcher Center for Studies.
Source
Achievements and Awards
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