This felt like a moment. The spontaneous applause from a couple of hundred guests and supporters cheerfully packed into the narrow Hammersmith side street that is home to the Palestinian mission to the UK, as the familiar green, black, white and red national flag was raised alongside it.

The eloquent speech by Husam Zomlot, the head of mission, started with his brandishing a plaque that should, he said – once the “bureaucratic” formalities have been completed – be affixed to the wall proclaiming it as a full embassy.

He went on to quote the revered poet Mahmoud Darwish apostrophising as a woman the land that “was called Palestine/ and she is still called Palestine/ My Lady, because you are my Lady, I deserve life.” New Feature

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