VIDEO: Palestinian Flag Is Raised at United Nations Headquarters

The Palestinian flag was raised at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Wednesday for the first time. In this video from The Guardian, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the move signals to the international community that “Palestinian statehood is achievable.”

Earlier this month, the U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to fly Palestine’s flag at the headquarters in a move that has infuriated Israel and that Palestinians described as a step toward full U.N. membership. Of the 193 U.N. member states, 119 approved the resolution.

In June, the Vatican signed a treaty formally recognizing Palestine as a state, joining other major international entities including the European Parliament. The U.N. upgraded the Palestinian delegation’s status in 2012 to that of a nonmember observer state, and in 2014 the European Parliament voted in favor of a nonbinding resolution calling for the recognition of Palestinian statehood as part of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

–Posted by Roisin Davis