Palestinians dance in street celebrating self-rule pact

By Karin Laub, Associated Press

Transcribed from the clipping

“JERICHO, Occupied West Bank — With their once-banned flag flying overhead, thousands of Palestinians danced arm-in-arm today celebrating the prospect of shedding a quarter-century of Israeli military rule. ‘Today we are celebrating our state from Jericho to Gaza,’ said Jamal Safi, a local leader. ‘Today we are holding our heads up proudly.’

Instead of soldiers, the streets were patrolled by about 200 activists from Fida, a moderate pro-PLO party… beating of drums filled the air. Pictures of Yasser Arafat and the red, white, green and black Palestinian flags decorated the town’s main square where Palestinians marched and shouted pro-Arafat slogans.

A billboard-sized portrait of Arafat was painted on the town hall. ‘I just love to see all those flags going up,’ said Nancy Qunbar, an 18-year-old student. ‘I only hope…’ Monawar Salah, 60, who heads the Jericho Women’s Benevolent Society, said she stayed up until midnight to sew 50 cloth flags.

‘It’s the first step toward ending the occupation and we hope all Palestinians will rally around the leadership and help them end the occupation.’ The call for unity was timely…”

Context added by this archive

The day the Oslo accords were signed, and the detail that survives is a sixty-year-old woman who sat up until midnight sewing fifty flags. Monawar Salah runs the Jericho Women’s Benevolent Society. The flag she was sewing had been banned. Two other Palestinians are named and one is a teenager: Nancy Qunbar, 18, who says she just loves seeing the flags go up.

Cite this item

"Palestinians dance in street celebrating self-rule pact," Journal Tribune, 13 September 1993. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1993-013. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1993-013