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Last week the Palestinian mission to the U.N. submitted a resolution to the U.N. General Assembly calling for the flying of all “observer state” flags outside of U.N. headquarters in New York. The Palestinians secured status as a U.N. non-member observer “state” in 2012, but are not actual members of the world body. 

B’nai B’rith International spoke out in an August 26 statement, saying the flags outside the United Nations represent U.N. member states and the Palestinian territories do not as of yet comprise a state, owing to the Palestinians’ consistent refusal to reach a meaningful, negotiated two-state solution that includes recognition of the Jewish state.


The New York Times picked up B’nai B’rith’s statement in a story on the Palestinian Authority’s campaign to have its flag raised. You can read the full story below and on The New York Times’ website here.


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Palestinians want to raise their flag at the United Nations next month, a matter that could set off a diplomatic dispute in the General Assembly. Nearly 20 Arab countries, as well as Senegal and Venezuela, submitted a one-page draft resolution to the General Assembly this week calling for the organization’s two “nonmember observer states” to be granted the right to raise their flags at the gates of United Nations headquarters. The Palestinians gained nonmember observer status in 2012. The only other entity to hold that status is the Holy See. The Vatican did not add its name as a co-sponsor of the resolution. The effort has already met with a rebuke from Jewish groups like B’nai B’rith, which said in a statement that raising a flag was a “privilege” accorded to a member state and that part of the Palestinian territories is under the control of Hamas, “which is openly committed to the destruction of an existing U.N. member state,Israel.”