By Iqbal Jassat
The query posed by Abu Sitta is how people and nations will reply, understanding what is going on and understanding the results of inaction.
Palestine’s foremost historian, Salman Abu Sitta, famend for his cartographic work in addition to his compelling research on Palestinian Proper of Return, has sketched a quick overview of Gaza’s previous and his prognosis of the genocidaires’ final purpose.
Born in 1937 in Palestine and an engineer by career, Prof Abu Sitta has authored quite a few books, together with The Atlas of Palestine, 1917-1966 (2010). As a scholar and educational, his energetic activism in pursuit of Palestinian rights has earned him monumental respect.
His memoir, Mapping My Return, provides a private account of Al Nakba in southern Palestine. A former member of the Palestine Nationwide Council, Abu-Sitta has participated in quite a few worldwide boards on Palestinian rights and delivered a notable handle, A Palestinian Tackle to Balfour, on the College of Edinburgh in 2022.
As lately as January 2025, Abu-Sitta spoke to Jurist’s Senior Editor for Lengthy Type Content material, Pitasanna Shanmugathas, about his childhood in Palestine earlier than the institution of the state of Israel in 1948 on his land, how he and his household survived the Nakba, his household’s present state of affairs in Gaza, and his detailed proposal for implementing the Palestinian Proper of Return.
Dr. Salman Abu-Sitta:
“I used to be born in 1937 in al-Ma’in Abu-Sitta, a 6,000-hectare space within the Beersheba district that my household had owned for over 200 years. Al-Ma’in, named after my household, was a part of a vibrant agricultural neighborhood.
“We cultivated wheat, barley, grapes, figs, and almonds, and raised sheep, camels, and cattle. My father constructed a faculty in 1920, a flour mill, with 4 silos for our wheat and barley, reflecting our self-sufficient and affluent methods of life. Training was extremely valued in my household — my father constructed the primary college in 1920 at his expense, by the Thirties, my brothers have been pursuing highschool in Jerusalem and by 1944, 4 of them have been in college in Cairo.
“Palestine at the moment was a land of established communities, wealthy tradition, and resilience. Nevertheless, British insurance policies underneath the Mandate, akin to facilitating Jewish immigration and land acquisition, started to destabilize the nation. My father and family resisted, preventing the British in World Warfare I, together with on the Suez Canal, and later throughout the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939. My brother led the Revolt within the Beersheba district, the place we expelled British forces for a yr and even established a neighborhood authorities.
“This resilience was met with brutal suppression by the British, who bombed Palestinian villages and supported the rising Zionist motion. By 1948, the state of affairs reached a devastating climax. On Might 14, 1948, the Zionist militia Haganah attacked our land with 24 armored automobiles, burning our houses, destroying the college my father constructed, and expelling us from al-Ma’in. That day, coinciding with the declaration of the state of Israel, marked the start of my life as a refugee — a standing I’ve endured for over 28,000 days.”
On his present understanding of Israel’s plan for the Gaza Strip, Abu Sitta takes us by a couple of levels from Creation to Elimination.
He factors out that Israel “created” the Strip in 1948 by attacking and depopulating 212 cities and villages within the southern district of Palestine (12,500 km2).
“Israel compelled the inhabitants right into a focus camp named Gaza Strip (space 550 km2) bounded by the Armistice Settlement of February 1949 (thick black line).”
On the query of shrinking, he recollects that in February 1950, Israel complained of clashes with the returning refugees and proposed a short lived armistice line (Modus Vivendi), thus chopping off 200 km2 from the Gaza Strip to the current space of 365 km2. (skinny black line).
“Opposite to its enterprise and worldwide settlement, Israel by no means returned to the unique armistice line.”
Turning to genocide, Abu Sitta asserts that since 1953, Israel has dedicated many massacres within the Gaza Strip and demolished camps.
“In 2023- 2025, Israel dedicated the most important genocide in current historical past, during which 377,000 individuals, largely ladies and youngsters, have been killed. Gaza Strip was lowered to be a graveyard.”
The ultimate side he offers with is headed elimination. He warns that Israel now plans to obliterate the Gaza Strip altogether.
First, by creating a brand new boundary (crimson line), chopping off 54% of the unique space and eradicating the surviving inhabitants out of the world altogether.
“The hidden secret is the massive newly occupied Rafah space will likely be used to create an enormous deep crater extending a number of kilometers and demolish all of the tunnels of the resistance forces.”
Abu Sitta’s dire warning might sound alarmist, however the actuality is that Netanyahu’s purpose to annihilate all Palestinians in Gaza has been viciously underway through horrific navy assaults.
As a refugee from Gaza, the place most of his household are, Abu Sitta mentioned their struggling is indescribable. “The continued assault on Gaza has turned life into an unimaginable horror.”
None can deny {that a} genocide is going on in real-time, seen to the world by the screens of cellphones and televisions. It’s not a distant historic occasion — it’s unfolding now.
The query posed by Abu Sitta is how people and nations will reply, understanding what is going on and understanding the results of inaction.
– Iqbal Jassat is an Government Member of the South Africa-based Media Evaluation Community. He contributed this text to The Palestine Chronicle. Go to: www.mediareviewnet.com