Uploaded May 2011 | Updated September 2026, 10 hours ago
Mapping Palestine: for its Survival or Destruction? Dr.Salman Abu Sitta.
Presentation of "Atlas of Palestine 1917-1966" at Westminster, London, 12 November, 2010
*****
"... Now we do not have stone monuments. We have charts and maps. The map is long considered to be the birth certificate of a place or the certificate of its identify and its owner. In the last two centuries, maps became an instrument of colonial powers to show the extent of their conquest and domination. It was equivalent to planting a flag on a new territory and claiming its ownership. In the late 19th century the British Empire could boast vast dominions and showing it by painting pink colour over three quarters of the world map.
But nowhere in the world have maps been instrumental in the conquest of a territory than in Palestine. In the 19th century Palestine was blessed, and at times cursed, with so many travellers, priests, surveyors, spies and adventurers who charted the holy land. A particularly remarkable effort in that century was the work of the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) in which they conducted a full survey of Palestine for 4 years starting from 1871. The result was charted in 26 sheets and 10 volumes showing 12,000 place names. Although its purpose was to verify the authenticity of the Bible and had little interest in the living people of Palestine, it remains to be the most important record we have today of 19th century Palestine. All this mapping was vital for Gen. Allenby's campaign to occupy Palestine in 1917. Two years later, the Zionists, promoting the myth that Palestine was a land without people and ignoring the well-documented PEF survey, presented, with great audacity, to the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919 a map of Palestine, hatched over its 1000 towns and villages, and covered with the words "grazing for nomads". That was their first brazen forgery. More were to come.
... Haim Weizmann, on behalf of the fledgling Zionist movement, pressured Britain to survey every acre in Palestine to identify any plot which can be given to Jewish colonization. The British complied and the Survey of Palestine was established which provided us with a wealth of information. Contrary to Zionist aims, it gave us absolute proof of the falsehood of Zionist claims. Palestine Survey is what this Atlas is about.
Colonial powers, influenced by Zionist pressure, carved out the boundaries of Palestine, to isolate it from the Arab East and giving it away. Their surveyors went around Palestine, plotting, marking and dividing lands. All these boundaries were delineated without the knowledge, let alone the consent, of the people of the land. Those people suddenly found themselves cut off from their relatives, their water, their fields and their livelihood by a border created and guarded by foreigners.
The Colonial Powers intended to create spheres of influence, to utilize natural resources and build military bases. However none of them intended to dispossess or expel the population of the land, or to confiscate their land and property. Zionism has totally different objectives. They were:
1. To occupy and confiscate the land of Palestine
2. To expel its population and dispossess them.
3. To erase their memory, their records and their trace from history."
Read the full speech here: plands.org/speechs/016.html
For maps and other publications by Dr.Salman Abu Sitta visit Palestine Land Society's Website: plands.org
Re-Uploaded from PalestineLandSociety's Channel.
youtube.com/watch?v=BjbpSQuhYB4
Mapping Palestine: for its Survival or Destruction? Dr.Salman Abu Sitta.
Presentation of "Atlas of Palestine 1917-1966" at Westminster, London, 12 November, 2010
*****
"... Now we do not have stone monuments. We have charts and maps. The map is long considered to be the birth certificate of a place or the certificate of its identify and its owner. In the last two centuries, maps became an instrument of colonial powers to show the extent of their conquest and domination. It was equivalent to planting a flag on a new territory and claiming its ownership. In the late 19th century the British Empire could boast vast dominions and showing it by painting pink colour over three quarters of the world map.
But nowhere in the world have maps been instrumental in the conquest of a territory than in Palestine. In the 19th century Palestine was blessed, and at times cursed, with so many travellers, priests, surveyors, spies and adventurers who charted the holy land. A particularly remarkable effort in that century was the work of the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) in which they conducted a full survey of Palestine for 4 years starting from 1871. The result was charted in 26 sheets and 10 volumes showing 12,000 place names. Although its purpose was to verify the authenticity of the Bible and had little interest in the living people of Palestine, it remains to be the most important record we have today of 19th century Palestine. All this mapping was vital for Gen. Allenby's campaign to occupy Palestine in 1917. Two years later, the Zionists, promoting the myth that Palestine was a land without people and ignoring the well-documented PEF survey, presented, with great audacity, to the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919 a map of Palestine, hatched over its 1000 towns and villages, and covered with the words "grazing for nomads". That was their first brazen forgery. More were to come.
... Haim Weizmann, on behalf of the fledgling Zionist movement, pressured Britain to survey every acre in Palestine to identify any plot which can be given to Jewish colonization. The British complied and the Survey of Palestine was established which provided us with a wealth of information. Contrary to Zionist aims, it gave us absolute proof of the falsehood of Zionist claims. Palestine Survey is what this Atlas is about.
Colonial powers, influenced by Zionist pressure, carved out the boundaries of Palestine, to isolate it from the Arab East and giving it away. Their surveyors went around Palestine, plotting, marking and dividing lands. All these boundaries were delineated without the knowledge, let alone the consent, of the people of the land. Those people suddenly found themselves cut off from their relatives, their water, their fields and their livelihood by a border created and guarded by foreigners.
The Colonial Powers intended to create spheres of influence, to utilize natural resources and build military bases. However none of them intended to dispossess or expel the population of the land, or to confiscate their land and property. Zionism has totally different objectives. They were:
1. To occupy and confiscate the land of Palestine
2. To expel its population and dispossess them.
3. To erase their memory, their records and their trace from history."
Read the full speech here: plands.org/speechs/016.html
For maps and other publications by Dr.Salman Abu Sitta visit Palestine Land Society's Website: plands.org
Re-Uploaded from PalestineLandSociety's Channel.
youtube.com/watch?v=BjbpSQuhYB4
