Abu Sitta, who was expelled from Palestine as a child in 1948, has dedicated his life to the Palestinian cause and is engaged in public debates with Israeli peace activists.

Abu Sitta engaged in debates with Israelis who professed interest in peace without the return of the refugees, including Uri Avnery and Rabbi Michael Lerner.

[6] The documentation process began when he was 30 years old, when he stumbled on the memoirs of the Turkish chief of Beersheba,[7] when Palestine was under Ottoman rule.

"Abu Sitta's claimed to show that the return of the refugees to their homes is sacred to Palestinians, legal under international law and possible without major dislocation to the Jewish settlers in Palestine.

[10] Abu Sitta formulated "a proposal to implement the Palestinian right of return without displacing Israel’s existing population".