Ghassan Soleiman Abu-Sittah (Arabic: غسان أبو ستة; born 1969) is a British-Palestinian plastic and reconstructive surgeon who specialises in craniofacial surgery, aesthetic surgery, cleft lip and palate surgery, and trauma-related injuries.[2] Since April 2024, he serves as Rector of the University of Glasgow.
Ghassan Abu-Sittah | |
|---|---|
غسان أبو ستة | |
 Abu-Sittah in 2023 | |
| Born | Ghassan Soleiman Abu-Sittah[1] 1969 (age 54–55) |
| Other names | Ghassan Abu Sitta |
| Alma mater | |
| Children | 3 |
| Website | drghassanabusittah |
He is known for providing medical assistance as a surgeon in conflict zones, particularly in the Gaza Strip. He first visited the Gaza Strip as a medical student during the First Intifada in 1989, and was a member of Medical Aid for Palestinians during the Second Intifada starting 2000. He also travelled to the Gaza Strip during the 2008-2009 war, the 2012 operation, the 2014 war, and the 2018 Great March of Return. Abu-Sittah has also provided medical assistance in the war zones in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen.[3]
Abu-Sittah returned to the Gaza Strip after the start of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, where he provided medical assistance with Doctors Without Borders out of the Al-Shifa Hospital. He has spoken to news outlets participated in press conferences discussing his experiences. In January 2024, he travelled to the Hague to meet with International Criminal Court (ICC) investigators.
Early life and education
Abu-Sittah was born in 1969 in Kuwait to a Palestinian father and a Lebanese mother. His father's family was expelled from their home during 1948 Arab–Israeli War and became refugees in the Gaza Strip, later moving to Kuwait. They proceeded to move to Egypt and the UK in the late 1980s.[4][5]
In 1988, Abu-Sittah followed in his father's footsteps and studied medicine at Glasgow University.[5][6]
Career
After graduating from university, Abu-Sittah began working for the National Health Service (NHS).[7]
In January 2011, Abu-Sittah joined the faculty of the American University of Beirut Hospital and moved to Beirut .[7] He also provided remote assistance for surgeons working in the Gaza Strip.[8] While in Lebanon, Abu Sitah's demonstrated his interest in Palestinian politics by writing Opinions for local papers.[9]
He worked as the director of AUB’s Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Department from 2012 until September 2020.[6][10][11] In 2015, he also co-founded and co-directed the Conflict Medicine Program at the AUB's Global Health Institute.[10][7] In 2021, Abu-Sittah worked as a lecturer at the Centre for Blast Injury Studies at Imperial College London.[10]
Abu-Sittah first visited the Gaza Strip as a medical student during the First Intifada in 1989.[6][10] He was inspired to focus on conflict medicine by Ang Swee Chai.[10] Abu-Sittah traveled to Gaza as a member of Medical Aid for Palestinians to provide medical assistance during the Second Intifada, the 2008-2009 Gaza War, the 2012 Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip, the 2014 Gaza War, and the 2018–2019 Gaza border protests.[11][12] He has also worked in war zones in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen.[6][7]
Abu-Sittah was an editor and co-author of the book Reconstructing the War Injured Patient (2017) and The War Injured Child: From Point of Injury Treatment Through Management and Continuum of Care (2023).[10] He is a trustee of the Institute for Palestine Studies.[13] In April 2024, he was elected the Rector of the University of Glasgow.[14]
Israel-Hamas war
Abu-Sittah returned to Gaza on 9 October 2023 at the onset of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. He told Vogue Arabia that he provided medical assistance with Doctors Without Borders at Al-Shifa Hospital and Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, operating on victims of the conflict.[15][6][16][17] He witnessed the war and spoke to news outlets and posted updates on Twitter about the hospital and some of the patients during the Al-Shifa Hospital siege.[17][18][19]
On 16 October 2023, Abu-Sittah's family in London was questioned by the Metropolitan Police about his work in Gaza.[6][20][5]
On 18 November, after 43 days, Abu-Sittah returned to London, where he gave a press conference discussing his experiences.[15][21] During the press conference, he gave testimony that he treated patients suffering from white phosphorus burns, which the Israeli army denies using.[21]
Abu-Sittah worked with Scotland Yard to share his testimony of the situation in Gaza.[15][20][5] In January 2024, he travelled to the Hague to meet with International Criminal Court (ICC) investigators.[22]
Abu-Sittah was elected Rector of his alma mater, the University of Glasgow, on 26 March 2024, winning 80% of the vote.[23][24]
The Times reported that Abu-Sittah had compared Israeli leadership to "the psychosis of the Germans in the 30s and the 40s.", further characterising the supporting western powers, including the US, UK, Germany, France, Australia and Canada, as being "the axis of genocide".[25]
In April 2024, Abu-Sittah was denied entry to Germany while attempting to travel there for a Pro-Palestinian event. Shortly thereafter, the event was shut down by Berlin police who said they cancelled it because Salman Abu Sitta, Ghassan Abu Sittah's uncle and one of the event speakers, was "forbidden from being politically active in Germany." Organizers of the event had, according to their statements after the cancellation, not been informed of this ban.[26]
On 4 May 2024, he was scheduled to speak to the French Senate about the medical crisis in Gaza at the invitation of a Green Senator but was denied entry to France, based on a Schengen-Area-wide entry ban against him put in place by German authorities.[27][28] Lawyers of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians stated that they would look into challenging the ban with the help of German lawyers.[28] Subsequently the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) announced the travel restriction was overturned.[29]
Personal life
As of 2023, he lives in East London with his wife and three sons.[30]
Bibliography
- The War Injured Child: From Point of Injury Treatment Through Management and Continuum of Care. Edited by Ghassan Soleiman Abu-Sittah, Jamal J. Hoballah. 1st ed. 2023. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2023. ISBN 978-3031286124
- Reconstructing the war Injured patient. Edited by Ghassan Soleiman Abu-Sittah, Jamal J. Hoballah, Joseph Bakhach. Cham, Switzerland : Springer, 2017. ISBN 978-3319568874
