Palestinians raised their flag over the PLO have diplomatic mission in Washington, D.C., for the first time, as they push for international recognition.
At a brief ceremony Jan. 18, the Palestin-ians’ chief envoy to the United States, Maen Areikat, hoisted the red, green, white and black banner outside the PLO General Delegation office. He said he hopes the symbolic act would help win support for independence with or without a peace deal with Israel.
Areikat acknowledged that the flag-raising has no practical effect for U.S. policy, but said it was an “important, significant step” toward seeking recognition from the United States and others. He said he hoped the Obama administration would move to recognize Palestine as an independent state, something the U.S. has said it will not do until there is a negotiated peace deal with Israel.
The PLO office has had permission from the State Department to fly the flag since August, when the mission was upgraded from a representative office to a general delegation, but had been awaiting permission from the building’s owner before displaying it, he said.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the flag-raising did not mean any change to the status of the Palestinian mission in Washington and repeated that the United States opposes any unilateral Palestinian move to establish statehood. — ap