Dr. Salman Abu Sitta — founder of the Palestine Land Society and the American University of Beirut's Palestinian Land Studies Center — survived the Nakba and spent 75 years documenting, village by village, the land Palestinians were expelled from. In this conversation with the Makdisi Street Podcast, he discusses oral history, the feasibility of return, Resolution 194, and why 88% of destroyed Palestinian village sites remain vacant. He is among the most important living voices on Palestinian cartography and the right of return.
In this episode of Tarwida, we share a remarkable conversation with Dr. Salman Abu Sitta — cartographer, historian, and founder of the Palestine Land Society — recorded on the Makdisi Street podcast.
Dr. Abu Sitta was born in Al-Maa'in near Khan Yunis and was expelled from his home as a 10-year-old boy during the Nakba of 1948. Over the following 75 years, he transformed personal loss into one of the most comprehensive documentary projects on Palestine ever undertaken: mapping 1,200 villages, cataloguing 50,000 place names, opening boxes sealed since 1877, and calculating — with meticulous precision — that 88% of the land Palestinian refugees were expelled from remains effectively vacant today.
In this conversation, Dr. Abu Sitta speaks about oral history and the colonial archive, the meaning of UN Resolution 194, the legal and practical feasibility of the right of return, the fight to preserve UNRWA, and why the question of Palestine is, at its core, a question of people being kept from going home.
He is 85 years old. He was there. And he is still counting.
Thank you to the Makdisi Street podcast for allowing us to share this episode with the Tarwida audience. This episode is hosted by the Makdisi brothers, Kareem, Sari, and Ossama and produced by Sina. Intro by Afaf Shawwa Bibi. The episode was adapted by Tarwida associate producer Zeena Shehadeh. Lead producer is Tala Elissa. Executive producer is Zina Jardaneh. Social media by Rajae Shehadeh. Research and copywriting by Dima Sharif. Branding by Sara Sukhun. Theme music includes excerpts from Clarissa Bitar, The Popular Art Centre - مركز الفن الشعبي & Rim Banna. Intro music by Terez Sliman.
The episode was originally published on February 7th, 2024.
Tarwida is a series of conversations that bring Palestinian arts, culture, and heritage to the forefront. We hear from artists, including writers, filmmakers, musicians, architects, and more, about their very own Palestine.
In a nutshell, if you want to know more about (Creative) Palestine, this is the place to be.
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Relevant links and Resources:
Chapters:
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:01:00 Meet Dr. Salman Abu Sitta
00:04:00 - A Family Rooted in Palestine
00:07:00 - The Night of the Nakba
00:09:00 - From Refugee to Scholar
00:12:00 - Nationality: Uncertain
00:15:00 - Excavating the Colonial Archive
00:25:00 - They Carried the Memory in Their Head
00:35:00 - The War on Archives
00:39:00 - Rebuilding Palestine: The Architecture Competition
00:43:00 - Renaming the Land
00:47:00 - Resolution 194 and the Right of Return
00:52:00 - 88% of Palestinian Village Sites Remain Vacant
01:03:00 - UNRWA, Refugee Status, and the Fight Over 194
01:23:00 - Liberation, Law, and Steadfastness