The German police stopped a conference on Palestine in Berlin today, Friday, during a video speech by Palestinian historian Salman Abu Sitta, in which he spoke about the genocide in Gaza. Abu Sitta is a Palestinian researcher, engineer, and planner, who is deeply interested in the Palestinian cause in general and the issue of refugees and the right of return in particular. He designed and produced the largest and first historical atlas of Palestine and developed a practical plan for implementing the right of return for Palestinian refugees. In 2017, he was elected president of the General Authority of the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad.
Born in 1937 in the Beersheba district of occupied Palestine, he was displaced by Zionist militias from his land in 1948. He obtained a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Cairo University in 1959 and a doctorate from the University of London in civil engineering in 1964. He worked as the general coordinator for the Right of Return Conference and chaired the Committee on Refugees and UNRWA in the Palestinian Cooperation Authority in Geneva. Additionally, he served as a professor at Western University in Canada and was a fellow of the British Structural Engineers Association, the Ontario Association of Engineers in Canada, and the American Society of Civil Engineers, and he was previously a member of the British Arbitration Institute and the American Committee for Energy Facilities Standards, and the Executive Council for Space Facilities. He held membership in the Palestinian National Council (as an independent member) from 1974 until the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.
**Intellectual Orientation**
Abu Sitta does not belong to any Palestinian political faction; he dedicates his focus and activity to the Palestinian cause in general and the issues of refugees and the right of return in particular, without engaging in factional political activities or showing interest in the details of internal political work in Palestine.
**Academic Experience**
Since childhood, Abu Sitta has lived with the burden of the Palestinian cause, devoting over seven decades to it, marked by a rich contribution and prolific production. He authored the largest atlas on Palestine, covering its history, geography, and facts, and he created a roadmap for the return of Palestinian refugees. On February 26, 2017, the preparatory committee for the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad announced Abu Sitta's election as president of the authority, aiming to launch a popular movement to establish a real and active role for Palestinians abroad, involving all segments of the Palestinian people.
The preparatory committee agreed at the end of its conference in Istanbul, attended by more than six thousand Palestinians, including 3,500 who came from outside Turkey, that the general secretariat would establish its official headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, along with transforming the conference into a legitimate institution. The documents in the atlas are described as the largest quantity ever published about Palestine in any reference, containing information about 1,600 cities and villages and details about 16,000 historical civic and cultural sites, as well as information on 26,000 place names in Palestine. The atlas is divided into three sections: the British Mandate period and the Nakba, detailing what happened to the refugees and their displacement throughout the world, and what occurred to the Palestinian lands following the establishment of Israel.
