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Palestinians celebrate hoisting their flag at UN

Xinhua, October 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

Hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza celebrated on Wednesday hoisting their flag at the United Nations headquarters for the first time, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meetings.

Hundreds of Palestinians waved their flags at the Yasser Arafat square in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where large screens broadcasted the event live from New York.

The Secretary General of the Presidency Tayeb Abdul Rahim told the crowd that raising the flag is a result of the struggle and suffering of the Palestinian people, and represents people's support of their leadership to strive for establishing the independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital.

Abdul Rahim said the celebrations of hoisting the Palestinian flag proves the people's unity, stressing that the flag hoisting "strongly takes Palestine back into the political map."

Celebrations started before the flag raising event as the crowds listened to President Mahmoud Abbas addressing the UN General Assembly.

The UN voted on Sept. 10 in favor of a bid to raise the Palestinian flag at the UN headquarters and agencies allover the world.

On Nov. 29, 2012, the UN General Assembly voted in favor of upgrading the Palestinian representation in the UN to a non-member observer state. Endit