Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies Seminar Series: Salman Abu Sitta

About the seminar

This year marks the centenary of the establishment of British Mandate in Palestine (1922-1948), as instituted under the League of Nations.

In the five years leading up to the start of this era, Lord Arthur James Balfour, who at the time served as Britain’s foreign secretary and the University of Edinburgh’s chancellor (1891-1930), issued a sixty-seven-word letter of intent, which had seismic implications on the Arab world in general, and Palestine specifically.

Balfour’s promise was one that endorsed Britain’s support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, while simultaneously denying the recognition of Palestinian peoplehood with national rights to self-determination. This decision, though categorically challenged by Palestinian society and leadership, became juridically enshrined under British Mandate.

The results of this decision would later come to sow death and destruction in Palestine through means of forced expulsion and colonial dispossession, setting into motion an on-going structure of settler-colonialism and displacement today.

In deepening transparency and accountability for the UK’s imperial past and University of Edinburgh's institutional memory, eminent Palestinian historian and cartographer Dr. Salman Abu Sitta will address Balfour on his deeds according to the record, as both witness and survivor.

This lecture will reflect upon a life-time of research arising from Balfour's legacy and what it has meant for Palestine and Palestinians, past and present.  

The seminar is organised by RACE.ED & Kenyon Institute - Centre for British Research in the Levant (CBRL)

In co-sponsorship with: Islamic and Middle East Studies (IMES), Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH), Centre for Research Collection (CRC), Department of History, Department of Sociology, and Politics and International Relations Middle East Research Group (PIR-MERG).

About the speaker

Salman Abu Sitta is the founder and president of the Palestine Land Society, London, dedicated to the documentation of Palestine’s land and People.

He is the author of several books on Palestine including the compendium 'Atlas of Palestine 1917- 1966' (English, Arabic and Spanish editions), the 'Atlas of the Return Journey' and over 300 papers and articles on the Palestinian refugees, the Right of Return, and the history of al Nakba and human rights.

He is credited with extensive documentation and mapping of Palestine's land and people over 40 years. His widely acclaimed memoir, 'Mapping my Return,  describes his life in Palestine and his long struggle as a refugee to return home.

How to join

The event is free and everyone is welcome.

Please register for the talk on Eventbrite.

Related links

RACE.ED

Identities Journal: Global Studies in Culture and Power

The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities 

History at University of Edinburgh

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