The most significant Palestinian representative to visit New Zealand in 20 years is here for two days next week
Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa
10 October 2019
Media Release:
The most significant Palestinian representative to visit New Zealand in 20 years is here for two days next week
The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa is delighted to announce that esteemed Palestinian scholar and member of the Palestine National Council, Dr Salman Abu Sitta, will be visiting New Zealand next week for two days – Wednesday 16th and Thursday 17th October.
Dr Abu Sitta is the most significant Palestinian representative to visit New Zealand for 20 years.
He has delivered the Edward Said Memorial Lecture in Adelaide, Australia and is stopping here in New Zealand for two days afterwards.
Dr Abu Sitta is a well-respected academic, author and member of the Palestine National Council.
He is the founder and President of the Palestine Land Society, London, dedicated to the documentation of Palestine’s land and People.
On his visit here he will be meeting with MPs and government officials in Wellington and will deliver a lecture at Auckland University.
Dr Salman Abu Sitta
Further Background:
Dr Salman Abu Sitta grew up in Palestine and as a young man survived the Nakba (Arabic for catastrophe – the expulsion of up to one million Palestinians from Palestine by Israeli militias in 1948)
Dr Abu Sitta is a researcher and scholar of the Nakba. He is an insistent campaigner for the right of return of Palestinian refugees to their homes and land in Palestine as well as a strong supporter of the international role of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement to bring pressure on the Israeli state.
The founder of the Palestine Land Society, he published the comprehensive Atlas of Palestine, documenting the Palestinian landscape before 1948 and what occurred under Israeli rule to attempt to erase the Palestinian presence.
In Dr Abu Sitta’s words:
“The Israeli-Palestinian/Arab conflict has arisen because of the Israeli conquest of Palestine in 1948 and the expulsion of its people in order to accommodate newcomers from overseas. The Palestinian struggle is therefore about land taken and people expelled.'
'The Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe, holocaust) has no equal in modern history. A foreign minority expels the majority of the inhabitants of a country, occupies their land, obliterates their physical and cultural landmarks in a military campaign that is planned, armed, manned, and is financially and politically supported from abroad.' *
His most recent book is Mapping My Return: A Palestinian Memoir
Dr Salman Abu Sitta’s only public lecture will be held the University of Auckland, Thursday October 17th, 7pm, Clock Tower Building (105S), 22 Princes Street, Lower Ground Floor Lecture Theatre 039.
Contacts:
John Minto
PSNA National Chair
022 085 0161
Janfrie Wakim
Spokesperson
Palestine Human Rights Campaign