Palestinian Doctor Ghassan Abu Sitta was banned from traveling to Europe and overturned

British Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu Sitta declared on Tuesday the ban on his entry into the European Union has been lifted. Abu Sitta said the decision to impose the ban on him came after a German court agreed on his lawyer’s appeal.

The German authorities banned   Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta’s entry to the Schengen Area. Dutch officials sent the news of the ban to the Palestinian Embassar through the Netherlands, stating that Dr Abu Sitta would not be allowed to participate in an event on 15 May at the Palestinian mission in the Hague. 

Following the ban, Dr Abu Sitta took to social media to share his experience. He revealed that upon his arrival at Charles de Gaulle Airport, French authorities informed him that he was prohibited from crossing the German border due to a ban imposed by Germany. In his post, Dr. Abu Sitta’s lawyer clarified that the German authorities had not notified them of the prohibition or provided any substantial reasons for its imposition.

 A French official told the Associated Press that the German entry ban applies throughout the Schengen area, which includes 29 countries from which border controls have generally been removed.

Abu Sitta thanked his lawyer, Alexander Gorsky, and the lawyers of the International Center for Justice for Palestinians and the European Legal Support Center for their efforts in the appeal before the German court.

I thank Alexandre Gorski, CJP lawyers and ELSC for their unwavering support. Abu Sitta worked as a volunteer treating wounded Palestinians for seven weeks during October and November 2023 at Al-Shifa and Al-Ahly Baptist Hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

When he left Gaza, Abu Sitta had been raising awareness about the impact of Israel’s war on Gaza, which has taken the lives of  34,500 Palestinians.

Abu Sitta travelled to Gaza after the Israeli assault to offer his help to the enclave’s hospitals, where a lot of people, including women, children, and adults, are in bad condition due to facing daily bombardment.

He became the unofficial English-language representative in a few months of the war and surgeons treating Palestinians suffered in Israeli attacks.

He also said to Israel’s military not to use white phosphorus in the strikes anymore against Palestinian people because it already poorly runs the populated areas like Gaza and deliberately mainly targets children.

In an interview with MEE, since he left Gaza, Abu Sitta said medical doctors who were using household items to mistreat patients inflicted by the Israeli attacks on medical equipment entering the enclave as nothing was left behind in the start we replaced the antiseptic solution with washing up liquid and vinegar, said Abu Sitta.