“In Gaza, 1.3 million out of the 1.9 million people living there require some form of humanitarian assistance. According to the UN, more than 55% have unmet energy needs, 47% have food insecurities and only a small group have access to water. Zena Agha, a policy fellow with the U.S think tank al-Shabak said that this resembles eco-apartheid whereby “while Palestinians and Israeli inhabit the same physical terrain, vulnerable Palestinians – those under occupation and siege – will suffer the effects of climate change more severely purely as a consequence of their ethno-religious identities.”

“Salman Abu Sitta’s Mapping My Return is much more than a personal memoir. Although the author says that it is not a research work, it does intertwine personal tragedy with the Palestinian national Catastrophe known as the Nakba. It tells the story of the author’s struggle and that of his people, against all odds, to maintain their identity and regain their patrimony. Abu Sitta became a refugee at the age of ten and has dedicated the rest of his life to identifying those who were responsible for burning his family home and occupying their land in Al Ma’in, Beersheba District, in May 1948.”

“What happens when a people are confined to a bubble where the “truth” has one book to read, to follow and obey, then suddenly the bubble bursts and the sun shines on a whole new truth, verifiable, clear, and sound?  This what happens to the kibbutzim in Nirim, Nir Oz, Magen and Ein Hashloshla.  These four kibbutzim were established after the Nakba of 1948 on my land, Al Ma’in, (65,000 dunums — 16,000 acres). Al Ma’in was and is the home of my Abu Sitta family for centuries, now refugees in the Gaza Strip and elsewhere.”

“Al Nakba exploded among Palestinians the desire for, even obsession with, education. They quickly realized, having lost their country, that education, and indeed brain power, is the possession that the Israelis cannot rob them of. The rate of high school students among Palestinians is comparable to Jewish Israelis. By contrast, the figure among Palestinians in Israel is a fraction of that. Can we say then that the Nakba is a blessing in disguise? It certainly is not a blessing. Al Nakba, the most devastating event in Palestine’s 5000 year history, created the will and determination to survive by any means. With that, the Palestinians created a presence and impact in many cities of the western world. They also multiplied ten times.”

“This cantonization scheme is probably the first time that a Zionist proposal is made to separate the diverse groups geographically and legally at the “province” level. It probably aspires to resemble the Canadian provincial system with the obvious difference that the proposed Israeli provinces are tiny slivers of land, more like a British borough than the vast regions of Canada. Even so, the scheme represents optimism that present-day Israel, excluding the West Bank and Gaza, but including occupied East Jerusalem and Syria’s Golan Heights, can be divided into twelve provinces”