You can find the Palestinian flag flying in a lot of places these days–some of them thousands of miles away from Occupied Palestine…
Buenos Aires
Last week, football fans in St. Etienne, France waved Palestinian flags as their team competed against Beitar Jerusalem, a club from Israel. The incident was widely reported, including by media in Israel. It is said that the Israeli players were confronted with Palestinian flags after their own fans had been prohibited from carrying Israeli flags into the stadium…
St. Etienne, France
This took place just a week after football fans in Scotland waved Palestinian flags during a match between their own club, the Celtics, and another Israeli team, the Hapoel Be’er Sheva. The Union of European Football Associations, or UEFA, apparently got wind that something was up and issued a stern warning prior to the game–demandingthat the Scottish fans refrain from displaying the flag. The fans defied the ban and waved it anyway…
Glasgow, Scotland
Elsewhere in the UK…
London
London
Elsewhere in France…
Lyon, France
The Palestinian flag is beloved by the young…
Buenos Aires
As well as the old…
USA
On Monday of this week, Nickolay Mladenov, a UN envoy to the Middle East,reported to the UN Security Council that Israel continues to ignore international calls to halt its settlement activity on Palestinian lands. Mladenov was referencing a report by the so-called Quartet on the Middle East–comprised of the UN, the US, Russia, and the EU–which was released earlier this year and which called upon Israel to halt its settlement activity and its demolition of Palestinian homes.
“It’s (the report’s) recommendations continue to be ignored, including by a surge in Israeli settlement-related announcements and continuing demolitions,” he said.
In his comments, Mladenov pointed out that rather than curtailing its settlement activity, Israel–in the two months since the report was released–has actually increased it, with the advancement of more than 1,000 new units in occupied East Jerusalem and 735 units in the West Bank, according to a report in Press TV.
“All of these plans would essentially create new illegal settlements, and I call on Israel to cease and reverse these decisions,” Mladenov said.
With the US veto as Israel’s ace in the hole, I doubt we’ll see the Security Council take action, at least any time soon.
But be that as it may, the Palestinian flag continues to fly…
In Australia…
Australia
In Germany…
Munich, Germany
At packed concerts in Catalonia…
In Los Angeles…
Los Angeles
In New York…
New York
And in India…
India
One place where the Palestinian flag is flown especially proudly is South Africa…but that’s not surprising given most people there remember their own history under apartheid rule…
We can also see the Palestinian flag flown in Chile…
Chile
In Barcelona…
Barcelona
And many other places as well.
What accounts for all this popularity of the Palestinian flag? Is it love for Palestine? Is it detestation of Israel? Is it a little of both perhaps? Perhaps the comments of these people in Italy might help shed some light on the matter…
“We will continue despite the power of the Zionist lobby in our country…”
“They think they can do anything because governments are backing them…”
Well, that says it fairly clearly, but if you’re still not clear on the answer, then ask yourself the following question: Does it help Israel’s cause, or hurt it, when some of the dirtiest, most corrupt politicians…in Italy…in the UK…in the US, and many other countries besides, go about constantly professing their eternal, undying, no-daylight-between-us support for Israel? The daily news provides an unappetizing display of this with each passing day.
Obviously support for Palestine is growing, and obviously the Palestinian flag has a special place in the hearts of a lot of people. I’m guessing the reasons for this have as much to do with the occupation that the Palestinians are suffering as with what people are experiencing in their own countries and the sense many have of feeling betrayed by their own leaders. Corruption is the order of the day, particularly in the West. This has resulted in unprecedented wealth inequalities, but just as tides change and the great fall, so do inequalities have a way of rectifying themselves. Palestine will one day be free, and so will the rest of us.
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!
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