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Feature: Day of hope -- Palestinian flag flying at UN headquarters

Xinhua, October 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

"This is a day of pride for Palestinians around the world. It is a day of hope."

These are the remarks by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at a flag-raising ceremony where the Palestinian flag has been raised to the top of a flag pole erected in a rose garden at the UN headquarters.

The State of Palestine, officially considered a non-member state of the United Nations, gained its support earlier this month from the UN General Assembly for raising its flag at the UN following the flags of the UN state members.

"I say to my people everywhere, raise the flag of Palestine very high because it is a symbol of our Palestinian identity," Mahmoud Abbas, president of the State of Palestine, said at the ceremony.

After delivering a short speech in Arabic, Abbas kissed the flag and buried his head in it momentarily before handing it to three UN honor guards who hoisted it to the top of a flag pole at 1.16 p.m EDT.

While the flag inched up, applause and cheers rang out from the crowd of over 200 people, lighting up the shade over a drizzling afternoon.

The flag initially lay still before a gust of wind blew it into full view a few minutes later. People holding their cameras and cell-phones tried their best to capture the historic moment.

Among them is a Palestinian female dressed up in her grandmother's traditional Palestinian-style dress.

"I feel extremely proud, as a Palestinian who has lived in the diaspora, and has a mother who is refugee from Palestine," said Hazami Barmada, who is currently a consultant for the United Nations, who wishes to devote herself to this organization for the cause of saving next generation out of turmoil.

She told Xinhua that her memory about her home Palestine is the smell of the roses and jasmine. "I think for me the sweetness and smells of these roses just fill in the air of the place that has so much despair in it."

"It's always as a sweet reminder that there is a brighter future and it is upon us all to work for it," she said.

In 2012, the UN General Assembly granted an update of Palestine's status to non-member state, which is an implicit and symbolic recognition of Palestine's statehood at the UN. On Sept. 10, 2015, a total of 119 countries voted "yes" for a UN General Assembly resolution to approve raising Palestinian flag at UN headquarters.

"It's a historic moment," said Hanan Jarrar, a counselor from Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs who came all the way from Palestine to witness the event. "It's symbolic but it's very important also because it reflects that we are living people and we are struggling to gain our just rights."

For the future, she said "I can see an independent Palestinian state just before my eyes." Enditem